The Canadian Coptic
Association
Restriction on churches construction in Egypt is
Contravenes the right to the Freedom of belief
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Wedding being conducted in the street for lack of churches |
The
Copts (The Christians of Egypt) have been subject to religious
discrimination /persecution in their own land for generation.
One manifestation of discrimination / persecution of Christians
are the restrictions applied to churches construction and
repair. There are several villages with sizable Christian
community where the Christians do not have a single church.
We, therefore, put in front of the international community’s and
all organisations concerned with Human Rights conscience this
situation of an Egyptian village with large Christian community
called Manqateen in El-Minya, Upper Egypt, where under police
instructions, The Christians of the villagers are prevented from
practising their religion, an act which contravenes all
international Human Rights conventions and treaties which Egypt
is a signatory.
The Christians in the village of Manqateen in El-Minya, who are
approximately 5000, built a church in 1978, registered it
officially under the name of St. Anthony’s Church. While the
construction is underway, Muslim mobs attacked some Christian
homes in the village and burnt down the church. When police
arrived, police officers ordered to stop the building of the
church, which still taking effect till now.
The Village Copts appealed to President Hosni Mubarak, the
Secretary of State for Interior, the local Governor, and the
local Head of State Security Police, no response took place till
1999 when officials from the Ministry of Interior came to
inspect the place, the reply came in 2002 from the Secretary of
State for Interior refusing the completion and resumption of the
use of the church. When asked about the reason behind the
refusal the answer was “the security situation does not permit”.
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As the Copts were
disparate to have a place for Wedding ceremonies and
funerals as well as other socio-religious activities (Since
the closure of the village church, weddings and funerals
rites took place in the middle of a street in the village in
open air), To avoid the humiliation, villagers sough to
conduct their ceremonies in the grounds of a Christian
Society registered under number 502 Ministry of Social
Affairs, Copts sought to hire a more spacious hall, an
application to the Ministry of Social Affairs was made and
agreed. |
The agreement of the
Ministry of Social Affairs was number (5) on 13/1/2002,
however, the local police again seized and closed the new
site with permanent guard.
Once again Copts
appealed to the Secretary of
State for Interior, and the Head of the Local Police under
number 166 on 13/10/2003, was send to the Ministry of
Interior under number 8173 and to the Governor of El-Minya
governorate under number 300 on 12/10/2003. The reply from
the Governor of El-Minya came refusing the application. The
answer as always has been “the security situation does not
permit”.
Copts wonder, is
building a church a threat to Egypt security? How long
should Copts complain to the police and authorities? How
long and how many complaints are to be lodged? And when
will the freedom of worship of 5000 Christians in Manqateen
would be respected?
Where is the slogan
“we are one fabric”?, which has frequently and repeated been
said by the government. This village with equal numbers of
Christians and Muslims has 7 mosques! When the worship of
the Christians seize to become a matter of security threat?
- Dr Selim Nagiub
- President of the
Canadian Coptic Association
- Ph D in Law and
Political Affairs
- International
Lawyer and Human Right Activist
- Retired Judge
- Member of
the International Law Committee, Geneva.
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