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Egypt: Human Rights Activists Arrested
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John Henry
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Aug 12, 2007 01:00 PDT
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FAITH UNDER FIRE
Human rights activists arrested in Egypt
Supporters fear torture because men held
incommunicado
August 11, 2007
(c) 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Egypt, which appears to be intensifying its crackdown on Christianity in
recent months, now has arrested and detained two Egyptian Christian human
rights activists who are connected to a Canadian ministry.
According to
Christian
Solidarity International, members of Egypt's State Security
Investigations took Adel Fawzy Faltas and Peter Ezzat Mounir into
custody, and confiscated computers and documents from their homes.
The prisoners were being held incommunicado at the Lazoghly Square
headquarters of the federal agency, and while no formal charges were
announced, security statements accuse the two of insulting Islam,
preaching Christianity and maintaining an unlawful association with a
foreign organization.
Faltas heads the Egyptian branch of the Canadian-based
Middle East Christians Association, a religious liberty group, and
Mounir is believed to be an associate with the group.
The group's corporate identity statement calls for secularism, equality
and full citizenship for Christians in Egypt, as well as the rest of the
Middle East.
The concern, CSI said, is that Egyptian security police are known to
routinely use torture on prisoners while they are incarcerated.
"Some of the atrocities and malicious practices of the Egyptian
police came to public notice when bloggers managed to publish videos of
torture and abuse of citizens at the hands of the police," CSI said.
Even the lawyers for the men detained have been unable to contact them,
the organization said.
As WND
also has reported, an Egyptian Christian who had fled his home nation
has been given temporary permission to remain in the United States
because he, "most assuredly has a right not to be tortured," a
federal court as concluded.
The court pointedly concluded that "diplomatic assurances" of
his religious rights "by a country known to have engaged in
torture" weren't reassuring.
John Eibner, CSI-USA's chairman, wrote to President Bush asking for help
in the current situation.
"The arrests of Messrs. Fawzy Faltas and Ezzat Mounir take place
against a background of increasing state-sponsored persecution of
Christians in Egypt and growing intolerance of Christians and other
religious minorities throughout the Middle East. If present trends of
violence, intimidation and discrimination continue, the tragic fate of
oriental Jewry could soon befall Middle Eastern Christians," he
said.
CSI reports that the arrests followed increased MECA activity in Egypt
including the submission of a lawsuit against Egypt President Hosni
Mubarak and other members of the Egyptian government on behalf of victims
of the anti-Christian al-Kosheh riots in 2000, which left 21 Christians
dead.
Also ruffling feathers lately have been a book documenting the
persecution of Egyptian Christians and the high-profile legal case in
which a convert to Christianity petitioned to have the government
recognize his change in religious affiliation.
MECA reported that police stormed the men's homes, and Mamdouh Makhleh, a
lawyer representing the two, said his clients likely would face a hearing
soon.
"I will try to hasten their case … so they … will not be subjected
to any sort of torture or be forced to give any statement that could be
harmful in their case," he told Associated Press.
MECA said the charges would be along the lines of possession
controversial literature and taking part in activities that could
endanger state security, such as missionary work. All carry lengthy
prison terms.
The U.S. Copts Association said the arrests likely were triggered
specifically by the men's reporting on the killing of an Egyptian
Christian by two police officers.
The day before they were arrested, the Copts Association said, the two
had investigated reports a Coptic worker in Cairo was thrown from his
balcony by two members of the Egyptian police after he refused to pay
them extortion money.
"It appeared that two policemen had stopped Nasser Sediq Gadallah on
his way home from work and demanded money by force. He refused to pay and
went and filed a report with the prosecutor's office charging them with
extortion and brutality. Eyewitnesses reported that both members of the
police visited Naser's home shortly after he filed his report and tried
to force him to withdraw his complaints from the prosecutors' office.
When he refused, they threw him off his balcony in the presence of his
family and other eyewitnesses," the report said.
The report said a short time later police reported the death as a
suicide, but Ezzat and others took pictures of the crime scene,
interviewed witnesses on film and encouraged the family to report the
death.
WND also
recently reported on two young Egyptian boys who were ordered to take
a school test that would result in their conversion to Islam.
They wrote, "I am Christian," on the exam papers, knowing in
advance that could very well spell the end of their educations. Now a
U.S.-based organization is lobbying for international pressure on Egypt
to quit forcing Christians into such no-win situations.
Their situation arose because of the Islamic law demand that children
follow their father's faith if it is Islam. Their father, who abandoned
the family a number of years ago, had converted to Islam. The nation's
education ministry then requires children to take – and pass – a test on
Islam in order for them to be advanced in school. No passing grade, no
more schooling, officials said.
Eibner asked Bush to "request from Egypt's head of state, Pres.
Hosni Mubarak, the immediate release of the … Christian prisoners, and to
impress upon him the need for Egypt to respect the internationally
confirmed human rights of religious and secular minorities."
CSI earlier had reported that a third Egyptian Christian, Adeel Ramses
Kosman, also was arrested at the same time, but his detention could not
immediately be confirmed.
Source:
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57106
Related stories:
'We are
Christian,' boys tell Muslims
Egyptian
Christian escapes deportation
Christian
fears torture if deported
Muslims
attack Christians accused of building church
Al-Qaida's
fingerprints on Dahab bombings
Muslims
trash Egyptian church
Christian
in mental hospital over Islam switch
Egypt attempts to close Copt church
Egypt destroys new Coptic church
Why
Egypt's Coptic Christians
suffer
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"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them
which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body."
(Hebrews 13:3)
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great
is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you." (Matthew 5:10-12)
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