- EGYPTIAN Christians have been subjected to horrific crucifixion rituals,
raped and tortured by the security forces during a crackdown on the ancient
Coptic community, according to international human rights and Christian
groups.
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- Hundreds of Copts have been rounded up
in southern Egypt after suspected retaliatory killings involving local
Muslims and Christians. Apart from the crucifixions, teenage girls have
been raped and babies as young as three months savagely beaten.
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- Most Copts are too frightened to speak
about their plight. But the local bishop and two priests are now facing
the death penalty for bringing the persecution to the attention of the
world. To the embarrassment of President Hosni Mubarak, whose government
is attempting to win back tourists after last year's Luxor massacre by
Islamic militants, 29 American Congressman have
now written to him to demand an end to the torture.
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- The Egyptian embassy in London refused
to comment last week. However, over the past month, police have reportedly
detained about 1,200 Christians in Al-Kosheh, near Luxor in Upper Egypt.
Seized in groups of 50 at a time, many were nailed to crosses or manacled
to doors with their legs tied together, then beaten and tortured with electric
shocks to their genitals, while police denounced them as "infidels".
An 11-year-old boy, Romani Boctor, was hung upside
down from an electric ceiling fan and tortured as the fan rotated. Young
girls were raped and mothers were forced to lay their babies on the floor
of police stations and watch police beat them with sticks.
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- Bishop Anba Wissa, the local head of
the Coptic Church, said: "It was horrific - entire families were severely
beaten and tortured, and some of the children will be scarred for life.
When I protested to the regional police chief, he said 'you haven't seen
anything yet'." The bishop and two priests were detained last week
by police and charged on five counts including "using religion for
the purpose of inciting strife and damaging national unity", charges
punishable by death or life imprisonment.
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- The Al-Kosheh crackdown followed the
murders of two Christians, allegedly by Muslims seeking revenge for the
poisoning of one of their brothers, although doctors had recorded his death
as due to natural causes. Rather than investigate, Bishop Wissa said, police
simply rounded up Christians, apparently to avoid a clash between religious
communities in the town which has 35,000 Christians and 15,000 Muslims.
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- Although Coptic Christians make up six
per cent of the population of Egypt and their numbers include the former
United Nations Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali, the government
refuses to recognise them as an official minority and they have suffered
persecution for years from Islamic extremists. This latest incident is
the first time that the police have been the perpetrators and the Coptic
community fears it may be the sign of worse to come. It follows the closure
in July of a Coptic church in the Maadi suburb of Cairo, which was surrounded
by seven armoured vehicles as its doors and windows were sealed by security
forces.
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- Although President Mubarak portrays himself
as a moderate, human rights activists believe that the police action reflects
a wider infiltration of Islamic extremists into senior official positions.
Joseph Assad, a project co-ordinator with Freedom House, the Washington-based
centre for religious liberties founded by Eleanor Roosevelt, said: "This
is not an isolated incident. I fear Egypt is turning by stealth into an
Islamic state".
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- Simon Qadri, of Christian Solidarity,
a human rights agency, said: "There is this image of Egypt as a secular
country which is fighting fundamentalism but it is not true at all. Islamic
law is the basis of the constitution and there is no freedom of religion.
If anything, Mubarak tries to appease the fundamentalists."
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- Copts were the ancient inhabitants of
Egypt before the Arab invasions in the seventh century, but have been surrounded
for centuries by a hostile Muslim majority. They now need presidential
permission to open a church, their history cannot be taught in schools
and people can be arrested under the National Security Act for converting
to their faith.
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- Mustafa Shukravi, a human rights activist
who converted to Christianity and was jailed for 10 months, was granted
asylum in England last month. He said: "I was beaten with sticks and
electric shocks. I was hung, blindfolded, made to stand for five days and
five nights."
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- Despite the outcry over the Al Kosheh
attack, the Mubarak government has refused to take action. A letter of
protest from Freedom House to the Egyptian ambassador in Washington elicited
the reply that only 25-40 Christians were arrested, it said: "Bishop
Wissa is known for his extreme religious views and stirring sectarianism."
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- Last week the United States Senate approved
the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act under which President Clinton
is obliged to take some form of action against all countries cited by the
State Department as not allowing religious liberty. Egypt is prominent
on this list.
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- The State Department is sending officials
to Cairo to meet Bishop Wissa next week. The bishop has medical reports
on many of those detained, some of whom will be permanently disfigured,
on addition to photographs of their injuries and hopes that these may be
used to lobby for a boycott on tourism or other form of sanctions.
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- But the Clinton administration sees Mr
Mubarak as a key player in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians
and seems unlikely to risk upsetting him by reducing its £1.3 billion
aid package.
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