The Fruits of Arab Islamic Democracy

An article in the Huffington Post spoke of the 19 Indigenous Egyptian Christians who were killed by Muslim mobs, as well as the security forces. And riots broke out in the city of Aswan over the "unauthorized" construction of a church, even after the church officials agreed to remove the "offensive" cross from public view. Those who are familiar with the history of the middle east are aware that the few regimes in which the lives and property of Christians were respected, were secular, authoritarian regimes, such as Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Assad's Syria and to a lesser extent Mubarak's Egypt. In virtually every instant, the democratization of an Arab-Islamic nation was accompanied by a sharp deterioration in the status and safety of Christians. Such are the fruits of Arab Islamic Democracy. And to those who believe that all cultures and peoples are suited for democracy, I will order you a ticket via expedia.com to the place were most progressives dwell: fantasyland.

Egypt Riots: Christian Protesters Attacked, At Least 19 Dead

CAIRO — Flames lit up downtown Cairo, where massive clashes raged Sunday, drawing Christians angry over a recent church attack, Muslims and Egyptian security forces. At least 24 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the worst sectarian violence since the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February.

The rioting lasted late into the night, bringing out a deployment of more than 1,000 security forces and armored vehicles to defend the state television building along the Nile, where the trouble began. The military clamped a curfew on the area until 7 a.m.

The clashes spread to nearby Tahrir Square, drawing thousands of people to the vast plaza that served as the epicenter of the protests that ousted Mubarak. On Sunday night, they battled each other with rocks and firebombs, some tearing up pavement for ammunition and others collecting stones in boxes.

At one point, an armored security van sped into the crowd, striking a half-dozen protesters and throwing some into the air. Protesters retaliated by setting fire to military vehicles, a bus and private cars, sending flames rising into the night sky.

After midnight, mobs roamed downtown streets, attacking cars they suspected had Christian passengers. In many areas, there was no visible police or army presence to confront or stop them.

Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million people, blame the country's ruling military council for being too lenient on those behind a spate of anti-Christian attacks since Mubarak's ouster. As Egypt undergoes a chaotic power transition and security vacuum in the wake of the uprising, the Coptic Christian minority is particularly worried about the show of force by ultraconservative Islamists.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, addressing the nation in a televised speech, said the violence threatened to throw Egypt's post-Mubarak transition off course.

"These events have taken us back several steps," he said. "Instead of moving forward to build a modern state on democratic principles we are back to seeking stability and searching for hidden hands – domestic and foreign – that meddle with the country's security and safety."

"I call on Egyptian people, Muslims and Christians, women and children, young men and elders to hold their unity," Sharaf said.

The Christian protesters said their demonstration began as a peaceful attempt to sit in at the television building. But then, they said, they came under attack by thugs in plainclothes who rained stones down on them and fired pellets.

"The protest was peaceful. We wanted to hold a sit-in, as usual," said Essam Khalili, a protester wearing a white shirt with a cross on it. "Thugs attacked us and a military vehicle jumped over a sidewalk and ran over at least 10 people. I saw them."

Wael Roufail, another protester, corroborated the account. "I saw the vehicle running over the protesters. Then they opened fired at us," he said.

Khalili said protesters set fire to army vehicles when they saw them hitting the protesters.

Ahmed Yahia, a Muslim resident who lives near the TV building, said he saw the military vehicle plow into protesters. "I saw a man's head split into two halves and a second body flattened when the armored vehicle ran over it. When some Muslims saw the blood they joined the Christians against the army," he said.

Television footage showed the military vehicle slamming into the crowd. Coptic protesters were shown attacking a soldier, while a priest tried to protect him. One soldier collapsed in tears as ambulances rushed to the scene to take away the injured.

At least 24 people were killed in the clashes, Health Ministry official Hisham Sheiha said on state TV.

State media reported that Egypt's interim Cabinet was holding an emergency session to discuss the situation.

The protest began in the Shubra district of northern Cairo, then headed to the state television building along the Nile where men in plainclothes attacked about a thousand Christian protesters as they chanted denunciations of the military rulers.

"The people want to topple the field marshal!" the protesters yelled, referring to the head of the ruling military council, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Some Muslim protesters later joined in the chant.

Later in the evening, a crowd of Muslims turned up to challenge the Christian crowds, shouting, "Speak up! An Islamic state until death!"

Armed with sticks, the Muslim assailants chased the Christian protesters from the TV building, banging metal street signs to scare them off. It was not immediately clear who the attackers were.

Gunshots rang out at the scene, where lines of riot police with shields tried to hold back hundreds of Christian protesters chanting, "This is our country!"

Security forces eventually fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. The clashes then moved to nearby Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising against Mubarak. The army closed off streets around the area.

The clashes left streets littered with shattered glass, stones, ash and soot from burned vehicles. Hundreds of curious onlookers gathered at one of the bridges over the Nile to watch the unrest.

After hours of intense clashes, chants of "Muslims, Christians one hand, one hand!" rang out in a call for a truce. The stone-throwing died down briefly, but then began to rage again.

In the past weeks, riots have broken out at two churches in southern Egypt, prompted by Muslim crowds angry over church construction. One riot broke out near the city of Aswan, even after church officials agreed to a demand by ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis that a cross and bells be removed from the building.

Aswan's governor, Gen. Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, further raised tensions by suggesting to the media that the church construction was illegal.

Protesters said the Copts are demanding the ouster of the governor, reconstruction of the church, compensation for people whose houses were set on fire and prosecution of those behind the riots and attacks on the church.

Last week, the military used force to disperse a similar protest in front of the state television building. Christians were angered by the treatment of the protesters and vowed to renew their demonstrations until their demands are met.

PHOTOS:

Can You Imagine What Would Happen If Israel Did This?

Since the onset of the "Arab Spring" two churches have been burned down in Egypt and attempts to reopen churches have assaulted in attacks by Moslem mobs. Not surprisingly, the majority of those who were arrested were the Christians who were defending themselves. Can you imagine what would happen if Israel did this to a mosque or a church? Can you imagine the protests that would erupt in the middle east and in university campuses across Europe and (to a lesser extent) the United States? Apparently the "free palestine crowd" is very selective in whose suffering is worthy of sympathy and whose misdeeds are worthy of censure.

Muslims Surround Church in Egypt, Prevent Its Reopening


5-24-2011

(AINA) -- On the morning of May 19 two Coptic priests went to St. Mary and St. Abraham Church in Ain Shams and opened it together with some of the Coptic residents, but later in the day thousands of Muslims surrounded the church to protest its opening, hurled stones at the church building and the Copts, who responded by throwing stones. The army and the police stood there watching and did not intervene (video).

Unable to secure the church, the army and police closed it and arranged for a "reconciliation" meeting between the Coptic priest and the Salafi sheikhs. They also arrested eight Copts, one of them 13-years old, and three Muslims. They were all charged with rioting, violence and causing injury to citizens. Three Copts were also charged with having cartridges but no guns and one 15-year-old boy with possessing two knives. The 3 Muslims were charged with throwing stones at the army.

Father Filopateer Gameel, one of the organizers of the Maspero sit-in, said that during a meeting with the Minister of Interior he was told he cannot choose the churches to be reopened because it was all "planned with the Salafis and the security authorities so that when we go, there will be no problems." He confirmed the minister had himself suggested the names of the three churches to be reopened.

The "reconciliation" session was held in a tent by the Islamist imam Kerdassi, the main opponent of the reopening of the church, who also recently built a mosque facing the church. Next to the tent was another one hosting Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi sheikhs, among them the renowned Salafi sheikh Hassan and over 3000 guests all chanting "Islamic, Islamic."

The session lasted for 5-hour, and was attended by sheikhs, imams, priests, lawyers and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, in which the Muslims insisted the church was a factory and the Christians explained that it was a church, although it has no dome or bell, and has been used as a place for worship and has a consecrated alter.

The Coptic diocese bought the building, which used to be a clothes factory, in 2004 and used it for worship until November 22, 2008, when it was closed by State Security after nearly 3000 Muslims surrounded the church, pelting it with stones and terrorizing thousands of parishioners inside.

"The atmosphere of the meeting was belligerent," said attorney Ashraf Edward, "and one of the sheikhs threatened us by saying that should the church be opened without their permission it would end up like the church in Soul which was demolished by Muslims." He said the church was offered a larger place to relocate to away from the Muslim families as the imams said. "They presented us with a petition from the Muslim families against the opening of the church."

The representative of the Ministry of Endowment suggested the church be closed until permission is granted for its opening from the relevant authorities, to which all sides agreed.

At the end of the session a joint statement was read by the Imam Kerdassi, which said "It was decided to close the place and no Christian prayers is to take place there until permission is granted. If there is permission then we should respect it and since there is no permit at present then all parties agreed to close the place permanently, no one to approach it and no one of us to harm it until the authorities have issued a ruling. We all have to love each other, so that Egypt would remain strong and secure as Allah wanted it to be."

The Muslims demanded that should the church be reopened, it should be without cross and dome.

Coptic attorney Dr. Ihab Ramzy said the army and the police did not participate in the "reconciliation" meeting. "This shows the government is ignoring the problem. Am I there to get the Salafis' permission to open the church? If they say no, does this mean I should not open the church?"

"The joint statement linked the opening of the church with the consent of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces," said activist Mark Ebeid, "so the military council has to know that if the church is not opened, this means the dignity of the State has been lost in front of the Salafis. Everyone believes the government should have carried out its decision to open the church whatever the outcome. The big question now is will the government give us a written permission or not?"

By Mary Abdelmassih

© 2011, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.

Coptic Christians: The Other Side of Egypt (Part III)

Few westerners are aware of the denigration that religious minorities experience, even in "secular" Muslim majority nations like Egypt. To this day churches in Egypt are governed by the Hamayouni Decree of 1856, which states that the construction of a new church requires a presidential decree and even minor repairs, like repairing a broken window require the special permission of a governor. Not surprisingly, these restrictions do not apply to mosques. In practical terms, this means that some Coptic Christian communities have waited years for government permission to repair their churches. And when out of frustration they decide to undertake the repairs without government permission, the same lethargic state rapidly responds with crushing force. In a recent incident, 4 Copts were wounded, 68 injured, 200 were arrested and construction supplies were seized. Many Copts believe that their status would deteriorate if the Mubarak Regime were replaced by a more democratic government, because such a government would almost certainly be more Islamic.

EGYPT:Four Copts killed in clashes outside Giza church

3rd December, 2010

Four Copts were killed and at least 50 were hurt last week when members of a church in Talbiya, Giza, clashed with security officials trying to stop their building work.

The violence began at 3am on 24 November when nearly 5,000 security officers surrounded a site where a community centre is being built on the property of St Mary's Church.

This was the security forces' third attempt to stop construction in less than a fortnight and 200 Copts, including women and children, were keeping a vigil inside the church.

Security forces first attacked the site of the Coptic Church of St Mary and St Michael on 11 November and stopped construction work at its community centre. The church is situated in Talbiya in Giza, south of Cairo, and serves an area that is densely populated by Christians but does not have enough church buildings to accommodate them. The reason given by the authorities for the stoppage was that the work was not in accordance with the drawings presented. The church leaders insist that they have all the necessary construction permits.

Construction work was in the final stages, with the builders completing the roof. A spokesman of the ruling National Democratic Party said that the local authorities took action when they saw "a dome" rising over the building. Priests and members of the church were inside when the security forces surrounded it. The authorities eventually withdrew.

On 22 November, security forces stormed the church a second time to stop construction, besieging the building from midnight to 6am. They confiscated four concrete mixing vehicles containing mixed concrete, all of which was spoiled, at great cost to the Coptic community. The security forces withdrew after a standoff. One of the building contractors said, "for the police officers and district officials to come so late at night, shows that what they are doing is wrong."

The crisis escalated on 24 November. Security forces surrounded the site at 3am, while builders were working on the roof and 200 people were keeping vigil inside. The security forces used tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition, and angry Christians hurled stones. Four church members were killed and 68 were wounded, many seriously. The medical care provided to some of them has been very poor.

It is estimated that at least 2,000 local Copts came to demonstrate after they heard that the security forces had halted the construction work. At least 200 Christians were arrested, accused of possession of explosives, attempted murder of police, sabotage and assault. They have been denied access to lawyers. About 20 police officers were injured.

The authorities claim that the church leaders have a permit to expand property owned by the church, but not to erect a church building: they consider that the appearance of the extension suggests that it will be used as a place of worship, which would require a separate permit. Because of the difficulty in obtaining church building permits in Egypt, the extension of church property to form places of worship is sometimes resorted to, and has been tolerated by some local officials.

The President of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights, Dr Naguib Ghobrial, issued a statement on 22 November, calling for the dismissal of the local authority chief who issued the order. "The church has all the permits," he said. "By this behaviour the chief of the local authority is encouraging Islamists to fight with the Christians because of the Church and therefore causing sedition." (AINA, Almasyalyoum, AP, Assist News Service, Irish Times, Middle East Concern, Release International)

http://www.churchinchains.ie/node/378

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamayouni_Decree

Coptic Christians: The Other Side of Egypt (Part II)

The majority of Egyptian Muslims (who comprise approximately 90% of the population) are descendants of Coptic Christians and Jews who were converted by the sword or became Muslims to avoid the crushing taxes and legal restrictions imposed on Dhimmis. The status of non-Muslims began to improve under the reign of Muhammad Ali (1805 - 1848) and then significantly improved under direct British Rule and the British dominated Kingdom of Egypt (1882 - 1952). But, after the nationalist-socialist revolution of 1952, the status of minorities began to deteriorate and within a decade, the majority of Jews and Greek Christians had fled, with a more gradual exodus of Copts. And in the last 30 years, the resurgence of Islam has led to a sharp increase in attacks against Coptic Christians. Here is a partial list of attacks; keep in mind that this does not present the daily discrimination and low grade harassment that Non-Muslims experience:

6 November 1972
Muslim mob attack and burn a prayer meeting by Egyptian Christian Copts at the Holy Scripture College, an attack which preceded the infamous Khanka attacks on the Copts.[25]

June 1981
81 Copts were killed by a mob of Muslims. Interior Minister Abu Pasha blamed the deaths on a lack of adequate security measures for which his predecessor Ennabawy Ismael was responsible (according to Abu Pasha).[25]

17 November 1981
Coptic priest the Reverend Maximose Guirguis is kidnapped and threatened with death he does not denounce his Christianity and publicly convert to Islam. He refuses and his throat is cut leaving him bleeding to death.[25]

20 September 1991
Muslim mob attacks Copts in Embaba, an outer suburb of Cairo.[25]

9 March 1992
Manshiet Nasser, Dyroot, Upper Egypt. Copt son of a farmer Badr Abdullah Massoud is gunned down after refusing to pay a tax of about $166 to the local leader of Islamic Group. Massoud's body is then hacked "with knives."[26]

4 May 1992
Villages of Manshia and Weesa in Dyroot, Upper Egypt. After being Manshiet Naser's Christians for weeks, an Islamic extremist methodically shoots 13 of them to death. Victims included ten farmers and a child tending their fields, a doctor leaving his home for work, and an elementary school teacher giving a class.[26]

12 May 1992
A bloodshed in Manfaloot, Upper Egypt, on the Coptic Easter day with 6 Copts murdered and 50 injured, followed by some 200 arrests.[25]

15 & 16 October 1992
Muslim mob attacks with burning and looting of shops and 42 houses owned by Christian Copts, with 3 Copts injured and the destruction of an estimated 5 Million pounds of property, live stock, merchandise and work places Kafr Demian in Sharqueyya in the Nile Delta.[25]

2 December 1992
Muslim mob attacks Copts in the city of Assiut, Upper Egypt.[25]

December 1992
Muslim mob attacks Copts in the Village of Meer, Al Quosseya, Upper Egypt, murdering four Copts and slitting the throat of a Coptic jeweller for refusing to pay protection money.[25]

13 March 1997
Muslim mob attacks a Tourist Train with Spanish Tourists, killing 13 Christians and injuring 6, in the Village of Nakhla near Nagge Hammadi.

The terrorists increased the frequency of their attacks and widened it to include whom the viewed as collaborators with the security force, launching an attack on the eve of the Adha Eid using automatic weapons killing Copts as well as Muslims.[25]

1997
Abu Qurqas. "Three masked terrorist" entered St. George Church in Abu Qurqas and shoot dead eight Copts at a weekly youth group meeting. "As the attackers fled, they gunned down a Christian farmer watering his fields." [27]

January 2000
Al Kosheh, a "predominantly Christian town" in southern Egypt. After a Muslim customer and a Christian shoe-store owner fall into an argument, three days of rioting and street fighting erupt leaving 20 Christians, (including four children) and one Muslim dead." In the aftermath 38 Muslim defendants are charged with murder in connection with the deaths of the 20 Copts. But all are acquitted of murder charges, and only four are convicting of any (lesser) charges, with the longest sentence given being 10 years." After protest by the Coptic Pope Shenouda the government granted a new trial.[28]

19 November 2000
Muslim mob attempt to force a Copt to pronounce the Islamic faith declarations (Shehadas) then beat him to death when he refuses their demand.[25]

19 April 2009
A group of Muslims (Mahmoud Hussein Mohamed (26 years old), Mohamed Abdel Kader (32 years old), Ramadan Fawzy Mohamed (24 years old), Ahmed Mohamed Saeed (16 years old), and Abu Bakr Mohamed Saeed ) opened fire at Christians on Easter's Eve killing two (Hedra Adib (22 years old), and Amir Estafanos (26 years old)) and injuring another (Mina Samir (25 years old)). This event was in Hegaza village, Koos city. On 22 February 2010, they were sentenced to 25 years of jail while crimes of this level in Egypt should face death penalty.[29][30]

6 January 2010
Main article: Nag Hammadi massacre
Machine gun attack by Muslim mob on Coptic Christians celebrating the Egyptian birth of Christ. Seven are killed (including a Muslim officer in his trial to defend them) and scores injured, and lots of lives ruined.

April/May 2010
In Marsa Matrouh, a mob of 3,000 Muslims attacked the city's Coptic Christian population, with 400 Copts having to barricade themselves in their church while the mob destroyed 18 homes, 23 shops and 16 cars.[15]

01 January 2011 (On New Year's eve)
A car bomb exploded in front of an Alexandria Coptic Orthodox Church killing at least 21 and injuring at least 79. The incident happened a few minutes after midnight as Christians were leaving a New Year's eve Church service [31][32][33]

11 January 2011
A policeman opened fire on 6 christians in a train in Samalout station in Minya province resulting in the death of a 71-year old man and injury of 5 others. [34]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Copts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_of_Egypt

Coptic Christians: The Other Side of Egypt (Part I)

Picture above: Coptic Christians, Another Endangered Group?

Few Americans are aware that Christians comprise at least 10% of Egypt's population. While very few Egyptians are fond of Hosni Mubarak's long running kleptocracy, many Coptic Christians fear that his fall would herald a deterioration of their status. Some look at Iraq as an example of the perils that democratization holds for Christians in Muslim dominated lands. One of the few positive aspect of Saddam Hussein's authoritarian regime was that it protected Iraq's significant Christian minority from harassment from Islamic Fundamentalists. As Iraq became more democratic, it naturally began to reflect the strong Islamic sentiments of much of its people. At its best, this represented a fall to second class citizenship and low grade harassment via the implementation of Shari'a. At its worst, it equalled the open season for criminal elements to rob, rape and murder Christians without impunity. This demonstrates that true democracy is far more than majority rule, it is a culture of pluralism, rule of law, respect for dissent and the defense of the rights of minorities. It anticipate the establishment of free elections in Egypt, but it will be a far greater challenge to establish a democratic culture. Because of the watchful eye of the west, I do not anticipate massacres of Christians, but rather an acceleration of their exodus. And without its enterprising, educated Coptic population, Egypt will surely be materially and culturally worse off.

Egypt's uprising stirs fears of persecution of minority Coptic Christians

By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
February 3, 2011

With attacks on Christians already increasing in the Middle East, the populist uprising in Egypt has triggered fears among some that the region's largest non-Muslim population - Egypt's 7 million Coptic Christians - could be at risk.

Copt leaders in the United States said they are terrified that a new Egyptian government with a strong Islamic fundamentalist bent would persecute Christians. They are quietly lobbying the Obama administration to do more to protect Christians in Muslim countries and are holding prayer vigils and fasts, such as one that ended Wednesday evening at Copt churches across the country, including four in the Washington area.

"The current situation for the Copts stinks, but [longtime Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak is the best of the worst for us," said the Rev. Paul Girguis of St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Fairfax County, which has about 3,000 members. "If Muslim extremists take over, the focus will be extreme persecution against Copts. Some people even predict genocide."

Some major U.S. Christian figures, including well-known evangelical leaders and representatives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, declined to publicly discuss the situation in Egypt, saying they wanted to avoid bringing dangerous attention to the country's Christians by appearing to complain or to advocate for a particular political outcome.

Their trepidation stems from repeated attacks on churches in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of Christians have fled in recent years, and from the New Year's Day bombing of a Coptic church in Egypt that killed almost two dozen worshipers and wounded nearly 100. The Coptic Church is one of the oldest Christian institutions in the world and is based in Egypt.

"Egypt is the bellwether because its Christian community is so large and is the strongest in the Middle East," said Paul Marshall, a global religious freedom expert and a fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute. "What happens to Christians in Egypt is very significant. Everyone is watching."

But not all American faith leaders are bracing for the worst. Joel Hunter, an evangelical pastor of a Florida megachurch and a frequent adviser to President Obama, said he's hearing a lot of optimism from Egyptian Christians who believe the uprising will lead to more freedom and religious liberty.

Many younger Christians in the United States also see the protests as something to celebrate, Hunter said, and older, more politically conservative Christians tend to be more skeptical of Islam generally and are worried about how a new Egyptian government will treat Israel.

So far, the protests have focused on jobs, free speech and democratic elections, not religion, so it's unclear what the end of Mubarak's rule would mean for religious minorities. But in recent years, Iraq has lost about half its historical Christian population because of persecution, and Christians have been leaving Iran and Lebanon in lesser numbers.

After last month's bombing of the Coptic church in Alexandria, Pope Benedict XVI publicly urged the Egyptian government and other leaders in the region to protect religious minorities. Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the pope's comments were "an unacceptable interference" in the country's internal affairs, and Egypt withdrew its ambassador to the Vatican in response.

Some U.S. Christian leaders said the situation in Egypt might put the issue of religious persecution abroad back on the radar of American Christians. A decade ago, the freedom of Christians to worship in such places as Sudan was a top agenda item for American Christians, particularly evangelicals. But this week, experts said that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have absorbed people's attention.

At a congressional hearing last month about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, Christian leaders urged the administration to lean harder on Egypt's leaders to investigate violence against religious minorities and to lay out a clear strategy in Iraq for their protection.

A 2009 survey by the nonprofit Pew Forum that measured governmental and societal restrictions on religion found that a number of the world's least tolerant countries are Muslim-majority. The list included Iran, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan as well as India, which is majority Hindu. Concerns include bans on public preaching and conversion and the lack of prosecution for religion-based violence.

Some advocates for religious freedom note that moderate Muslims and non-majority Muslims also suffer attacks and that the problem is extremism, not Islam.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/02/AR2011020203714.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copts