EGYPT: Curfew imposed on two towns as religious violence escalates

Clashes between Muslims and Christian Copts recently spurred  Egyptian security forces to impose curfews on two towns in the governorates of Bani Swaif and Dakahlia.

In Kafr El Barbari in Dakahlia, mayhem broke out Tuesday after  18-year-old Mohamed Ramadan Ezzat, a Muslim, was apparently  stabbed to death by John Emile Gerges, a Christian grocer, in a dispute over the price of a carbonated drink.

After Ezzat's burial later that same day, 25 people were injured as hundreds of angry Muslims attacked Gerges' and other Coptic residents' houses, throwing stones and trying to set the homes on fire.  The violence spurred many to flee the town, which is inhabited by about 1,000 Copts and 3,000 Muslims.

Most Copts are staying at home in fear of other possible attacks. After the incident, dozens of security vehicles, firefighters and ambulance personnel formed a security barrier around the town as police forces tried to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the village. Security forces attempted to intervene to bring peace between the town's Muslim and Coptic leaders, and financially compensating Ezzat's family was being suggested as a possible resolution to end the conflict.

Meanwhile, six people were injured and 15 others were detained by police in the wake of similar confrontations between Muslims and Copts in the Bani Swaif village of Ezbet Gerges on Friday.

Clashes started when a priest decided to turn a social services building for Copts into a small church. Muslims attacked the priest's house and attempted to burn it down. Seven security vehicles were sent to maintain order by surrounding the village and the priest's house.

Priest Samaan Shehata blamed the situation on security forces, saying that none of this would have happened had state security responded to the official request to build a new church he sent months ago. Unlike mosques, building new churches in Egypt requires the authorization of the country's state security.

The two incidents come less than three weeks after 18 people were injured during a fight among neighbors in a village south of Cairo after a vicar held a Coptic Mass in his house.

Christians make up to 10% of the Egypt's population.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Tensions rise between Muslims and Copts in Egypt. Credit: Associated Press

EGYPT: Sexual predator sentenced to 45 years in prison

 In another indication Egypt is cracking down on sex offenders, the Cairo Criminal Court has sentenced Mohamed Mostafa Sayed to 45 years in prison for serial harassment.

The 21-year-old barber, dubbed the "Maadi serial killer" by newspapers, even though he has killed no one, was found guilty of sexually harassing nine females in the neighborhoods of Maadi, Rod El Farag and Basateen between December 2006 and January 2007.

The court announced that Sayed, who used a razor blade to cut his victims' clothes to reveal their bodies in public and sometimes made physical contact, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for each of the nine cases. 

After 11 months on the run, Sayed was caught in February, and despite admitting to all the accusations, he claimed in court that he was forced by police officers to make such confessions.

EGYPT: Blogger detained for 10 hours at Cairo airport

Well-known Egyptian blogger and activist Wael Abbas was detained for 10 hours by Cairo airport security officers upon his arrival in Egypt early Tuesday. Abbas, renown for exposing police brutality and other human rights violations, was returning home from the Talberg Forum, a yearly conference held in Sweden to discuss global interdependence.

"Officers took my passport at 3 a.m. and left me waiting for hours without any clear explanation," Abbas told the Los Angeles Times. "Despite the officers'  threats, I decided to stage a sit-in as a sign of protest. They told me I won't get the passport back until I end the sit-in, which I did after four hours."

EGYPT: Police shut down Iran solidarity march

An attempt by Egyptians to march in solidarity with Iranian protesters and to honor Neda-Agha Soltan -- whose death earlier this month made her the icon of Iran's opposition movement -- was halted by security forces in Cairo over the weekend.

The Cairo rally was called by democracy activist and opposition leader Ayman Nour and was scheduled to be held in Talaat Harb square in the Egyptian capital's downtown. But dozens of security vehicles surrounded Nour and his fellow protesters upon their arrival at the square. Police arrested four protesters belonging to Nour's party and prevented reporters from covering the event.

"It is very ironic how Egyptian authorities, who earlier expressed their dismay against the Iranian regime's oppressive means of handling protesters, are now banning us from a march that shares the same perspective," Nour said at a news conference at his party's headquarters. "Such acts only prove one thing and it is that the Egyptian and Iranian regimes are quite the same when it comes to their autocratic path and rejection of democracy."

EGYPT: Calls for action against Iran over elections

Since the recent clashes between Iranian authorities and demonstrators led by reformer Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who accused the country's supreme leader of forging the elections in favor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Egyptian government has been showing – even if not officially – its support toward Mousavi and his followers.

The Egyptian state-managed Al Ahram newspaper has published a number of articles that represented the government's position. Most of those articles asked the international community in general and Western countries in particular not to stand and watch the Iranian regime's oppressive tactics against demonstrators.

One article went on to suggest that by relying only on rhetoric, Western powers would be showing signs of weakness against Iranian hard-liners, and that would have negative consequences for their relations with a country that poses a nuclear threat to the region.

But is the Egyptian government really keen on Iranians' human rights? It has for years been criticized by rights groups and pro-democracy organizations for mass arrests, election abuses and violations of civil liberties. In parliamentary and presidential elections, ballot forgery has been practiced publicly and many voters were kept from reaching the polls.

By asking Western powers to interfere in Iran, the Egyptian administration may have left itself vulnerable on the question of fair elections. Egypt is one year away from parliamentary elections, which will be followed by the 2011 presidential election. If both were carried out with the same glitches and allegations of corruption as in 2004 and 2005, the government could encounter pressure from other countries to provide more transparency.

The government's concern for unrest in Iran most likely has less to do with the rights of Iranian voters than it does with Cairo's regional struggles with Tehran. Iranian support of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories has clearly angered President Hosni Mubarak's administration, especially after an alleged Hezbollah plot to back terrorist attacks against Israeli tourists in Egypt was discovered.

So it appears Egypt may be more interested in geopolitics than voting rights when it comes to Iran. But at least now Egyptians can hope that if they ask for international monitoring of their elections they won't be accused of treason. Their government already demanded the same in Iran.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Iranian Basiji militiamen face demonstrators. Credit: AFP

IRAN: Rafsanjani's daughter arrested, state TV reports

Iranian state TV is reporting that the daughter of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani – a senior cleric and an architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution – has been arrested along with four other relatives.

Press TV states that Faezeh Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s eldest daughter, was arrested Saturday after addressing supporters of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The news came as Tehran settled into a tense calm between security forces and protesters angry over allegations of fraud in the June 12 elections.

The arrest of Hashemi, which could not be independently confirmed, is an indication of the divide between Iran’s senior clerics over the direction of the country. Supreme leader Ali Khamenei supports hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but reformers such as Rafsanjani back Mousavi.  Rafsanjani, 75, sits on two influential organizations, including one that can elect and dismiss the supreme leader.

 In the aftermath of Saturday’s street clashes, which killed at least 13 people, there was an atmosphere of blame and recrimination as security forces labeled protesters terrorists and demonstrators condemned the harsh tactics of government-backed militias. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said dozens of injured protesters were arrested when they sought medical treatment.

"The arrest of citizens seeking care for wounds suffered at the hands of security forces when they attempted to exercise rights guaranteed under their own constitution and international law is deplorable," said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesman for the campaign, denouncing the alleged arrests as "a sign of profound disrespect by the state for the well-being of its own people.”

He added: "The government of Iran should be ashamed of itself. Right now, in front of the whole world, it is showing its violent actions."

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

EGYPT: Human rights activist calls for online presidential poll

Human rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim has called on fellow Egyptians to participate in an online poll to see which potential candidates they favor to succeed President Hosni Mubarak.

In an article published in Al Dustour on Wednesday, the self-exiled sociologist stressed that there is a crucial need for Egyptians to decide upon options as to who might best lead the country in the event Mubarak steps down or dies.

"Whether Mubarak will die now or after a long time, I ask everyone to choose who can take his place as the next Egyptian president," Ibrahim said in his article. "In order to maintain the safety of citizens taking part in this poll, participants should choose their preferred candidate and send it directly to my e-mail address."

Ibrahim, a visiting fellow at Harvard University, says the idea for the poll came to him after a conversation with U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, who asked Ibrahim if anyone could compete with Mubarak's son, Gamal, a leading member of the ruling National Democratic Party, as successor.

Ellison wondered about other possible candidates: opposition leader Ayman Nour; retiring International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed El Baradei; Islamic preacher Amr Khaled; director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Omar Sulieman. Consequently, Ibrahim put the five names in alphabetical order for poll participants to choose from.

"I couldn’t give Ellison a solid answer to his question. My response was only based on guessing and my personal opinion and that prompted him to inquire if Egypt undergoes any general polls showing people's directions toward important matters like this," Ibrahim said.

"I told him that similar censuses could only be allowed after the permission of the authorities, like state security and intelligence, who never allow such surveys to be carried out, and that was the moment I promised him to carry out the poll myself."

Ibrahim, founder of Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo, whose recent in absentia conviction and two-year sentence for allegedly defaming Egypt's image abroad were recently overturned. Despite expressing a strong desire to return from his self-exile in the United States, Ibrahim is yet to decide a return date as he is still accused of spying by the Egyptian general prosecutor.

--Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Saad Eddin Ibrahim. Credit: AFP / Getty Images

EGYPT: A Christian denied identity by court

In the eyes of Egypt, Maher El Gohary is not a Christian. An administrative court has ruled that the convert cannot be issued identity papers as a Christian -- another reminder of the legal and social pressures faced by those who stray from Islam. 

El Gohary, who converted to Christianity in 1973, has been living with Muslim identity papers. But he claims that persecution over the years prompted him to demand the right to officially change his religion. He also sought to change his name to Peter Athnasios, as well as to seek 10 million Egyptian pounds, or $1.7 million, in compensation for damages.

In his mission to obtain such a right, El Gohary provided the court with documents stating that he was baptized by the Orthodox Church in Cyprus in 2005, as well as by the Shebin Al Qanater archbishop in Qalyoub, a governorate in Egypt.

The administrative court ruled that both documents were ‘legally invalid’ because the Cypriot certificates were written in Greek and did not include any "clear evidence" that El Gohary was actually baptized. The court considered the Shebin Al Qanater documents to be similarly unfounded because the request to be baptized there was made on the Cypriot certificates.

El Gohary’s lawyer, Nabil Ghobrial, said: “The Egyptian Civil Law issued in 1994 grants citizens the right to convert to and from Christianity and obtain the official papers proving it. The main problem is that such law is always disregarded by judges, who sometimes only rule according to their personal religious beliefs.”

Conservative Muslim clerics consider abandoning Islam for Christianity or any religion as treason and punishable by death. Converts have for years faced persecution and harassment in Egypt, and some have fled the country. El Gohary has recently filed a complaint to the attorney general against cleric Youssef Al Badry, who reportedly called El Gohary a conspirator.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Maher El Gohary and his daughter. Credit: BBC

EGYPT: To publish or burn

The man who once threatened to torch Hebrew-language books now, in a twist of international literary diplomacy, apparently wants to publish them.

Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni is attempting to tidy up his past comments about burning Israeli books by offering a more conciliatory gesture: to print them in Arabic. The change came as writers and artists criticized Hosni’s nomination to head the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

“Farouk Hosni is the opposite of a man of peace, dialogue and culture, he is a dangerous man who inflames hearts and spirits,” went an open letter signed by filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. “We invite all countries dedicated to liberty and culture to take the initiatives necessary to avert this threat and avoid the disaster that would be his nomination.”

Hosni is trying to untangle himself from comments made last year when asked if there were Hebrew-language books in Egypt’s Alexandria library. He reportedly said: “If there are any, I will burn them myself.”

The quip fit the spirit of the artistic war Egypt has waged against Israel for decades. This nation may have been the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but the Palestinian crisis prompted Egypt’s writers, intellectuals, musicians and artists to boycott the Jewish state. That sentiment may work for a novelist but not for a politician seeking the U.N. post for promoting cultural understanding.

Hosni has apologized. The ministry has announced it will publish in Arabic the works of  Israeli writers David Grossman and Amos Oz. Or will it? A report over the weekend in Daily News Egypt suggests otherwise.

Stay tuned for the next chapter. 
    
-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Farouk Hosni. Credit: BBC 

IRAN: Arab world awaits election results

As Iranians head to the polls to elect a president, the Arab world is watching, especially the so-called "moderate Arab states," including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who have lately been warning of a looming Iranian threat to the region.

The headline of the Saudi-owned London-based pan-Arab daily, Asharq Alawsat on Friday morning read [Iranian presidential candidate Mohsen "Rezai to Al Sharq Al Awsat: we have secured Iran's place as a power...and our people deserve a better life."

He meant better than the life they are living under incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The Iranian president's fiery rhetoric, alleged nuclear ambitions and open support for militant groups abroad make him an unpopular figure both in the West and in those Arab states that maintain warm relations with the U.S., especially Saudi Arabia.

On the opinion page, neocon darling Amir Taheri warned that whoever becomes the next president will have to "reverse the foreign policy that led to diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and threats of war" favored by Ahmadinejad.