By ICC’s Egypt Representative

10/28/2015 Egypt (International Christian Concern) – The archaeological Greek Orthodox church of Virgin Mary in Rashid city, Beheira governorate has been attacked by a judge named Mohamed Mostafa Kamel Tirana and his two sons who want to completely demolish the church and take over its land.

The fight of this Muslim judge, who retired in April 2015, with the church goes back to 2008, when he tried to take ownership of the church. He claimed that he purchased the ancient church, which dates back to the 9th century, from Father Espero, the late priest, who was deputy of the Greek Orthodox Church.

The judge used his influence as a judge at the Alexandria Criminal Court, taking the law in his own hands, and managed to register the alleged contract of the purchase of the church in real estate authority of Rashid city in 2008.

False Claims of Ownership

The judge and his two sons, who also are judges, allege in their lawsuit that the church building was originally their ancient home and that the Greek Orthodox community in Rashid only began using it as a church recently.

“The building of the church wasn’t originally a home and their allegation is false. They want to change the facts in their favour,” Mnchaoy Ghanim Gaber, the lawyer of St. Mary Church in Rashid told International Christian Concern (ICC).

“There is an archaeological marble in Alexandria Museum [that] was discovered in Greek Orthodox Church in Rashid in 1840 and this fact is written in an old and known book called the Beheira Region book,” Gaber continued. This finding is indication that the building has been a church for a very long time. “Also this building has been registered in real estate authority of Rashid as [a] Greek Orthodox church since 1948, and in the Property Taxes office, and the Cadastral map in 1946 says it’s a church. These all prove that his allegation isn’t true,” said Gaber.

The retired judge alleged that the church was sold to him in 1990 because it was abandoned and he registered it in real estate authority of Rashid in 2008 with registration number 514 for the year of 2008.

“If we suppose that this person bought the church in 1990, why didn’t [he] register it after purchasing it directly? Why [would] he wait 18 years to years after the purchase to register it?” Gaber, the church lawyer, said.

The Greek Orthodox community gave the church to the Coptic Orthodox Church to use for prayer and it was consecrated by Bishop Bakhomious, Bishop of Beheira, because there was no longer a Greek Orthodox community in Rashid and the church was closed for a long time without usage.

It was used for prayer by the Coptic Orthodox for the first time in the beginning of 2008. When the judge knew that the Coptic Orthodox took the church and used it for prayer, he began to fight with the church, alleging that he bought it in 1990.

“After we had received the church in January 2008, the judge began to dispute with us alleging that he bought the church from the Greek Orthodox community in 1990, and used his position as a judge and registered its contract,” Father Luka Asaad Awad, Coptic Orthodox priest of the disputed church, told ICC.

We then resorted to the judiciary and filed a lawsuit against him. “His purpose of taking over the church is demolishing its building and rebuild[ing] big shopping malls on its land,” Awad said.

A Series of Violent Attacks on the Church

The first attack on the church took place on September 19, 2008. The judge and his two sons took advantage of the police preparing for the celebration of the National feast of Rashid City on this day in Ramadan month and attacked the church to demolish it.

“On September 19, 2008, at dawn the judge and his two sons hired bulldozers and a group of thugs to demolish the church and stormed the church,” said Mina Adel, a member of the church.

“They demolished the fence of the church, attacked the Christian watchman who was guarding the church [by] beating him, and demolished parts of the church building. They then left the church when many people gathered in the front of the church,” Adel continued.

Father Luka Asaad and Father Maximos, the two priests of St.Mary church, and their lawyer Mnchaoy Ghanim Gaber rushed to the police station of Rashid and filed a complaint against the judge and his two sons.

“Then the report was transferred the prosecution. The thugs whom were hired by the judge to demolish the church said to the prosecution during the investigation with them that [it was] Father Luka who asked them to demolish the church. The prosecution didn’t take any legal action against the judge and his two sons and dropped the complaint which we filed against them,” Mnchaoy Ghanim Gaber, the church lawyer told ICC.

A second attack on the church happened on October 7, 2012. The judge and his two sons, aided by some hired thugs, stormed the church at 4 PM and demolished a large part of its altar. They came to the church with front loaders despite the fact that they did not have a demolition order.

“Father Maximos, the church lawyer, and I rushed to [the] Rashid police station to try to bring the police to help. The police confiscated the loader but refused to take legal action against him because of his position as a judge,” Father Luka Asaad said

Fortunately, an Egyptian TV channel called Alnahar Channel went to interview some people regarding the disputed church on the day when the church was being demolished accidentally, and they filmed the church during the attack.

“On October 9, 2012, local government unit of Rashid released a report No 13145 against this judge, but there is not any court hearing for this report because the judge has immunity,” the church lawyer said.

“In 2013, the judge submitted a lawsuit to the Administrative Judiciary Alexandria demanding a permission to demolish the church and rebuild a new building on its land, but he hasn’t obtained any permission till now,” the church lawyer said. “We resorted to the Islamic Research Complex regarding this dispute…who said [that] it may not allow the demolition of churches and monasteries and may not permit changing the activity which the building was intended for and that the person who thinks to do that betrays God and his prophet.”

Then, in August of 2015, the retired judge obtained a court ruling fining the church 150,000 EGP.

A Side Entrance to the Church

In a final attempt to destroy the church, the judge used one of the shops adjacent to the church and also owned by the church. He took it from its renter under a court ruling and entered the church.

He opened a hole through this shop and entered the church to complete demolishing the church from inside.

“On Wednesday, September 2, 2015 after the judge stormed the church through this shop and began to demolish it from inside we headed to the police station and filed a complaint No 3757 for the year of 2015 against him. The top officer in the police station refused to take any legal action against him, alleging that the judge was repairing his shop,” Gaber said.

“We then submitted a request to the Rashid prosecutors to assign guards to protect the church. On Thursday, September 3, the prosecution issued a resolution imposing guards on the church. On Saturday, September 5, the prosecution recanted this resolution,” the church lawyer said.

The officials have left the church without protection and just waiting for the next attack. Wondering where to look now for protection, Father Luka said, “We beg President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi to intervene and protect the church and stop the demolition of it.”

The saga surrounding the church in Rashid demonstrates the lack of rights and protections that Egypt’s Christian community has.