ICC Note:
"The Egyptian government has failed to initiate credible investigation into the cases of the abducted women, and that does have perhaps the intended consequence of creating a climate of impunity for the perpetrators. If there is no penalty for this terrible abuse and violence, it only encourages more violence." - U.S. Rep. Chris Smith.
By Jim Kouri
7/26/2011 Egypt (Examiner) –Although President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other members of the Obama Administration -- through their rhetoric and actions -- treat the Egyptian revolution as a positive movement, there is nothing mentioned by them or their supporters about the treatment of Christians at the hands of the Muslim population and government.
Dr. Michele Clark testified on Capitol Hill on Friday about the continued abuse of Coptic females in Egypt, a nation struggling to come together in the aftermath of this Spring's Arab revolution.
The U.S. Helsinki Commission, formally known as The U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held Friday's hearing to examine the recent escalation of violence toward Coptic Christians in Egypt, as well as reports of disappearances, forced conversions and forced marriages of Coptic women and girls.
Clark, who also serves as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, told the Commission that there is no denying these reports.
"These reports are not allegations nor should they be disputed," Clark said. "Coptic women disappear. Coptic women are forcibly converted, or converted under false pretenses, and Coptic women are forcibly married to Muslim men."
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