EGYPT - Clashes after the Islamist assault on a church. Four dead

Cairo (Agenzia Frides ) – An Islamist attack on the Coptic Church in the area of Ain Shams, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Michael, occurred on Friday, March 28 causing the death of four people, including a 25-year-old journalist, and a Coptic Christian. Demonstrations organized in various parts of the capital and other cities across the Country by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, represented a reaction against the official candidate in the upcoming presidential election of General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
In the suburb of Cairo in Ain Shams protesters carried out their violence against the church. With the intervention of the security forces, clashes spread in the neighborhood.
According to sources of the Coptic Church, it seems the woman, Sameh Merry, was killed after Islamists noticed she had a cross dangling from the mirror of her car. According to other versions, Merry was killed because of a firearm. Bishop Raphael, secretary of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox, expressed words of condolences for the death of the woman.(GV) (Agenzia Fides 29/03/2014)

Agenzia Fides

Egyptian Board of inquiry: violence against Copts continues

Cairo, March 26 (Agenzia Fides ): The Board of Inquiry concerning the accidents on 30 June, in charge of monitoring sectarian violence that continues to cross Egypt after the overthrow of President Morsi, has documented in a report released on Tuesday, March 25 the endemic forms of violence and abuse that continue to be perpetrated against Coptic Christians in many parts of the Country, particularly in the governorates of Luxor, Sohag and Aswan. In the report, consulted by Fides Agency, reference is made to abductions, expropriation of houses, shops looted where Egyptian Copts continue to be targeted victims. The worrying scenario has been reconstructed in detail on the basis of meetings with community representatives, civil society organizations and material provided which witness this phenomena of violence. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 26/03/2014)

Agenzia Fides

EGYPT - Pope Tawadros: the so-called "Arab Spring" was actually a winter

Cairo,March 24 (Agenzia Fides) - The so-called Arab Spring in reality "was not a spring or even an autumn, it was a winter". With this judgment without appeal Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II rejected any globally positive interpretation regarding the results caused by rebellions and conflicts that have devastated most of the Middle Eastern and North African countries, including Egypt since the end of 2010. In an interview broadcast on Saturday evening, March 22 from Kuwaiti satellite channel al-Watan, the head of the largest Christian community in an Arab Country added that the wave of uprisings was encouraged by Western powers with the intention of dividing the Arab world "into smaller countries".
Tawadros also acknowledged that General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi had sweeping popularity in Egypt as "the hero of the June Revolution who had saved Egypt", overthrowing Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, and added that the nomination of al-Sisi for the next presidential election would be a "patriotic action". In the interview, the Coptic Patriarch criticized Morsi’s presidency, saying he ruled "in the name of religion" while distorting the image of Islam. Pope Tawadros also rejected the idea of the Coptic Church nominating Christian members of the government, saying the task was better suited for the government which could appoint ministers based on efficiency and regardless of their religious faiths.
In the interview, Patriarch Tawadros also criticized the tendency of some Western media to dramatize in some cases the news about secondary episodes of assaults against church property, with the desired effect of spreading a "distorted image" of Egypt. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 24/3/20214)

Agenzia Fides

EGYPT – Coptic politician Shukrallah: what worries me is the possible return of the military to power

Cairo, March 6 (Agenzia Fides) - The Coptic politician Hala Shukrallah, the first woman elected to lead a Party in Egypt, has expressed "concern" with regards to the possibility that a return to power of the military in the Country could jeopardize a genuinely authentic democratic system.

Shukrallah, elected Presedent of the liberal Al-Dustour Party (founded by the Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei) in February, interviewed by the Egyptian media about the likely candidate for the presidential election of General Abdel Fattah al- Sisi, confessed her concern regarding the "incursion of the military in a democratic election". The Coptic political leader said she was concerned even before the operations of repression that caused nearly 1,500 deaths in the last eight months, especially in the ranks of Islamist groups, while recognizing the impossibility of a reconciliation between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian society. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 06/03/2014)

Agenzia Fides

New rules for election of Orthodox Coptic Pope examined by civil authorities

Cairo, February 25 (Agenzia Fides) – The Synod of Orthodox Coptic Bishops has approved new regulations for the election of a Patriarch. The rules are now being examined by the Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Fides was told this by Catholic Coptic Bishop of Minya, Bishop Boutros Fahim Awad Hanna. “The Orthodox Coptic bishops gathered from 17 to 19 February for a meeting presided by Patriarch Tawadros II” says Bishop Boutros “approved new rules for the election of the Head of the Orthodox Coptic Church. The text has not yet been made public, but it is known that some articles have been revised others have been removed since they no longer reflected the present situation of the Orthodox Coptic Church. Among other things, the electoral body will include representatives of the Orthodox Coptic community in the diaspora, today more than two million faithful”.

After being approved by the Synod the new regulation must be ratified by the President of Egypt. “The election of the Patriarch” Bishop Hanna told Fides “is part of Orthodox Coptic community law ratified by the Constitution , which guarantees Christians the right to elect the Leading members of the respective church communities. The procedure therefore is guaranteed by civil law, and for this reason must be ratified by the offices of the Presidency” (GV) (Agenzia Fides 25/2/2014)

Agenzia Fides

Coptic Orthodox Christian is the first woman elected to lead a political party in Egypt

Cairo, Feb 24 (Agenzia Fides) – Coptic Orthodox Christian, Hala Shukrallah, elected head of the Constitution Party, is the first woman leader of a political party in Egypt. Hala Shukrallah succeeds Nobel Mohamed El Baradei, who in April 2012 formed the Constitution Party presenting it as an “inclusive” reality, aimed at earning consensus among young Egyptians overcoming the contraposition of “religious” and “secular” political groups.

Aged 59, leftist sociologist who reached social-democratic positions , Shukrallah, in 2006, participated in the foundation of the Movement of Egyptians against Discrimination. In her first statements, the newly elected Party leader of the Constitution Party, expressed little enthusiasm for the insistence on the part of the media that she is the “first woman and first Coptic Christian” to lead a political Party. Shukrallah said that in her opinion this insistence could induce people to focus only on the label preventing them from “considering the contents of what is being said”. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 24/2/2104).

Agenzia Fides

Pope Tawadros II pays visit to General al-Sisi

Cairo, 27 January(Agenzia Fides): On Sunday 26 January, the Pope of Alexandria Tawadros II paid visit to General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces. During the visit Pope Tawadros expressed his congratulations to the Egyptian Armed Forces on the occasion of the third anniversary since the beginning of the revolution which in February 2011 led to the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak. The large delegation that accompanied the Patriarch included 6 other Coptic Orthodox Bishops. Pope Tawadros - the statement said - expressed gratitude "for the price that the Armed Forces are called upon to support them in their fight against terrorism and for the maintenance of security in the Country". Even General al-Sisi in turn expressed appreciation for the Coptic Church and its contribution to the unity of the Country, against any attempt to sow discord among the Egyptians.

The meeting assumes a singular symbolic value if one takes into account the new phase of violence that is shaking the Country: terrorist attacks and deaths in squares during clashes between protesters and security forces. Last weekend, between Friday and Sunday, more than eighty people died across the Country, concentrated largely in the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Despite the violent repression, the army continues to want to be credited as a guarantor of the process that should lead to the roots of the democratic system in the big African Country. The date of the next presidential election is expected to be announced soon, and General al-Sisi is hailed in the streets by his many supporters as a future head of State able to restore stability and security in the Country. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 27/01/2014)

Agenzia Fides

Malankara Orthodox condemns violence against Coptic Christians

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Ahmedabad: H E Pullikkottil Dr Geevarghese Yulios, Metropolitan of Ahmedbad Diocese of the Indian Orthodox Church of the East, has issued a Kalpana supporting the cause of the Coptic Christians who have been subjected to serious violence in Egypt. Sectarian clashes had killed 24 people, mainly Coptic Christians, last week. Dr Geevarghese Mar Yulios has issued a Kalpana from Bengaluru from where he is presently camping begins with offering prayers to Almighty for the Coptic Church.
It goes further: “The perpetrators of violence on Copts in which many people were killed this month in clashes during a demonstration over an attack on a church are condemnable. Action has not been undertaken to solve the problems of Egypt’s Coptic Christians headed by His Holiness Pope Shenuda III.”

“The Christian faith denounces violence. Some strangers infiltrated our sons and commit the wrongs for which the Copts have been blamed,” the church has rightly said in a statement.
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church strongly condemns such acts by the Egyptian military and it extends full support towards their just cause. The church also extends its help and prays for them to tide over their present hour of crisis.

Last week, HH Pope Shenuda III, head of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, had called upon all the Oriental Christian churches to support their cause and fast for 3 days.

The Kalpana further notes the Copts felt that these problems occurred repeatedly without the perpetrators being held to account, the law being enforced or root causes of the problems resolved. The government’s decision after the deadly unrest that it would prepare within a month a legislation to lift restrictions on church building and banning demonstrations outside places of worship is welcome.

Dr Mar Yulios has wished the Copts blessings and to enable them to continue God’s Ministry. Christians, make up about 10 per cent of Egypt’s 80 million people. Islamists have been using disputes over the legal status of some church buildings to stir up sectarian conflict.

Source: orthodoxchurch.in

Maspero clashes a conspiracy by SCAF, say political powers, witnesses

By Heba Fahmy / Daily News Egypt October 13, 2011, 6:20 pm

CAIRO: The events of Oct. 9 were a full-fledged conspiracy led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to kill peaceful protesters, Muslims and Christians, according to a statement released Thursday by 29 political powers and public figures at a press conference Thursday.
"SCAF faced the peaceful march with live ammunition and armored trucks that ran over Egyptian citizens in a massacre that saw unprecedented violence," the statement read.
The political powers called for trying all those involved in the Maspero massacre, including the chief of military police General Hamdy Badin, Minister of Information Osama Heikal and the Governor of Aswan, Mostafa Al-Sayed.
They also called for cleansing state media and canceling the Ministry of Information, in addition to heeding to the Copts’ demands and issuing a unified houses of worship law.
The political powers and public figures included the Coalition of the Revolutionary Youth, the April 6 Youth Movement, the Democratic Labor and the Free Egyptian parties, in addition to actor Amr Waked and business tycoon Naguib Sawiris.
During the conference, a video was played showing armored trucks driven by armed military police running over protesters.
In one clip, a military officer is riding a public bus following the clashes, telling the people surrounding the bus, "I shot one of them with three bullets" as the crowd cheered and applauded him.
Several eye-witnesses backed the statement and recounted the bloody clashes at the conference.
"Once we entered the street near Ramses Hilton heading towards Maspero, we were faced with bullets, rocks, armored vehicles and tear gas," said Mary Daniel, sister of activist Mina, 25, who died in the clashes.
"The scene was more than horrific," she added.
Lobna Darwish, 25, said the march from Shubra started out with families, including children and grandfathers raising crosses.
When it approached Maspero, Darwish recalled, a row of riot police charged at the protesters and started beating them. First the riot police were firing in the air and then they started firing at the people, she said.
Darwish added that she saw four armored trucks deliberately run over people.
"At first when I saw the first tuck, I thought it was an individual case of a military officer who went crazy," she said. "But there were four armored personel carriers [APCs] running over the people again and again."
In a press conference Wednesday, the ruling military council denied that army forces used live ammunition against the Maspero protesters on Sunday, or that personnel intentionally used armored vehicles to run over civilians.
The council neither confirmed nor denied whether the army vehicles that crushed protesters were in fact driven by army personnel or civilians who got hold of the APCs.
Khaled Aly, member of the Egyptian Center for Social and Economic Rights, slammed the army's statements.
"The army never protected our revolution," Aly said. "Who attacked the revolutionaries on March 9 and April 9 in Tahrir Square? Who killed Mina Daniel?"
The military police cracked down on protesters in Tahrir Square on March 9 and April 9, and were accused of torturing those detained in the Egyptian museum and forcing female protesters to undergo virginity tests when they were temporariy held in military prison.
Aly said that fire trucks washed the streets in front of Maspero of all the evidence at 4 am Monday only hours after the deadly violence.
Aly questioned the role of the Prosecutor General and demanded that the case not be investigated by the military prosecution.
Magda Adly, a doctor at Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, echoed Aly’s sentiment, saying a “neutral committee needs to investigate the incident, not the military council because the council is involved in the clashes."
Adly, who witnessed the autopsies of some of the victims, said that at least seven died of gunshot wounds while 10 were run over by very heavy objects.
"We couldn't find the bullets inside the [victims’] bodies," Adly said.
Three of the bodies Adly saw suffered fractured ribs.
Adly added that there were reports that some of the bodies were thrown in the Nile by riot police and military forces. A complaint was filed to the Prosecutor General to search for these bodies.
Manal Khaled, an employee at the state TV building said that military police informed the employees to leave the building by 2 pm, because the building would be closed as a precaution against mass protests expected to be held by armed Copts later in the day.
"They told us that armed Copts would come to the TV building and [violent clashes] would erupt," she said.
Khaled left the building at 4 pm and said she saw a small group of "peaceful, unarmed," Coptic protesters, calling for the rights to build churches.
Later in the evening, Khaled headed towards Maspero again after hearing about the clashes.
She saw injured military officers entering Maspero for first aid, but added that the medical department at Maspero wasn’t equipped to deal with any serious injuries.
"I can only assume that the military officers had mild injuries, otherwise they would've been referred to an equipped hospital or they were just putting on a show," she said.
One of Khaled's colleagues told her that riot police wouldn't let him leave the building at 6 pm, saying that they had orders to fire on protesters.
Khaled also saw a group of ultra conservative Muslims, shouting "Islamic, Islamic" and holding clubs on Galaa Street near Maspero.
"One of them stopped me and asked whether I was a Muslim or a Christian," she said.
Amr Ghoneim, a Muslim who participated in the march, also said that a group of conservative Muslims appeared near Maspero saying that they were informed by interior ministry officers that Copts were burning copies of the Quran in front of Maspero.
"We had to convince them that we were Muslims and get them to listen to us," he said.
The witnesses said that they were attacked with rocks under Shoubra bridge, but weren't sure where the attacks came from.
"Until when will Egypt continue to suck the blood of its [own] children?" Daniel asked. “Mina dreamed of the day where he would see Egypt beautiful and free.”



Source:http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/egypt/maspero-clashes-a-conspiracy-by-scaf-say-political-powers-witnesses.html

Statement of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on the Egyptian Military's Massacre of Copts

The Russian Orthodox Church has followed the developments in Egypt with concern and bitterness. Blood has been spilt and Christian churches have been destroyed again. There is another manifestation of growing intolerance towards Christians and their legal and physical vulnerability in the Egyptian society.

Our Church knows from her recent history what the suffering of innocent people and destruction of churches are. We raise our voice in defence of our Egyptian brothers in faith and call upon the world community not to be indifferent to this lawlessness. The United Nations and other international organizations and leading world powers capable of influencing the policy of the new authorities in Egypt should unequivocally come out against the persecution of Christians and do everything to help establish interreligious peace and security in the region.

The tragic ordeals the Egyptian Christians are undergoing so courageously are links in the same chain which has already brought out a new and ever growing wave of emigration. Egypt is a country in which the Christian and Muslim communities have lived together for centuries. The aggression against Christians lies on the conscience of destructive radical forces whose motives are not at all religious. We appeal to the leaders of the Islamic world to express a clear condemnation of the violence against Christians, to respect their right to openly confess their faith and to preserve their religious and cultural traditions. At an hour when the very future of Christian-Muslim dialogue is threatened, religious leaders should demonstrate in deed their commitment to peace and mutual understanding.

We called upon the Egyptian authorities to put an end immediately to the violence against the ancient Coptic community, to the murders of Christians, to the defilement of churches and shrines. It is insufficient to declare commitment to the principles of justice and human rights; rather it is necessary to ensure the real observance of freedom of conscience in the country. The historical Christian community in Egypt should have the right to confess its faith freely and safely and to preserve its old churches and to build new ones.

The Russian Church once again expresses her support for the suffering Egyptian brothers in Christ, calling them to preserve the spirit of peace, to defy provocations, to be faithful to our Saviour in their suffering.

+ Kirill

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

Source: lacopts.org

Statement of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church Issued after its October 10, 2011 meeting

A meeting of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church was held in the Papal residence in Cairo, Egypt on 10th October 10, 2011. It has issued the following statement:

The Holy Synod was troubled by the incidents that happened yesterday, Sunday; the martyrdom of more than 24 Christians and the wounding of 200 during their peaceful march.

While stressing our Christian faith rejecting violence in all its forms, we cannot neglect that strangers might infiltrate among our sons and commit mistakes that are attributed to the latter.

Still Copts see that their problems are consistently repeated without punishment or legal action against their aggressors or implementation of radical solutions to these problems. The Holy Synod invites the Coptic people to pray and fast for three days starting tomorrow Tuesday so that the Lord dwells with His peace in our beloved country Egypt.