ICC Note: Once again, a reconciliation session was used as the basis of closing a church that was seeking legalization in Egypt. These sessions are out of court settlements that the authorities claim help reconcile and heal sectarian divides. However, Christians are commonly forced to make disproportionate concessions during reconciliation. These sessions often restrict the ability of Christians to openly practice their faith.
06/04/2018 Egypt (Coptic Solidarity) – From attacks by Muslim mobs to closures by Muslim authorities, the lamentable plight of Coptic Christian churches in Egypt always follows a pattern, one that is unwaveringly only too typical.
Thus, last April 14, a Muslim mob—predictably riled by the previous day’s Friday mosque sermons—attacked the church of the Holy Virgin and Pope Kyrillos in Beni Meinin, Beni Suef. According to Watani, like 3,500 other Egyptian churches, after patiently waiting for decades to receive a permit, the church “had been used for worship for some 10 years now… [T]he building authority committee had recently [earlier that day] visited the church in preparation for legalizing its status, and the attack was waged in retaliation.”
Local authorities’ response was even more typical: Twenty people were arrested after the attack—eleven Muslims (attackers) and nine Copts (defenders). At least five of the arrested Christians, whose “crime” was to try to put out fires Muslims started, were illegally incarcerated for over a month; one lost his job due to this prolonged absence (police refused to admit holding him to his employer).
Thereafter, on May 22, followed the usual “reconciliation” meeting between local Christian and Muslim elders, whereby victims forego their legal rights in an out of court settlement. In order to release their innocents the Copts had to agree to close the church—no more mass, wedding or funeral services on grounds that it is a “security risk”—and agree that the eleven Muslims who led the violent attack also be acquitted.
Just four days after that, the whole process was repeated: on May 26, another Muslim mob attacked a church in the village of al-Shuqaf in the province of Beheira. “The mob,” notes the report, “also pelted the Coptic villagers’ houses with stones, damaged the priest’s car, and set on fire a motorbike that was parked in front of the church. Seven Copts suffered slight injuries. The police was called and caught 11 Muslims and nine Copts.”
As with the previous church incident, according to Watani, this church had also been in use for worship for over three years now, and is known as the church of St Mark… a few months ago, construction work started on building a mosque close to the church. On Saturday afternoon [May 26], the Muslim worshippers began shouting slogans against the church and the Copts, and used the mosque microphones to call upon the villagers to attack the church. Many villagers gathered and waged the attack.
The Coptic villagers claim that the nine Copts who were arrested had been caught randomly in what has now become common practice by the police in order to pressure the Copts into ‘[re]conciliation,’ so that no legal action would be taken against the Muslim culprits in exchange for setting free the Coptic detainees and ensuring a swift end to hostilities.
Such is the unvarying “boilerplate” plight of Egypt’s Christians and their churches. To become acquainted with the persecution of one Coptic church is to become acquainted with all.
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For interviews with Claire Evans, ICC’s Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: [email protected].
