V. Reports, Publications and Activities

42. Dr. Ali Gomaa, the mufti of Egypt, took part in a conference organized by the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. The conference, titled “A Common Word Between Us and You: A Global Agenda for Change,” was held from 6 to 9 October 2009. In the opening session of the conference, one of the many advocating interfaith dialogue, according to press reports the mufti urged for the participants to “go beyond [the step of] understanding to [forming] partnerships, to open many [unexplored] avenues that could lead to new horizons and a process that could add a practical course to an intellectual, religious and theoretical dialogue,”. In the conference’s closing session, the mufti said, “Any Muslim who is not striving for peace does not understand Islam,” citing the fact that Muslims did not alter the identity of the areas they conquered and did not force their inhabitants to speak their own language, the proof being that 80% of the Islamic world are not Arabs and do not speak Arabic. The daily newspaper al-Shorouk reported on 9 October that the mufti took part in another seminar at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C., titled “The Challenges to Moderate Islam: the Egyptian Religious Establishment against Extremism.” In the seminar, Dr. Gomaa said, “The religious establishment in Egypt has rehabilitated some 16,000 Egyptian extremists arrested after Sadat’s assassination. Rehabilitation programs were set up to reduce their militancy and make them less extremist.”

43. The Institute for Coptic Studies organized its first academic conference, titled “A Half Century of Coptic Studies,” on Thursday, 8 October 2009. The three-day conference discussed applied research, Coptic archeological excavations, support for interest in restoring icons, raising awareness of Coptic culture and periodical publishing of writings that would familiarize people with Coptic culture. The conference closed with several recommendations, proposed by Dr. Antun Yaqoub, the dean of the institute. In the recommendations, a copy of which was obtained by the EIPR, Yaqoub stressed the importance of cooperation and contact with associations interested in Coptic studies, the need to establish a digital library and a center for the preservation of Coptic monuments, and contact with universities to encourage the establishment of departments for the study of the Coptic language. He also spoke of the need to teach Coptic history and heritage in Egyptian schools and universities and establish departments in various colleges.

44. On 10 October 2009, 36 Egyptian rights organizations released a statement calling on President Mubarak to issue a decree for a unified law on the construction of houses of worship. The organizations stated that the law would lead to “an end to sectarian tension, stop repeated crises and confront such incidents decisively.” According to the statement, the organizations directed their appeal to President Mubarak due to “the legislator’s delay in confronting the problem and its inability to pass a law, despite the existence of several bills in various People’s Assembly committees.” The organizations believe that such a law would reaffirm the principle of citizenship.

The organizations rejected statements by Dr. Mufid Shehab, the Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, who said that the government is still studying the bill before submitting it to parliament. In the statement the organizations said, “Since 2005, several bills on houses of worship have been drafted and submitted to the People’s Assembly, including a bill by Judge Mohamed Geweili, the chair of the Proposals and Complaints Committee, as well as bills by MPs Kamal Ahmed, Ibtisam Habib, Georgette Qalalini and others. The National Council for Human Rights has also proposed a bill for the construction and renovation of houses of worship.”

45. Egyptians Against Religious Discrimination organized three seminars in the period under review: “The Unified Law on the Construction of Houses of Worship: Duties and Obstacles,” on 20 October 2009; “Sectarian Violence: Causes and Consequences,” on 16 November 2009; and “Is There a Need for a Conversion Law?” on 21 December 2009. In the latter, speakers said that there was less a need for a new law than a better implementation of the current law, as well as a resolution of the government requirement to list one’s religious affiliation on national identity documents.

In related news, on 27 October 2009, the group issued a statement on the sectarian violence seen in the city of Dayrut, located in Assyout governorate, on 24 October (see paragraph 11 of this report), urging “the reinstitution of regard and deference for the rule of law in all its general, abstract and compulsory precepts through the pursuit of the assailants, the arrest of the fugitive suspect and the implementation of the law for all of them.” The statement warned against “falling into the trap of the ill-reputed customary reconciliation meetings, which involve putting aside right and impartiality and seriously dealing with the illness of social violence, starting with sectarian violence.” The group also called for “the creation of a committee at the highest level composed of members of the People’s Assembly and Shura Council, political parties, civil society and advocacy groups and professors of sociology and psychology to study the real causes of sectarian violence and how to confront it so that national interests come before narrow sectarian interests.”

46. On 26 October, the US State Department issued its annual report on international religious freedom. The chapter on Egypt confirmed that “the status of respect for religious freedom by the Government declined somewhat during the reporting period,” which the report attributed to “the failure to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of increased incidents of sectarian violence.” The report noted some positive developments, among them “actions by the courts and the Ministry of Interior that opened the door for the possibility that all of the country’s Baha’is would eventually be issued national identification documents that contain a dash or the term ‘other’ in the religious affiliation field.” The report also described as positive the Court of Cassation ruling that granted a Christian woman custody of her two sons despite their father’s conversion to Islam.

The report states that the government continues to foster reconciliation sessions after sectarian attacks, which often “obviated the prosecution of perpetrators of crimes against Copts and precluded their recourse to the judicial system for restitution.” The report states that this practice has helped create “a climate of impunity that encouraged further assaults.” The report discusses the status of non-Muslim religious minorities officially recognized by the government, saying that they are generally able to practice their rites without harassment, but some Christians and Baha’is (who are not recognized by the government) face individual and collective discrimination in many fields. The report also addressed the Egyptian government’s detention of members of minority Islamic groups, such as Qur’anists and Shi’ites.

The report noted that the Egyptian government took measures to cull the country’s pigs fearing the spread of the H1N1 virus in densely populated urban areas, adding that “some observers identified a sectarian motive for the action. The Government’s culling of the swine had a severe economic impact on Coptic Christian families who rely on pigs and garbage scavenging for their primary income.”

The report says that the Egyptian government detained and harassed several Muslim converts to Christianity, pressuring them to return to Islam: “One convert told U.S. officials that government authorities had raped her. Another convert showed U.S. officials scars from physical abuse he said he had previously suffered in detention, and he subsequently reported further abuse that he said occurred during the reporting period.” The report offered no additional details on these two cases.

The report reveals that the US ambassador in Cairo, senior US administration officials and congressmen expressed their concerns to their Egyptian counterparts regarding religious discrimination against Christians in their ability to build and maintain churches, as well as official discrimination against Baha’is and the government’s treatment of Muslim citizens who convert to another faith.

47. Citizens in One Homeland, which includes many independent Coptic intellectuals, issued its third document in October, titled “The Church of the Egyptian Nation: Future Perspective.” The document analyzed church reform and managing the succession to Pope Shenouda. The group called for a national dialogue on general deficiencies related to religious entities that had become a party in politics, to establish modern strictures regulating the involvement of religious entities in public and political life, adjusted to suit Egypt’s civil tradition as well as modern political development. The document also called for an internal dialogue within the church involving all members without discrimination and “regardless of political alliances,” describing it as “a dialogue that takes into consideration an awareness of the needs of all elements of contemporary administration as agreed upon by others’ experience, among them transparency, accountability and the rotation of power in accordance with modern bylaws and mechanisms that suit the age, as well as institutional administration and the need to deal openly with public opinion and the modern media so as not to undermine the right to knowledge and access to information.”

48. The Copts of Austria Organization held its second conference, titled “Positive Solutions to Copts’ Problems in Our Beloved Egypt,” on 31 October 2009. The conference recommended activating the principle of citizenship as stipulated by the Constitution, to include a reappraisal of academic curricula and the removal of all expressions offensive to all religions that instill hatred in children’s hearts, in order to raise children in a healthy climate far from religious extremism and hatred of others. It also recommended teaching Coptic history in history classes as part of the history of Egypt and creating a pedagogical and media culture that fosters equality, respect for others and freedom of religion.

The conference stressed the need to issue a law against discrimination and the need for a government office charged with examining complaints of religious discrimination related to hiring, promotion or other job related issues. The conference urged the passage of a unified law for the construction of houses of worship and a law that would regulate freedom of religion and the freedom to convert to any religion, as well as consideration for Christian representation in the coming parliamentary elections, whether through a list system, affirmative action, a quota or any other means that would achieve adequate representation of Copts. The conference urged religious institutions not to stand in the way of creative freedom, as well as calling for a renewal of the religious discourse, accountability for extremist ideas that lead to strife and the monitoring of religious publications.

49. A group interested in Coptic issues held the fourth conference for secular Copts on 21 November 2009. The recommendations and conference papers, copies of which were obtained by the EIPR, included demands for a higher church council “to provide the institutional capacity to protect the church from the personal whims and passions of its leaders.” It also demanded that “the church not involve itself in politics and that bishops not be nominated for the position of the Pope, for it creates regrettable conflicts between bishops, in violation of church teachings.” Participants recommended changing the term “ecclesiastic tribunals” to “ecclesiastic discipline,” as well as changing the name of the Confessional Council, an obsolete “sectarian appellation” according to conference participants, to the Secular Council.

50. An opinion poll that surveyed 18,487 people in 20 countries found that 71% of Egyptians support a ban on the defamation of religion and believe that governments should have the right to fine or imprison people who publicly defame religion. The American World Public Opinion group released the findings of the poll on 23 November 2009, conducted in cooperation with the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. The survey found that only 29% of Egyptians support allowing criticism of religion as a form of freedom of expression. The poll found that most people around the world support a person’s right to criticize religion. In total, 13 of 20 countries, or 57%, support allowing criticism of religion in the media as a form of freedom of opinion, compared to 34% who oppose it. Most of the people urging a ban on criticism of religion were Muslim or populations in which Muslims are highly represented. Pakistan came in second after Egypt in support of the ban, followed by India, Iraq, Nigeria, Palestine and Indonesia. Countries polled include the US, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Mexico, Chile, Germany, Britain, France, Poland, Ukraine, Kenya, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The poll was conducted from 25 April to 9 July 2009.

51. The National Council for Human Rights organized its second conference on citizenship on 20 and 21 December 2009 amid low attendance and limited participation from state institutions, officials and Egyptians abroad. The conference, attended by the EIPR, included an opening session in addition to four sessions that dealt with equality and equal opportunity, combating poverty and activating economic and social rights, and citizenship and migrant workers and expatriates, in addition to an open discussion session.

The final statement of the conference highlighted obstacles to an activation of citizenship, including delay to the implementation of most of the recommendations of the Declaration of Citizenship Rights from 2007, particularly the recommendation that the People’s Assembly and Shura Council examine the declaration, give an opinion on it and discuss how to activate it. Others include establishing open, transparent systems for achieving merit-based equal opportunity in public employment and the need for a unified law on the construction of houses of worship. The conference also stressed the need to apply the principles of justice without discrimination before using channels for customary reconciliation and the drafting of a hate crime law that does not conflict with freedom of expression.

52. The Liberties Committee of the Journalists Syndicate convened a press conference on 22 December to express solidarity with Islamic thinker Dr. Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, who was banned entry into Kuwait by the Kuwaiti authorities. Abu Zeid received an invitation from Dr. Ahmed al-Baghdadi, the chair of the Cultural Dialogue Center in Kuwait, to give a lecture, but on 15 December an official at the Kuwait airport said that Abu Zeid was prohibited from entering the country, although he had already obtained an entry visa. Abu Zeid attributed the move to pressure from extremist Islamists in Kuwait because of his ideas and opinions.

The press conference was held in the syndicate lobby after syndicate security officials objected to it being held in the conference room, on the grounds that permission had not been obtained from the head of the syndicate, who was out of the country at the time. Those present declared the beginning of a solidarity campaign with Abu Zeid and asked the Kuwaiti government to apologize. Several intellectuals, researchers and some human rights organizations issued a statement condemning “the Kuwaiti authorities’ submission to advocates of takfir [branding other Muslims infidels], bigotry and closed-mindedness.”