The Free Copts الأقباط الأحرار

حجازى : مسيحى مع إيقاف التنفيذ

2009-12-05T19:42:00.005-05:00

أول من أشعل فتيلاً فى قضايا المُتنصرين..

البعض اعتبره فتيلاً لشعلة ضوء وسط ظلام دامس..

والبعض الآخر اعتبره فتيلاً لقنبلة، قد تنفجر بين الحين والآخر..

"محمد أحمد عبده محمد محمد حجازى".. (بيشوى) -فى حديث خاص للأقباط الأحرار- يتحدث عن مُعاناته فى رحلة البحث عن الهوية، وعن دعواه أمام القضاء ومُطالبته بتغيير أسمه وديانته فى الأوراق الثبوتية، ويَرُد على المُشككين فى نواياه الحقيقية ودوافعه لتغيير ديانته، وعن موقفه من التنظيم الدولى للمُتنصرين، وموقف الكنيسة حيالهم، وتقييمه للعلاقة بين الأقباط والمُسلمين فى ظل الاحتقان الأخير... وقضايا أخرى..

ومُحاميه (الأستاذ/ أشرف إدوار) يتحدث عن فُرص حصوله على حُكم إيجابى لصالح موكله، وتقييمه لموقف القضاء المصرى من قضايا المُتنصرين..

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2009-11-24T15:16:00.001-05:00

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2007-11-30T11:02:00.000-05:00

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Bakri Begs. Britain Refuses.

2006-07-22T15:22:00.000-04:00

The following article appeared on the web site www.thesun.co.uk

Hate preacher Omar Bakri fled to the hills yesterday after Britain rejected his plea to escape the war.
The Muslim cleric, who ran away from Britain last year, had tried to board a ship full of women and children but was turned away.
He scurried to the mountain town of Aley, above Beirut, yesterday after Israeli missiles fell two miles from his his luxury flat.
The fanatic — who hailed suicide bombers as “magnificent martyrs” but called for an Israeli-Hezbollah ceasefire yesterday — clearly had no intention of laying down his life.
From the safety of the town’s swish Highland Hotel, Bakri, 46, launched into his familiar rant against Britain and Tony Blair.

He later nodded at morning prayers at the local mosque as the imam urged all Muslims to fight to the death for Hezbollah. I confronted the former dole scrounger as he left and asked why he was not willing to be a Hezbollah martyr.
He replied nonsensically: “You will not force your views on me.”
Then he ranted: “What has this fight got to do with me? I am Lebanese. If you are British your Government treats you like a human being but if you are not British you are treated like an animal.”
Bakri, a father of six and grandfather of four, left his family in Britain living on dole handouts.
His bid at Beirut port on Thursday morning to get on any British vessel ferrying evacuees to Cyprus was blocked by officials.

Predictably, Bakri blasted Britain for not letting him in, even though he has only a Lebanese passport. He said: “The embassy told me we are not dealing with visit applications, only British citizens who want to get out on a ship.
“I said, ‘What about my children in the UK who are concerned about their father? I don’t care what you think about me’. But they wouldn’t listen because I’m not a British citizen any more.
“I left Britain of my own free will and have never been charged with any offence. This has happened because I support the Palestinians, Iraq and Lebanon. All Muslims should unite and call for a ceasefire — but Tony Blair doesn’t want that. He wants bombing.”

Bakri left his family last August and went to Lebanon after a Sun campaign to kick him out. Charles Clarke, then Home Secretary, revoked his indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
In March he boasted: “When I left England I bought a one-way ticket out. I never want to see it again.”
But he changed his tune as soon as the Hezbollah guerillas he supports sparked the Israeli attacks.
In 22 years in the UK, Bakri sponged £300,000 in benefits. He preached violence and called the 9/11 terrorists the Magnificent 19. His preachings are thought to have encouraged British suicide bombers Omar Sharif and Asif Hanif.

More Cases of Disappearance of Coptic Girls.

2006-07-21T17:12:00.000-04:00

The web site of Copts-united, has posted news about the disappearance of two more Coptic girls, believed to be kidnapped or brainwashed to leave their families and disappear without any trace. So far, the security officials have not made any efforts to find the girls, which increased the suspicion that the security forces are helping the fanatic Moslems of Egypt to force Coptic girls into converting to Islam.

The first girl is called Domiana Makram Hanna, from the area of Yousif El Sadeek, El Fayoum., who disappeared on Friday, July 7, 2006 on her way to visit her uncle in a neighbouring village. The prime suspect in this case is a person with the name of Mohamed Al Sayed Zaki, a known fanatic Moslem who has a history of interfering with Domiana. It is said that the head of the local unit of Criminal Investigations, an officer with the name of Mohamed Thabet is deliberately obstructing the efforts to find the girl.

The second girl’s name is Mary Saad Mahfouz Shenouda, from Kalyoub. Mary disappeared on Sunday, June 25, 2006 after going out with a friend, and as she was waiting for the transport microbus to go home.

Mary’s brother, George Saad M. Shenouda said that he sent telegrams, and faxes to President Hosni Mubarak, the Interior Minister Habib El Adly, Prime minister Ahmed Nazeef and many other officials, and that he has never received a reply. He, and the rest of the family, are very worried that after 30 days of the kidnapping, Mary can be forced to convert to Islam. He states that both parents of Mary are in bad shape and their health has gone from bad to worse since the disappearance of their daughter.

For more details, in Arabic, please go to the web site www.copts-united.com

Fatwa Against Hezbollah.

2006-07-21T15:28:00.000-04:00

One of Saudi Arabia's leading Wahhabi sheiks, Abdullah bin Jabreen has issued a strongly worded religious edict, or fatwa, declaring it unlawful to support, join or pray for Hezbollah, the Shiite militias lobbing missiles into northern Israel.

The day after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers on July 12, Sheik Hamid al-Ali issued an informal statement titled "The Sharia position on what is going on." In it, the Kuwaiti based cleric condemned the imperial ambitions of Iran regarding Hezbollah's cross border raid.
The surprising move demonstrates that Sunni Muslim fundamentalists in the Middle East are deeply divided over whether Moslems should support Hezbollah, Iran's Shiite proxies in the war raging in Lebanon.

While the Gulf's ascetic Wahhabi sects, who are closer to the ethnic fighting between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq, have opposed Hezbollah in its stand against Israel's forces, other Sunni fundamentalist groups, such as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, have pledged their solidarity. On Friday, the brothers will host a rally in support of Hezbollah at Cairo's most influential mosque, Al-Azhar.

The profound division between the most violent Muslim enemies of America and Israel may be one reason Arab capitals have not yet exploded in rage about Israel's bombardment of Lebanon. The White House has already pointed to Jordanian, Egyptian, and Saudi government condemnation of Hezbollah.

The latest Arab Israeli war presents a conundrum for many Sunni Jihadists. On the one hand, a chance to join in the resistance against the Jewish state presents a rare opportunity for zealots who revere the Palestinian Arab martyrs that have sacrificed their lives to kill Jewish civilians. But the main group doing the fighting, and instigating the war this time in Lebanon, are supported by the same Shiite state that supplies and funds the militias killing Sunni civilians in Iraq.
"I think that fatwas like Jebreen's are significant, because the division between Sunnis and Shia is more apparent than in the past," the director of the SITE Institute, a group that tracks the online Jihad community, Rita Katz, said yesterday. Mr. Jebreen retired two years ago from Saudi Arabia's government committee approving fatwas. Ms. Katz says he is considered one of the most respected and more mainstream Wahhabi clerics in Saudi Arabia.

The division between Sunnis and Shiites goes back to the Koran. Mohammed's son in law, Ali, claimed that he had been chosen as his successor, and to this day Shiites believe that Ali held the true claim to the Caliphate. Sunnis believe the prophet made no such choice and recognize the line of Caliphs that began with Abu Bakr, the choice of the prophet's companions after his death.
One can pick up some of this history in Mr. Jebreen's fatwa. In it he refers to Shiite Hezbollah as "rafidhis," meaning rejecters. In his religious edict, Mr. Jebreen writes, "Our advice to the Sunnis is to denounce them and shun those who join them to show their hostility to Islam and to the Muslims."
"Three years ago, I have not been seeing chatter along such lines.This became more prevalent following [the dead Al Qaeda leader in Iraq] Zarqawi's declarations against Shia. Iraq has a lot to do with this," Ms. Katz said yesterday. A week before Zarqawi was killed in June, he gave a four hour sermon entitled, "Did you get the message of the Shiites," where Ms. Katz says he portrayed the Shiites as the enemies of Sunni Muslims.

Arab Regimes Back Israel's Attacks on Islamist Groups.

2006-07-19T09:47:00.000-04:00

Israel has gotten a green light for its military response to the abduction of several of its soldiers from more than just the United States. Arab governments too have been notably silent as the crisis in the Middle East grows.

Far more surprising than U.S. statements of support for Israel's assault on Gaza and Lebanon are similar proclamations from Arab governments. Just before the Israeli cabinet gave Prime Minister Olmert the green light for more attacks, a spokesperson for the Saudi government called for Israeli restraint, but blamed the current conflict on Hezbollah's seizure of two Israeli soldiers. "There is a difference between legitimate resistance and miscalculated adventures," he stated.

The official for the Saudi Ministry of Information hit hard on Islamic resistance groups in Lebanon and Gaza. Those groups, he said, should "bear the consequences of the crisis they have created."Meanwhile, both King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Mubarak of Egypt warned that Hezbollah is dragging the Arab world into conflict through its misguided gambles and adventures. The majority of Arab regimes has been silent about Israel's new two-front war. Their foreign ministers to the Arab League will not meet to discuss the crisis until July 15, three days after the start of Israeli air attacks and time enough for Israel to completely destroy Lebanon's infrastructure.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon or Gaza are not something new; nor are prisoner exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel. To date, there have been three prisoner exchange deals between Israel and Hezbollah (July 1996, June 1998 and January 2004) and several prisoner swaps between Israel and the PLO. The most famous swap was in May 1985, when in exchange for three Israeli soldiers held by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Israel released 1,150 Palestinian political prisoners. So why the overblown Israeli reaction to the capture of several Israeli soldiers, and the Arab silence this time?In a new strategy shift, the dependence of Palestinians and Lebanese on Arab regimes to confront and contain Israel politically and militarily has ended. Militant groups from Palestine to Iraq -- groups known in the Arab world as the Islamic Resistance and as "terrorists organizations" by Israel and many Western countries -- have been taking matters into their own hands.

Arab masses have long realized the powerlessness of their leaders to end the conflict in Iraq or alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians. People throughout the Middle East remember the failed mediation attempts by King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Mubarak of Egypt to lift the September 2002 siege on Yasir Arafat. Arafat remained a prisoner in his compound until few days before his death on November 11, 2004, when he was air-lifted to a military hospital in France only after French President Jacques Chirac intervened. At the same time, as Arab regimes' influence over organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah has waned, Israel has lost a kind of buffer zone. Unlike the PLO in the past, neither Hamas nor Hezbollah is dependent on Arab state support. Syria's influence over Hezbollah takes second place to that of Iran. Hence, the Israeli government is very concerned that any success achieved by Hamas or Hezbollah will open the way for more groups -- perhaps even Al Qaeda -- to fight Israel or terrorize Israelis.Arab regimes are very concerned as well. The aftershocks left by the elections in Gaza are still felt beneath the seats of monarchs and leaders stretching from Riyadh to Rabat. Many Arab rulers are threatened by democracy and the rise of Islamism in the region. In Gaza, they are challenged by a democratically elected Islamist government, Hamas. In Egypt, the challenge comes from the Islamic Brotherhood, and in Lebanon, from Hezbollah, commonly referred to as a "state within a state."Away from the sectarian violence that has plagued Iraq, Hamas (a Sunni organization) and Hezbollah (Shiite) have found themselves on the same front, fighting a battle for their survival. The survival of each is dependant on the other. Similarly, Arab regimes and Israel have forged an undeclared alliance to rid themselves of the growing menace in the region, "popular Islamist movements." Israel is doing the bombing and destruction, while Arab regimes quietly cheer on the sidelines.Today, on Al-Manar Television in Beirut, Hassan Nassrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, answered the Saudis and others and said, "As for the Arab rulers, I will not ask you about your history. Just a brief word, we are adventurers...We never bet on you, we always bet on God."

Did the Arab rulers bet on Israel? Did Hezbollah and Hamas miscalculate? The coming days should tell.

Coptic Church Is In Safe Hands.

2006-07-16T11:00:00.000-04:00

The foundation of a new church in Egypt headed by Max Michel as the Archbishop of True Orthodox Christians was highlighted by the media in a manner which far out-weighted the magnitude of the issue. Some have accused the media of amplifying the issue to stir sectarianism. Such a claim is an exaggeration; there is no place here for the conspiracy theory usually recalled at times of crises. The media is entitled to cover events and present divergent outlooks. In fact, many of the social ills which have long ravaged our society remained buried under the surface until they were brought to light and investigated by the media. In such cases the media informs, promotes awareness, and protects public opinion from falling prey to fallacious concepts or attitudes.

As regards the issue of Max Michel’s church, it should be stressed—a priori—that the Coptic Orthodox Church is so deeply entrenched and firmly established in Egypt that there can be no serious threat to it. Its congregation and clergy should rest assured that there is no reason for confusion or fear. Churches are not commercial projects competing for customers. The Coptic Orthodox Church has a history which stretches 2000 years back, shelters Christian faith and guides millions of true believers who find comfort and peace in God. It is inconceivable that these millions could be easily tempted to join an upstart church. It can be further said that, besides the Church’s spiritual core, these millions form the shield which protects it.

The recent wave of fear and worry, and the call by some to defend the faith against an alien incoming church is uncalled for. It only serves to make heroes of the advocates of the new church project, and depict them as victims of persecution and oppression. Pope Shenouda III did well to hold a press conference to tackle the issue upon his arrival home from the US where he had been on a trip for medical treatment. The Pope’s words were confident, affirmative, calm and reassuring. In reply to worried questions, he said that the issue was too minor to be raised to the presidency, and that the US administration was neither behind nor supported this breakaway church. He challenged those who ordained Max Michel archbishop to prove he was affiliated with any of the Orthodox churches, whether the 15 Western Orthodox or the six Eastern churches.

Max Michel, the pope said, acknowledged the seven councils of Orthodox churches, while our Coptic Orthodox Church acknowledged only three. The Pope’s sensible statements assured millions that the Coptic Church is in safe hands and holds on to the true faith.The Pope further tackled an issue long placed on hold when he warned that Max Michel insisted on wearing garments similar to those of Coptic Orthodox archbishops, which may be dangerously misleading to simple folks. "We have long demanded that the formal clerical garments of the Coptic Orthodox Church should be registered and limited to the use of Coptic Orthodox clergy. President Mubarak promised to meet this demand and I do not know why nothing has yet been done about it". Registering clerical costumes is in fact one among many issues placed on hold—such as passing the unified personal status law for Christians. Shelved, these issues are time bombs ready to explode at any moment.

Egyptian Policeman wounded at Gaza Gate.

2006-07-14T15:06:00.000-04:00

Militants forced open a border gate between Egypt and Gaza on Friday, wounding an Egyptian officer and letting hundreds of Palestinians who had been trapped on the Egyptian side of the border to get into Gaza.

Armed militants stood by as people carrying suitcases crossed into Gaza. Some walked through on crutches while others walked or ran through the gate.

Egyptian police Capt. Mohammed Abdel Hadi said masked Palestinian militants firing guns broke into the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, clearing the way for the trapped Gazans.

One Egyptian border policeman was wounded when the militants stormed the frontier, said Abdel Hadi, who heads police on the Egyptian side of Rafah.
The crossing, Gaza's main gateway to the outside world, has largely been closed since June 25, when Palestinian militants carried out a raid on a military outpost, killing two Israeli soldiers and capturing one.

Islamists Tighten Grip on Mogadishu.

2006-07-13T17:55:00.000-04:00

Islamists tightened their grip on the Somali capital, Mogadishu, taking control of its main port and demanding that all government property be turned over to them.

In separate developments, Islamic militia opened fire to quell a tax protest in a former warlord stronghold north of the capital, shooting dead at least one person, wounding several others and arresting dozens, witnesses said.

And heavily armed Islamic gunmen stormed a village in Somalia's central Galgudud region after receiving reports that several warlords were attempting to regroup there, residents said.
The Islamists took custody of Mogadishu's port from a local militia leader, witnesses said, two days after they ousted the last remaining member of a US-backed coalition of warlords from the capital. The other warlords were routed in June.

As a local militia chief peacefully surrendered the port, a senior official from the Islamist union, the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS), ordered that all public facilities in Mogadishu be ceded to the SICS, a demand likely to further antagonize the country's transitional government.
"The other remaining government properties must be handed over to the Islamic courts," SICS executive committee chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said."Mogadishu is right now under control of the Islamic courts," he said. "We will control every other important thing in Mogadishu. I encourage everybody who is opposed to the Islamic courts to change that stance and support them."

High Level Dialogue Between Egypt and USA.

2006-07-12T15:23:00.000-04:00

Egypt and the United States are to start holding frequent inter-ministerial consultations on key issues in the Middle East, Washington's top regional envoy David Welch said.
"I conveyed this morning an invitation from Secretary (of State Condoleezza) Rice to Foreign Minister Abul Gheit to begin a high-level strategic dialogue between Egypt and the United States," Welch told reporters after meeting Abul Gheit.

"The foreign minister has accepted this invitation," said Welch, who added that Abul Gheit and an Egyptian delegation were expected in Washington on Tuesday.

"We will cover all the topics of interest in our relationship. This means naturally that we shall discuss the critical regional issues, that will include Iran, Iraq, issues of concern in Africa, for example Sudan and Somalia, and particularly the Israeli-Palestinian question," Welch said.
He said the concept had been in the works for some time and stressed that "a good format" was needed for exchanges between "two countries like Egypt and the United States that have important responsibilities on the global stage."

Welch said that bilateral issues would also be discussed in the new framework, including political reform and human rights.
Egypt, the second largest recipient of US aid after Israel, has acted as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and several other hotspots in the region.

Article By H.H Pope Shenouda.

2006-07-10T15:53:00.000-04:00

On the occasion of the safe return of H.H Pope Shenouda III to the land of Egypt, here is an article written by him in English. The Pope's articles, in Arabic, English, and French, can be found on his web site http://www.copticpope.org

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Do Not Despair

However weak your spiritual life may be, do not despair; for desperation is one of Satan's wars by which he wants to weaken your morals and stop your resistance, to fall in his hands. Even though you despair of yourself, never despair of the grace of God.

If your deeds do not lead you to repentance, God's work for you might do. Sometimes, in your spiritual life, the cause of despair may be setting before you ideals above your level, or taking steps which do not comply with the necessary gradual progress. And because you cannot achieve what you want, you despair. Therefore, it is better to put before you a gradual system within your power and abilities and within the gifts God gave you. Be aware that God wants only one step from you and if you take it He will lead you to the next and so on.

You might despair because you cannot stand before the Lord unless, first, you make yourself better. It is preferable to say to Him I cannot reform myself and then come to you, but I come to You so you can make me better.

Do not despair if you feel that you do not love God. Do not say what is the use of all my works since I do not love Him! Say rather if I do not love God, it is a comfort that He loves me and with His love He can make me love Him.
If you practise the spiritual means but do not feel a true attachment to God, do not despair. Keep on the spiritual readings, even without understanding. Keep on praying, even without warmth, confess always even though you feel no penitence. Perhaps because of your perseverance, the Grace of God may seek you and give you the understanding, warmth and penitence. Your mere perseverance in the spiritual means puts God in your mind even without repentance! But if you despair and break the commandments, you might go downwards and forget God completely. Even if you are in a weak state, do not despair. It is better for you to stay as you are than to be lead through despair to worse.

To Veil or Not To Veil.

2006-07-09T08:32:00.000-04:00

Recent news that one of Egypt’s best loved actresses, Hanan Turk, was taking up the Islamic veil or higab has been the talk of the town. The popular talk show al-Beit-Beitak—literally, The House is Yours meaning ‘feel at home’, broadcast on the national TV Channel II, could not let the matter pass without comment. The host introduced the story as if the actress had finally found illumination and was being guided along the correct path, while the actress-turned-preacher lectured the audience with a sermon on religious opinions and morality.

Clearly it is not for us to comment on whether or not any woman decides to wear the veil, which is a very personal matter. We do have a right to comment, however, on the fact that the conversation on the show switched to a discussion and an implied comparison on life before and after wearing the veil, where life before the veil was characterised by lack of religiosity and life after by spirituality and devotion. This comparison is a slap in the face for a freedom of choice based on liberalism and coexistence, a principle that should overrule other conventions.

Since the decision to wear the veil is personal and warrants no comment from viewers, the same should apply to the decision not to wear the veil. Biased opinions should not be broadcast on national TV, which is financed by all tax payers in the country—Muslims, veiled and non-veiled, and Christians—and feeds the concept of viewing the non-veiled woman as less pious and less moral than the veiled.

Worth noting is that these views were broadcast on the same TV channel that shows non-veiled women broadcasters who are very open-minded, and many programmes, video-clips and films that lead to comments on ‘extra’ liberalism. What does all this mean? Is the host of al-Beit-Beitak recording an objection against the association he works for? Or is he transmitting his personal opinions on life and religion? Or is the whole issue just a conflict of coincidence, reflecting the lack of a definite media policy? The answer may be all of the above.

French Counter-Terrorism Head Warns On Muslim Recruiters

2006-07-08T12:58:00.000-04:00

Recruiters for hard-line Islamist groups can turn Muslim youths with little interest in religion into extremists in a matter of weeks, the head of France's counterterrorism agency said in an interview published Friday.
A year after suicide bombers launched attacks on London's transit system, Pierre de Bousquet de Florian told the daily Le Parisien he could "not rule out" the possibility of a terrorist attack in France. The fact that there have not been any attacks in Europe since last year's bombings on the London transit system "does not mean there haven't been any plans," he said. "We have - like our British and Italian colleagues - neutralized groups that could have taken action," Bousquet de Florian said, adding authorities dismantled "several groups" in the Paris region and in the south of France in late 2005 and earlier this year.
Bousquet de Florian said one potential threat comes from volunteers who pass through Syria to fight in Iraq but are returned to Europe "to carry out the jihad according to one of the strategies developed by (Abu Mussab) al-Zarqawi," the head of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in June.

"The model is evolving," the DST official said, adding this was in part due to an increase of Iraqis taking part in the fight against U.S.-led forces, leading to a reduced need for young, untrained volunteers unless they volunteered as suicide bombers. However, another significant change is the shortening time span needed to transform a young Muslim into a radical ready to take action. "We have noticed a shortening in the time between recruitment and the radicalization of these volunteers," Bousquet de Florian was quoted as saying. "Young people who are indifferent to religion fall in a matter of weeks into the toughest kind of Islam and, almost without any transition, into the most worrisome kind of activism," he said.
The official said that, thus far, nine French nationals who joined up with insurgents in Iraq have died there, and about 10 are believed to be in combat zones. Two others have been detained and held in Iraq, he said. With about 5 million Muslims, France has western Europe's largest Muslim population. Some 5,000 embrace extremist Islam, according to a report last year by police intelligence.

Pakistani Prayer For Zarqawi.

2006-07-07T20:50:00.000-04:00

US Cancels Invitation to Pakistani MP Over Zarqawi Prayers.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) -The US mission in northwest Pakistan withdrew an invitation to an Independence Day reception to the speaker of the provincial legislature because he allowed prayers for the slain leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, officials said.
Speaker Bakhat Jehan Khan was invited for the reception in Peshawar on Saturday but just before the ceremony was told that he would not be welcomed, senior US diplomat Michael Spangler told AFP.
"I sent a letter to ... Khan expressing deep shock over allowing fateha (prayer) for Al-Zarqawi and informing him I was unable to welcome him to our 7/1 official reception," Spangler said.

Khan presided over the North West Frontier Province assembly which is dominated by pro-Taliban Islamist MPs who collectively offered condolence prayers for Al-Zarqawi on June 21.
Zarqawi, who was Iraq's most wanted man with a 25 million dollar bounty on his head, was killed in a US air strike on June 7 near the restive city of Baquba, north of Baghdad.

The Islamists have tried to impose a Taliban-style rule North West Frontier Province since 2002 when they rose to power on anti-American sentiment after the US-led invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan.
Pakistan is battling the remnants of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who sneaked into in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Sacked Priest Proclaims Himsalf Pope.

2006-07-06T16:48:00.000-04:00

"Charlatan", "heretic" and "traitor" are but a few words that have been used to describe rebel priest Maximus I, who has decided to break away from the Egyptian Coptic Church under Pope Shenuda III and form his own alternative church

A group of Coptic lawyers on Tuesday announced that they were initiating legal proceedings against Maximus for "insulting Pope Shenuda III".
But Maximus justifies the need for a new Church in Egypt by saying that Shenuda, who has headed the Coptic Church since 1971, has incited sectarian violence in the country.

Maximus, with a neatly trimmed beard and thin-rimmed glasses, brags about US-backing for his new church and insists that he has about half a million followers.

"No one has ever heard of this charlatan," said Munir Fakhri Abdel Nur, a Coptic politician and leader in the liberal Wafd party.
"There is only one Church and only one Pope," insisted Abdel Nur who says that Copts have "always refused any foreign intervention in their affairs".
"The fact that this man boasts US support will automatically distance him from the people," he said.

"This person was chased from the Church. He is a heretic who only represents himself," said Morkos Aziz who is in charge of the Al-Mouallaka parish, one of the most significant in Cairo.
The timing of the whole affair is sensitive but not coincidental, some say.
Over the past month, Shenuda has been undergoing medical treatment in the United States and Germany, and is due back in Cairo on July 9.
News of the 83-year-old Pope's ill health has sparked discussion in the Coptic community and beyond as to who will be the future Pope.

The timing of Maximus's campaign serves the purposes of "certain parties in whose interest it is to divide and weaken the Church," said Abdel Nur without identfiying those parties
During the 2005 presidential elections, Shenuda declared his backing for Mubarak in the country's first ever multi-candidate elections.
But his pro-Palestinian stance and his refusal to accept normalisation of relations between Egypt and Israel has won him favour with many.
Shenuda famously banned Copts from performing pilgrimmage to Jerusalem while it is under Israeli occupation.
All this, according to Coptic deputy Georgette Kallini, opens the door for a more pro-US church in Egypt.
"The Coptic Church does not adhere to US (political) positions and it is therefore normal that Washington creates another one which would follow orders," she said.
The US embassy in Cairo, however, was quick to reject the accusations.
"It's absolutely untrue," US embassy spokesman John Berry said.
"There is no way we are interfering" in the affairs of the Coptic Church, he said.
But Maximus is confident that his church will take off.
"We have presented the church papers to the interior ministry and I know, 100 percent, that we will get approved," he said.

An observer said the rebel priest would not be talking so boldly had he not been given at least an informal nod from the authorities.
"He preaches and receives worshippers at his church in Moqattam (Cairo). This would have been impossible without the implied approval of the authorities," researcher Magdi Girgis said.

Quotes About Copts And Moslems.

2006-07-05T08:40:00.000-04:00

With talk on sectarian conflict filling Egyptian minds, papers and skies, the following quotes seemed especially pertinent.

"The criticism directed at the religious address and sermons of mosque imams is a kind of insolence at a time of increased insolence. Most of the criticisers are not known to be familiar with their religion [Islam], nor do they perform any of its due rituals."
Al-Azhar grand imam Sheikh Sayed Tantawi, as reported by the Cairo daily Al-Ahram, in response to the claim that mosque imams were fanning the flames of fanaticism and sectarian conflict through their Friday sermons •

"I challenge anyone who claims that any mosque imam or preacher serves to foment sectarianism. Minister of religious endowments, Sheikh Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq in Al-Haqiqa weekly • Some mosque imams disregard national and citizenship rights in their sermons…They claim to promote religiosity while they only destroy the nation and divide its people."
Tareq Hassan, political writer at al-Ahram •

"Scores of so-called Islamic bookstores, each with a printshop of its own, publish books which play on the sentiments and instincts of simple Muslims."
Dr Samir Sarhan, former head of the Book Authority, on the huge number of ‘Islamic books’ flooding the market, propagating a narrow-minded, fanatic image of Islam, and promoting a body culture as far as relations between men and women are concerned. •

"We should all try to do something about the increased suffering and consequent immigration of Christian Arabs, not only for their sake but also for the sake of continued humane existence in our region and our world."
Radwan al-Sayed, writer, in al-Hayat al-Dawleya published in London •

"In order to ingrain in our society cultural values which oppose sectarian conflict, we must promote acceptance of the other between Copts and Muslims. Competence alone and not religion should be the only measure of assignment to jobs."
Dr Sultan Abu-Ali, former minister of economy •

"Instead of striving to promote a culture of tolerance and enlightenment to confront the extremist thought which came to us from the oil countries [of the Arabian Peninsula], and which have wreaked havoc with our [normally tolerant] religious address and educational system, we chose to turn a blind eye to it. We swept the national unity problems under the carpet, considering it enough to propagate a rhetoric of ‘one national fabric’ and courtesy meetings between [Muslim and Christian] religious leaders. Such measures are absolutely futile, and the matter now requires a confrontation that cannot be delayed."
Dr Hisham Sadeq, Professor at the Faculty of Law of Alexandria University •

"The ending to the recent Alexandria sectarian events is still open. More sectarian events could destroy the nation and hand over its people’s destiny to others outside its borders."
Dr Rifaat Laquosha, Professor of Law at Alexandria University •

"Those who believe religion is a nationality do not only live a huge illusion, but also stab in the heart the concepts of the nation and full citizenship rights."
Abdou Mubasher, political writer at al-Ahram •

"Only Egyptian Muslims swear talata billah al-azim (three times, in the name of the great God). This is a clear intonation on the thoroughly Christian “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” • Can anyone on earth believe that Egyptian children do not learn of the journey of the Holy Family into Egypt, this journey that is reportedly full of miracles, was blessed by God, and taken care of by Egyptians."
Journalist and writer Neam al-Baz, who writes for children and signs as “Mama Neam”. She wears the higab (the Islamic veil), and is famous for her elegant looks, and affectionate, outgoing nature. Ms Baz is a keen advocate of national unity.

Coptic Treasures Get The Home They Deserve.

2006-07-04T13:22:00.000-04:00

Mogamaa Al-Adian, Old Cairo's religious compound, is finally free of the roar of trucks and lorries that have blocked the entrance to the Coptic Museum for three years now. And the museum itself, with its limestone façade loosely based on the Al-Aqmar Mosque, has finally opened its doors to visitors in an area the attractions of which include the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al-Aas, the Hanging Church and the Synagogue of Beni-Ezra.

On Monday President Hosni Mubarak formally opened the museum during a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and scores of Egyptian ministers and senior government officials. The president was guided through the museum's 26 galleries, containing 13,000 items, by Culture Minister Farouk Hosni and Supreme Council of Antiquities' Secretary-General Zahi Hawass. They also watched a 15-minute documentary film on the restoration of the museum.
"The restoration of the Coptic Museum was an ambitious project," says Hosni. "It is one of Cairo's oldest museums and its restoration is an illustration of the government's commitment to preserving the nation's Coptic, as well as its Pharaonic and Islamic, heritage."

Over three years, and with a budget of LE38 million, the museum has been comprehensively refurbished. The main body of the museum, which blends Roman and Fatimid forms, was built by Morqos Semeika Pasha in 1910. But by 1992 it had fallen into a state of disrepair, and after the earthquake of that year was closed for safety reasons, leaving only the new wing, added in 1947, open. In 2003 that too closed as the massive overhaul of the museum began.

Hussein El-Shabouri, the consultant engineer responsible for the restoration, says the museum building was in a critical condition when the restoration began. The walls of the old wing had developed cracks following the earthquake, the ceiling decorations were almost indistinguishable beneath the layers of accumulated dirt and much of the mashrabiya at the windows was broken. The floor of the new wing had been partially destroyed by subterranean water leakage and there were no emergency exits.

To rescue the buildings the foundations were consolidated and strengthened by micro-piles, sharply- pointed columns installed beneath the new wing.
To improve visitor flow the two wings have been connected by a corridor and their levels readjusted. A hydraulic lift and wheelchair ramps have been installed for disabled visitors.
The wooden ceilings in the old wing have been cleaned, revealing painted scenes of Venice and Istanbul. And in collaboration with the American Research Centre in Egypt (ARCE), a team of Italian restorers consolidated, cleaned and conserved the museum's most important frescoes.

Co-existence In Egypt.

2006-07-02T11:05:00.000-04:00

By Ammar Ali Hassan.

Despite recent sectarian tensions it must be stressed that the situation in Egypt remains much better than in most other Arab states. Iraq and Somalia both face the prospects of fragmentation, Lebanon and Syria are rife with constant friction, in North Africa there are tensions between the Arabs and Amazigh, and in Sudan between the north and south, the east and west.
Yet until now Egyptians have remained capable of burying limiting sectarian conflict. Incidents in Al-Kishh, for example, did not lead to confrontations in Cairo or Alexandria. Nor did the recent clashes in Alexandria spread to other neighbourhoods.
Yet leaving matters as they are, depending on a history of tolerance, is no longer an option. The problem has reached the wider public, previously the exemplar of respectful, shared living.
In the past Christian complaints fell into two categories. First there were objections about the lack of equality, the fact that they were barred from holding some public posts, and discriminated against by the bureaucracy. Then there was a fear of extremist Islamist organisations, some of which attacked Christian interests during the period of tense confrontation between the regime and Islamist groups between 1988 and 1997.
Now, though, incendiary actions are being undertaken by members of the public. The protests that followed the conversion of a priests' wife, Wafaa Costantine, to Islam, are one case in point. Then there was the distribution of a CD of a play deemed offensive to Muslims, which ended with the church in which the play had been staged being besieged. Most recently confrontation broke out between the general public on both sides after a person the government described as mad attacked three churches in Alexandria.
For such outbursts to be prevented a number of basic conditions must pertain.
First, "political" and "religious" groups must be clearly demarcated. Rights and duties in everything related to politics must be equal, while religion should be dealt with on the basis of the golden rule that "religion is for the Judge". The relationship between the two sides should be based on the principle, formulated during the 1919 Revolution, that "religion is for God and the homeland for everyone".
Second, the debate between Muslims and Christians in Egypt must not be transposed onto the past but focus on the present. Christians should not talk excessively of the persecution they suffered following the Islamic conquest of Egypt, and Muslims should not brag to Christians about saving them from the oppression and harsh persecution of the Byzantines.
Third, Muslims must admit that among them are those who view Christians as infidels, while Christians must admit that their ranks contain extremists who view Muslims as heretics. Such an acknowledgement is necessary to begin along the path of co-existence.
There is also a dire need to respond to misinterpretations of texts in the Quran and Bible. The texts of both holy books espouse values sufficient to build mutual respect between Muslims and Christians.
It is also essential to separate religion from politics. The church should not attempt to play a political role, and Islamic organisations and groups should not continue to politicise religion. We might, though, consider "religicising" politics, giving it the moral framework that is essential if corruption and despotism are to be confronted.
Many intellectuals and members of the political and social elite, Muslim and Christian, hold that solving the problems of Egypt's Christians is possible only within the framework of comprehensive political reform, and a civil, democratic state based on citizenship and the rotation of power. This would open the door to freedom of expression and the formation of political parties that would not depend on their primary affiliations of religion, tribe and geographic location.
Any problems between Muslims and Christians in Egypt must, of course, be solved within an Egyptian agenda, and through the mediation of Egyptians. Summoning foreign powers will lead to disaster, and it will impact on Christians before Muslims.
Co-existence depends on balanced dialogue between all concerned parties, whether as individuals or groups. Dialogue and mutual understanding must be raised above zealotry and there must be a readiness to deal tolerantly with others, and accept opposing opinions. Tolerance must not be viewed as a relationship in which one party is stronger than the other, but as a necessity of civilised life.
It is also essential that wealth and opportunities be evenly divided. And the Egyptian people must better understand that differences between people in terms of language, religion, ethnicity, colour and culture should not be turned into an obstacle blocking co-existence between different groups.
There is no point in focussing excessively on abstract theories about the concept of co-existence. Rather, it is essential to steadily work at determining the mechanisms of conciliation. This can be done by activating dialogue and raising the values of tolerance, not as stammered slogans but as something that informs our daily lives. Fear of transgression must be removed, and the particularity of the culture of others recognised.
The Egyptian government must eliminate all factors that threaten the idea of co-existence and end all discrimination on the basis of religion, language, ethnicity and colour. It must be courageous in dealing with misinterpreted religious teachings that fuel religious extremism.
While there are opportunities for co- existence, we must admit that problems exist that, if exacerbated, may come to undermine that very goal. Among these we must count the behaviour of some security officials and employees in the bureaucracy, as well as extremist Islamist groups that produce rhetoric inciting hatred against Christians, and extremist Christians who call for all Muslims to leave Egypt.
Whatever the problems facing co- existence in Egypt they have yet to coalesce into a major threat. Egyptians are one of the most cohesive peoples in the world in terms of their ethnic characteristics and physical measurements, and one with the most similar in terms of appearance and features. This cohesion covers psychology as much as biology. Anba Shenouda expressed this clearly when he stated, "the unity of Egypt and the Egyptians is one of the secrets of this eternal country... Is it geography? Is it the inhabitants?... We have suffered great tragedies throughout history, and yet our unity has survived."
Demography is certainly a factor. Christians are found in almost all of Egypt's villages and cities. They do not live in a specific region as is the case with the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. This matter creates daily interactions between Egypt's Muslims and Christians, and increases the interlocking of mutual interests.

Having a Slave in the USA.

2006-07-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

She was forced to clean their home, take care of their five children, prepare food and do the laundry, for no pay.

An Egyptian former couple have pleaded guilty to enslaving a 10-year-old girl in their southern California home.

The girl, who was brought to the US from Egypt, was forced to work 16-hour days and was not allowed to leave the house during her 20-month ordeal.

Abdel Nasser Eid Youssef Ibrahim, 45, and his ex-wife, Amal Ahmed Ewis-abd Motelib, 43, agreed to plead guilty to four federal charges.
They face jail terms of three years when they are sentenced in October.
The girl, whose name was not released, was brought to the US by the couple in August 2000 when she was 10.

She was forced to clean their home, take care of their five children, prepare food and do the laundry, for no pay. She lived in squalor in the garage and was told that if she left the house in Irvine, southern California, she might be arrested.
The girl was discovered by immigration officials in April 2002 after an anonymous tip-off.
Ibrahim and Motelib pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary servitude and harbouring an illegal alien.
The pair also admitted slapping the girl at least once to get her to work, said the plea agreement.
They now face three-year jail terms when they are sentenced on 23 October. They must also pay the girl, now 16, $101,516 (£56,000) in compensation and back pay.

After the hearing in Santa Ana, the judge called a recess after Motelib had difficulty admitting her crimes to the court, reported the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
"We did a mistake here in the United States of America because we didn't respect the law," she said through her translator. "At that time we were new here."
One of her daughters wept quietly as the hearing went on, the paper said.

The girl is now with foster parents and attending a public high school. She has received a green card granting her permanent residency.

Videos About the Zagazeeg Murder.

2006-06-30T18:24:00.000-04:00

The web site www.copts-united .com is showing 3 video clips related to the killing of the Copt Fouad Fawzy by a fanatic Moslem in Zagazeeg, Egypt.

One of the videos shows interviews with the victim’s brothers, family, and friends. They described Mr. Fawzy as a 40 years old person with a wife and two children, a girl and a boy who are 7 and 3 years old. He is described as a gentle and loving man who treated everyone with kindness and adored his little family. People cried with tears as they asked “Where is justice? Our brother was killed for no reason except that he is Christian”
More than one person asked in pained voice “ How will these small children be brought up and who is going to look after them now?”

Witnesses also said that during the funeral, and while they were carrying the coffin, they were attacked by the police and beaten severely, even though the funeral was a completely peaceful affair conducted while chanting Coptic hymns, and shouting slogans such as “ Our souls and blood are for the Cross” or “ We shall be victorious”.

A person who helped washing the body of the deceased said that there were multiple stab wounds, including a 7 cm one in the side, another one in the neck and a third in the abdomen.

The second video clip is an interview with the wife and children of the victim, with a background of the cries of pain coming from a large gathering of friends and family members.

The third video clip shows a meeting between Mr. Fawzi’s family and other relatives and the area’s representatives at the Peopl’s Assembly (The Egyptian House of Representatives) The Officials tried to calm the family by talking about finding a job for the widow of the deceased, but the anger, extreme sadness and shock of the family were overwhelming and the emotions were so very tense with most of them shouting for justice and punishment of the killer as soon as possible.
The three video clips give a full picture of the situation in Zagazeeg following this shocking stabbing. They are conducted in Arabic.

Introducing The Independent Copt Magazine

2006-06-30T16:44:00.000-04:00

We at The Free Copts (www.freecopts.net) are pleased to bring you the premier issue of The Independent Copt magazine. An independent Copt is a free thinker, unfettered by geographical location and the political pressures of their environment. They are, as are we, the idealists and passionate opponents of inequality and oppression wherever it may be.
Please click here to dwonlaod the first issue of The Independant Copt magazine

We are Independent in freedom of speech and thought ; but as you will see, we are Egyptians to the core and proud of our heritage.
We invite you, regardless of religion or nationality, to learn about Egypt, Egyptians and Copts.
We hope you will find our dedication to expressing the truth, based on fact, to be as refreshing to your eyes as we have found it. If you find you are inspired to act, please join us on the website, in our multilingual discussion forums.
www.freecopts.net/forum
English forum
http://freecopts.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=33&langid=1

We look forward to seeing you there,
The Free Copts

Fanatic Kills a Copt in Zagazeeg.

2006-06-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

The web site copts-united .com and the Egyptian Association for Human Rights (whose president is Dr. Naguib Gobrail), have announced that a Copt with the name of Fouad Fawzy has been stabbed to death in his shop by a fanatic Moslem on Monday, 26 of June.

The crime happened in the Egyptian city of Zagazeeg, north of Cairo. According to the statements, the killer does not know his victim personally, and the killing happened for the sole reason that Mr. Fawzy is a Copt.

Few details are known so far, but it seems that the assassin entered Fawzy’s shop pretending to be a customer. Once he was inside, he started screaming “Kafer…Kafer” meaning “Unbeliever in Islam” and attacked the victim with a knife causing him severe and fatal wounds. The killer left the shop murmuring Islamic verses.

Both Copts-United and the Egyptian Association of Human Rights have appealed to the Egyptian authorities and security forces to secure speedy justice in this yet another horrific crime against the Copts. They stressed that this crime can be well related to the deeply harmful effects of the fanatic Islamic statements and sermons given in the Egyptian Media and mosques all over Egypt.

New Tomb in Valley of the Kings.

2006-06-28T21:08:00.000-04:00

The first tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt for more than 80 years was opened to journalists and researchers as archaeologists cracked the last of seven sarcophagi to reveal embalming materials and jewellery.
“This is better than finding a mummy, it’s a treasure,” Nadia Lokma, the chief curator, said as the sarcophagi — filled with fragile remains that would crumble if touched — were opened. The tomb is thought to be more than 3,000 years old.

More Muslims Believe Arabs Did Not Carry Out US Attacks.

2006-06-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

A major new survey explored the opinions of Muslims regarding different topics. The survey was carried out in 13 countries from the beginning of April until mid-May, Here are some of the views...

The survey and analysis, which were released onThursday, found that positive views held by Muslims of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and terror tactics associated with him have declined over the past year, quite substantially in Pakistan and Jordan, where suicide attacks killed more than 50 people in Amman hotels over the last year.
At the same time, the percentage of Muslims who believe that Arabs did not carry out the Sep. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon has increased. Majorities in Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and among the Muslim community in Britain doubt that Arabs had any role.

More than 60 percent of Indonesians and Jordanians said they had favourable views of Christians, followed by 48 percent of Egyptians. But only about one in four Pakistanis described their views as favourable, while only about one in seven Turks agreed.
By contrast, Muslims living in Europe were much more positive about Christians, one of a number of indications in the survey that European Muslims are not only considerably less alienated from the societies in which they reside than many recent analyses have suggested, but also that they could act as a moderating force in the Muslim-Western divide.

Of all Muslim populations surveyed, French Muslims were by far the most positive toward Jews -- 71 percent said they had favourable opinions, roughly twice the percentage of Muslims in Britain, Germany and Spain.
Elsewhere in the Muslim world, views of Jews were far more negative: in Indonesia, 17 percent of respondents said they had favourable opinions; in Turkey, 15 percent; in Pakistan six percent; and in the two Arab countries countries surveyed, Egypt and Jordan, only two and one percent, respectively.

As to relations between Muslims and Westerners, majorities in 10 out of 12 countries described them as "generally bad". In Europe, the most negative views were found in Germany (70 percent said "generally bad") and France (66 percent). Fifty-five percent of U.S. respondents described it the same way.

Turkey was the most negative of the predominantly Muslim nations, with nearly two-thirds opting for "generally bad" -- although 77 percent of Nigerian Muslims made the same assessment -- followed by Egypt (58 percent), Jordan (54 percent), and Indonesia (53 percent). Pakistan, where a slight plurality said that relations were "generally good", was the only exception.

The Pew analysis concluded that Muslims hold "an aggrieved view of the West -- they are much more likely than Americans or Western Europeans to blame Western policies for their own lack of prosperity. For their part Western publics instead point to government corruption, lack of education and Islamic fundamentalism as the biggest obstacles to Muslim prosperity."

The religious divide was found to be surprisingly sharp in Nigeria, where, for example, nearly three out of four Muslims and Christians ascribed negative traits to the other groups. Nigerian Muslims also constituted a "conspicuous exception" to the trend toward declining confidence in bin Laden in the Muslim world.

More than six in 10 Nigerian Muslims said they have at least some confidence in the al Qaeda leader, up from 44 percent in 2003. In addition, nearly half of Nigeria's Muslims said that suicide bombings could be justified often or sometimes in the defence of Islam.

Egyptian Singer Views on Danish Cartoons, Bird Flu.

2006-06-22T12:38:00.000-04:00

Memri web site is showing an interview with the Egyptian singer Shabaan Abdel Reheem (Sometimes referred to as Shabolla) who is known for his song titled "I hate Israel".

In this interesting video clip, Shabaan talks about the Danish cartoons. He also discusses Bird Flu, and explains what he would do if he had the chance to be the head of the government in Egypt.

The video is in Arabic, with English subtitles. The link is :
http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1073wmv&ak=null

The Book of Isaiah Under the Sands of Egypt.

2006-06-21T19:08:00.000-04:00

The archaeological mystery has been solved! The latest research shows that the manuscript found by Polish archaeologists in the village of Gourna (Sheikh abd el-Gourna) near Luxor in Upper Egypt contains the entire biblical book of Isaiah in the Coptic translation. “This is the first complete translation of this book in Coptic” – says Prof. Ewa Wipszycka-Bravo of the Institute of Archaeology at Warsaw University.

In February last year, Tomasz Górecki heading the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology at the Warsaw University mission in Gourna, made a unique find in the rubbish heap of a monastery. It consisted of two papyrus books in leather covers and a collection of parchment sheets bound by two bits of wood. This was the first discovery of Coptic manuscripts in Egypt since 1952, which are well preserved and supported by a well-researched archaeological context.

One of the books is the “Code of Pseudo-Basili” – the only preserved full text in Coptic, which is a collection of rules regulating Church life. The other contains the life of St. Pistentios, one of the Coptic bishops. Both texts date back to the 7th/8th centuries.

The books are under conservation in the National Museum in Alexandria and only then will the full text be known, says Górecki. However, their character and content are already known.
Identifying the third manuscript was much harder. An untitled collection of 50 richly decorated parchment sheets written in Coptic, bound by two pieces of wood. The Polish archaeologists turned to researchers from the University of Rome to help decipher the texts. Prof. Wipszycka-Bravo says that Tito Orlandi, who reads Coptic documents like most people read a newspaper, has pronounced them to be the book of Isaiah. Many fragments of this book have already been found, but never the whole book.
The wooden planks binding the books were supported by parchment from old texts, one a known apocrypha – “The suffering of St. Peter”, another religious text and tax bills – the professor explains.

It is still not known how these books reached the hermitage. According to specialists, they must have been written in distant scriptoriums. Moreover, an Italian expert dates the book from the 9th-10th centuries, which makes them more recent than the other books.

“The hermitage was abandoned at the beginning of the 8th century, so the parchment could not have belonged to the monks in Gourna. Who brought them there if no Christians were there anymore remains a mystery” – says Prof. Wipszycka-Bravo.
On being transported to Gourna, the books were dumped on the rubbish heap, presumably by the Arabs after chasing out the Christians.

Terror-tied Group Gets Major Cash Infusion from Dubai.

2006-06-20T06:48:00.000-04:00

UAE, which formally recognized the Taliban and acted as a launching point for the 9-11 hijackers, has already taken a nearly $1 million stake in CAIR's existing headquarters near the U.S. Capitol.

An Arab nation with ties to 9-11 has pledged a major endowment to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, even as the Washington-based nonprofit group insists it receives no foreign support.

The United Arab Emirates recently announced that it has set up an endowment serving as a source of income for CAIR. The amount of the funding is undisclosed, but sources say it will be enough to help CAIR finance the construction of a new $24 million office building and a planned $50 million public-relations campaign aimed at repairing Islam's -- and the UAE's -- image in America.

A recent Washington Post-ABC poll found that a majority of Americans think Muslims are more prone to resort to violence, and more Americans now have a negative view of Islam than right after the 9-11 terror attacks.Americans also have a lower opinion of the UAE now, thanks to its recent bid to take over U.S. port operations. The political storm over the deal drew increased attention to the Arab country's ties to terrorism.

CAIR -- Washington's biggest Muslim lobbying group -- is quoted in the UAE statement, but has not released its own statement. It is not commenting publicly about the size of the endowment or other details.But the UAE, which formally recognized the Taliban and acted as a launching point for the 9-11 hijackers, has already taken a nearly $1 million stake in CAIR's existing headquarters near the U.S. Capitol. As first reported in the book, Infiltration, Dubai holds the deed to the building. The transaction took place in 2002, according to local property records.
The strengthened financial partnership comes at a critical time for both parties.The UAE is still reeling from a spate of bad press following its controversial bid to take over control of shipping terminals at major U.S. ports. Partnering with CAIR gives it a voice in U.S. politics and media, which it hopes will help repair its image and protect its business interests.UAE's minister of finance, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, personally approved the deal with CAIR. After meeting with Sheikh Hamdan in Dubai, CAIR Chairman Parvez Ahmad was quoted in the Arab press saying: "If the image of Islam and Muslims is not repaired in America, Muslim and Arab business interests will continue to be on a downward slide in the U.S."CAIR, meanwhile, has suffered its own image problems and has lost some of its political clout in Washington. The group recently was dealt a series of legal setbacks in civil court. Its image has also been damaged by counterterrorism investigations of several of its officials, some of whom have been convicted of felonies.

Presidential Decree is Without Effect.

2006-06-18T20:52:00.000-04:00

Mr.Youssef Sidhom writes in the Watani weekly about the stark discrimination in the procedure to obtain a church building permit in Egypt.

The presidential decree of December 2005 provided remarkable procedural facilities to church building. The decree moved the approval of the rebuilding of already existing churches form the president’s hands into those of the governors. It stipulated a 30-day deadline, since the submission of a rebuilding application and the consultation of authorities concerned, for an approval to be issued. No application could be rejected without an official explanation. As for the restoration of churches, approvals were no longer required; it was sufficient to notify the administration.

Although the decree was widely praised, there were worries that it would be emptied of its content by the administration’s arbitrary instructions, as previous ones had been. So we insisted that only a unified law for building places of worship would ever attain equality among Egyptians—as stipulated by the Constitution —in that respect. Presidential decrees, if implemented properly instead of being trifled with, were indeed helpful in eliminating some hindrances to building churches, but these decrees were in themselves a telling sign of the inequality of Egyptians. Churches alone required such decrees to be built, while mosques were subject to no restrictions whatsoever.

Our worries materialised as the administration saved no effort to hinder the implementation of the decree. The executive instructions issued by some governors inadequately confused demolishing with rebuilding, restoring, repairing, and the like; the result being that the entire process was again placed under the thumb of the administration. Arbitrary instructions insisting on providing the original building permits of the churches, no matter how old were a further complication. In some cases the permits had been issued by royal decrees—the monarchy was abolished in 1953. Did the administration ever ask for the royal building permit of a mosque? Furthermore, the countless small village and hamlet churches which had been erected without permits, due to years of failure of the congregation to obtain the required permits, were targeted.

The fact that the civil and security authorities put these churches under their thumb, and kept a close eye on what went on inside—be it even the reparation of toilets—in an adamant attempt to stop any improvements, implied that the authorities acknowledged the existence of the churches. But when matters came to rebuilding or restoring them, the administration appeared to have been hit with a sudden fit of amnesia as to how the churches were built in the first place. They forgot the humiliation of the congregation in pleading for and pursuing approvals which never came, and disregarded the fact that many churches were built upon verbal approval. The authorities turned a blind eye to unlicensed churches, but later used this fact to hinder restoration.

Shot Dead Because He Dropped the Koran.

2006-06-14T11:29:00.000-04:00

When Ashiq Nabi got into an argument with his wife, she held up a Koran to protect herself, setting into motion a deadly series of events. Mr. Nabi then pushed his wife, say human rights activists, sending Islam's holy book onto the floor and prompting the local mullah in Spin Kakh, Pakistan, to file blasphemy charges.
Before the police could act, Nabi was spotted in town and the mullah allegedly spread the word over the mosque's loudspeakers. A mob of more than 400 villagers chased Nabi until he climbed up a tree, then shot him dead.

The April incident is only the latest in a string of extrajudicial killings by vigilantes for blasphemy, which is punishable by death under Pakistani law.
And it helps explain the depth of feeling over the disputed charges that US interrogators flushed a Koran down a toilet in Guantánamo Bay - charges that have sent shock waves throughout the Muslim world.

In Afghanistan, the allegation that appeared in Newsweek magazine triggered several days of anti-American rioting that left 15 dead and scores injured. Protests were also held in Pakistan, Indonesia, and other Muslim countries.
The magazine has subsequently expressed regret over the report after the source, an unnamed senior US government official, expressed uncertainty over the sources of his own information. The Pentagon, which said the original story is "demonstrably false," pledged to investigate the charges and blamed Newsweek's "irresponsible" reporting for the violent clashes.

But while moderate Muslims welcomed the Newsweek follow-up in this week's issue, experts in Pakistan say that the more-extreme passions unleashed across the Muslim world are unlikely to be cooled by the doubts over the story, or by US government assurances that no desecration of the Koran would go unpunished.

Most Muslims believe that the Koran was transmitted to Muhammad from Allah by the angel Gabriel nearly 1,400 years ago and written down precisely as Allah intended.
In practice, this is one of the reasons observant Muslims are urged to learn Arabic, since a translation is deemed no longer the precise word of God. Strict Muslims are expected to clean themselves ritually before touching the Koran. They don't allow the book to be set on the floor and, in some cases, hold that nonbelievers should not touch the book.

More than 4,000 blasphemy cases have been registered since the laws were enacted in 1986, according to human rights activists. While no one has ever been officially executed for blasphemy, dozens have been killed by vigilantes.

Blasphemy cases rarely involve malice against Islam. Rather, the charges are often pretexts rising out of petty issues ranging from cattle theft to land disputes. They are also used as a weapon against religious minorities, says Shabaz Bhatti, head of the All Pakistan Minority Alliance.
Last November, a Christian girl in the small town of Wah Cantt was accused of blasphemy after someone spotted pages of the Koran in a trash bin outside the house where she was cleaning.
Before the police could investigate, extremists attacked the house and threatened to kill her. Muslim and Christian elders intervened and handed the girl to the police in a bid to save her life, locals say. She was released, but the death threats continued, forcing her and her family to leave.
"We still feel that we are living under danger, under a shadow of a fake accusation," says a relative of the girl. "We have lived with our Muslim brothers for decades. They respect our beliefs and we respect their beliefs, except there are some extremists who want to ignite feelings on the basis of baseless allegations."

Egypt Street Mothers Find Refuge.

2006-06-13T12:34:00.000-04:00

Set up with funding raised by Unicef Germany goodwill ambassador Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff, the street mothers' centre is the first of its kind in Egypt.

Cradling her baby, Ahmed, in her arms, Hadir looks at ease with the world.
But her joy masks a very different kind of reality.
Only a few months ago, 16-year-old Hadir, on the run from problems with her family, was preparing to give birth on the crowded and unforgiving streets of Cairo.
Alone, scared and vulnerable, she was at the mercy of a world filled with violence, drugs and sexual abuse.
Just as all seemed lost, Hadir found sanctuary in a new rehabilitation centre for street mothers, operated by Hope Village Society, a group dedicated to the care and welfare of some of Egypt's most vulnerable children.
Several months later, her baby was safely delivered.
"I don't know what I would have done if there hadn't been this centre," she says. "The staff were so helpful before and during my delivery."

Sadly, Hadir's story is a familiar one.
Estimates show that poverty and family break-up mean anywhere between 200,000 and a million Egyptian youngsters have to fend for themselves on the streets of the country's major cities.
Their numbers are thought to be rising fast. Society tends to take an uncharitable view of these vulnerable youngsters.
Many Egyptians regard street children as a nuisance, or at worst as petty criminals fully meriting the harsh treatment to which they are often subjected.
Their health problems are often severe, ranging from cholera to tuberculosis and anaemia.
Studies show they are exposed to a variety of toxic substances, both in their food and in the environment around them.
They are also at risk of various kinds of abuse.
In one survey, 86% of street children questioned identified violence as a major problem in their life, while 50% stated that they had been exposed to sexual molestation.

In addition to operating the street mothers' centre, Hope Village runs a number of drop-in centres across Cairo, where children can come for medical attention, showers and food, before returning to the streets to sleep.
Four long-stay shelters in the city offer children a more permanent home.
Street children live in a separate world, one with its own set of rules.
Many mingle with the public quite unobtrusively, wandering aimlessly across the capital's chaotic, sun-beaten highways, and through the countless dirt-covered lanes and alleyways, as they search for food and, perhaps, a safer place to rest their heads as night approaches.
They may wash cars, sell tissue boxes or beg for money. Others lie where they had fallen the night before.
Asleep under a bridge, in a doorway or on a grass verge in the centre of Cairo itself, their slumber is often drug-induced - glue, solvents and cannabis being the substances most used.
Here, in Egypt's capital, a sprawling mass of some 16m human beings, people do not stop and stare.
Street children are not a surprising phenomenon. They are a part of Cairo, a part of Egypt, a part of life.
For girls like Hadir, however, there is a chance for a fresh start. Set up with funding raised by Unicef Germany goodwill ambassador Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff, the street mothers' centre is the first of its kind in Egypt.
Its aim is to provide young mothers and their babies with the secure surroundings they need in which to put their fractured lives back together.
Medical care, provided by a resident nurse and various visiting doctors, is an essential part of the centre.

Coptic Conference: Change of Location.

2006-06-12T17:53:00.000-04:00

An announcement regarding the coming Coptic Conference in NY has appeared on the web site www.copts-united.com. This conference is being organized by Copts-United, the International Christian Union, and Eng. Cameel Haleem. The announcement describes the Conference as one of many actions taken-such as the recent Coptic demonstration in NY city- and other actions planned for the future. The aim being to support human rights and freedom of religion in the region of the Middle East.

The readers are invited to participate in the fight against injustice, and in support of the weak and the persecuted in the countries of the Middle East. The statement declares that it is shameful and regretable that while Islamic countries, under the leadership of Saudi Arabia and Iran, are pouring money to encourage terrorism, the Christians of the area are standing alone without any support whatsoever, be it moral, financial, or political.

The Coptic Conference was supposed to be held in the building of the UN, in NY city. However, the statement says, due to political and international pressure( especially from Egypt), it was decided to move it to:

Holiday Inn, Newark Airport Hotel 160 Frontage Road, Newark, NJ 07114.

The date and the times of the Conference are still the same as before. The Conference is planned to be shown through direct video link on the web sites of both Copts-United and the the International Christian Union.

For full details (in Arabic) and contact information please visit http://www.copts-united.com

N.Z. Deports a Roommate of a Terrorist.

2006-06-12T08:46:00.000-04:00

New Zealand's prime minister defended on Monday her government's decision to deport a former roommate of one of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

New Zealand said Saturday that Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali, a Yemeni, was deported to Saudi Arabia on May 30, claiming his presence in New Zealand posed a security threat.
The immigration minister has said there was no evidence he was involved in terrorist activities in New Zealand.

Rayed Abdullah is named in U.S. government reports as a roommate of Saudi Arabian Hani Hanjour, one of the hijackers aboard the airliner flown into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Rayed Abdullah was never charged in connection with the attacks.
Rayed Abdullah entered New Zealand in February, telling authorities he wanted to study English in Auckland. He was deported one day after being arrested in Palmerston North, 335 miles south of Auckland, where he was taking pilot training at the Manawatu Districts Aero Club.

"When you have someone who clearly has been a close associate of a terrorist who took a plane into the Pentagon, it's clearly not useful to be providing them with pilot training in New Zealand," Prime Minister Helen Clark said.
Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said Monday the Yemeni man was expelled because of his "direct association with people involved in the 9/11 bombing, the nature of his ... activities in the United States (and) the general nature of his activities in New Zealand."

Rayed Abdullah already held a U.S. pilot's license and had 79 hours of flying time on his log book before arriving in New Zealand, the Manawatu club said.
Clark dismissed as "sheer speculation" reports that Rayed Abdullah had been allowed to enter the country deliberately so security services could monitor his activities.
She said he used an alias to enter the country.
"Clearly the man set out to deceive," Clark told the NewstalkZB radio network.

Canada Fights Terrorism funding.

2006-06-11T15:15:00.000-04:00

Canada's ruling Conservatives will table legislation in the fall to tighten controls on anti-terrorist funding, officials said on Saturday, a week after 17 al Qaeda inspired suspects were arrested.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty takes on the presidency this month of the Financial Action Task Force, an international body that combats money-laundering, and Canada faces a health check of its domestic anti-terror laws in late 2007.
"We'll be moving forward ... and making sure we have our Canadian legislation in line this year, with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force," Flaherty told reporters after a meeting of G8 finance ministers in St. Petersburg, Russia.

A bill is likely to be presented to parliament in the fall that aims to improve on existing legislation, ministry officials said.
The Conservatives, who unseated the previous Liberal government in a January election, have significantly boosted policing resources in their first budget. But Flaherty has admitted the country still has problems controlling money-laundering and counterfeiting.

The government initiative is a logical follow-up to a process of consultations and a "white paper" on anti-terrorist financing and money-laundering the government presented in 2005, the officials said. The white paper mentions Canada's burgeoning diamond industry as one source of illicit financing.

The arrest of 17 men in Toronto on June 3 on charges of plotting bombings in major Canadian cities and training militants make the task all the more urgent but are not the reason for the new legislation, officials said.
One member of the ring faces accusations he planned to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper, according to his lawyer.

16 Dead and 4 Injured in Road Accident.

2006-06-10T18:09:00.000-04:00

Egypt still suffers from high incidence of fatal traffic accidents.

Sixteen Egyptians died in a collision between a bus and a minibus on a road south of Cairo on Saturday, a security source said.

Four other people were injured in the crash on the road between Cairo and the town of Fayoum, south of the Egyptian capital. Drivers of both vehicles were among the dead, the source said.

Pakistani Christian Children Sold As Slaves to Fund Islamic Militants.

2006-06-09T14:23:00.000-04:00

Gul Khan, a leading member of a militant Islamic organisation based in Pakistan, is funding its activities through the sale of Christian children into slavery.

The children, aged between 6 and 12, are abducted from their homes in remote Christian villages in the Punjab and incarcerated in appalling conditions, until being sold for approximately $1,700 each into the sex trade or a life of domestic servitude. While they are held they are beaten savagely, only fed once a day and ordered not to talk, play or pray.

The trade was exposed by two Christian missionaries (one Pakistani, the other American), who had seen photographs of boys for sale on the black market in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. The missionaries constructed an elaborate and hazardous rescue plan, with the Pakistani posing as a Lahore businessman who wanted to buy boys to beg for him. Not only did they manage to buy back twenty boys and return them to their homes, but also they secretly filmed Khan accepting money for seventeen boys. Khan is a senior member of Jamaat ul-Daawa (JUD), an organisation linked to Al-Qaeda. The US State Department has declared JUD to be a front for a terrorist group Lashkar-i-Toiba which is banned in both Pakistan and the UK. Yet JUD is popular in Pakistan for providing free medical care and education for the poor.
At its base near Lahore JUD claims to have created a “pure Islamic environment” that is superior to western “depravity”. The base was funded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1990s.

JUD and Al-Qaeda jointly attempted to assassinate the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, in 2003. JUD''s leader, Hafez Muhamed Sayeed, was accused of inciting riots in Pakistan earlier this year in response to the publication of the Danish cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammed. Although the evidence against Khan is overwhelming the police have indicated that the power of groups such as JUD is too great for them to tackle. So far no investigation has taken place.

“The revelation of this horrifying trade in Christian boys to fund Islamic terrorism is an extreme manifestation of the discrimination and oppression of Christians in Pakistan,” said Dr Patrick Sookhdeo the International Director of Barnabas Fund. “The classical teachings of Islam on the second class status of non-Muslims (called dhimmi) create an attitude of contempt towards Pakistan’s Christian minority which is seen in a whole raft of daily discrimination, injustice and humiliation. The situation is exacerbated by issues of caste and poverty. It is in this context that such horrors can take place. I am encouraged that the police did make some efforts in this case, but, as so often happens, they appear now to be intimidated themselves by the weight of the whole Islamist movement in Pakistan. I pray that the exposure of this slave trade to the international community will help bring an end to it.”

Jordan Info Helped Lead U.S. to Al-Zarqawi.

2006-06-09T10:44:00.000-04:00

Jordan provided the U.S. military with information that helped in tracking down and killing al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian official said.

Some of the information came from Jordan's sources inside Iraq and led the U.S. military to the area of Baqouba, the region northeast of Baghdad where Iraq's prime minister said al-Zarqawi was killed in an airstrike Wednesday night, said the official, who has knowledge of the operation.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was addressing intelligence issues, would not elaborate, but Jordan is known to have intelligence agents operating in Iraq to hunt down Islamic militants.

Jordan also analyzed a video issued by the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi in April and helped pinpoint where it was filmed, the official said. The video showed images of al-Zarqawi standing in a desert landscape, firing a machine gun.The official did not give details about how discovering the location led the military to al-Zarqawi or whether the video was filmed in the same location where al-Zarqawi was killed. When the video came out, observers said the flat desert setting resembled parts of Iraq's Anbar province, to the west of Diyala province, where Baqouba is located.

Islamic Radicals In Somalia.

2006-06-07T22:47:00.000-04:00

Islamic radicals seized control of the Somali capital.

The success of Islamic extremists fighting for control of Somalia's capital could prove an important setback in the U.S. war on terrorism, with the defeat of a counterterrorism alliance providing hope for militants elsewhere in the region.

Somalia's location in the Horn of Africa and its role as a cultural bridge with the Middle East has always given the country strategic importance, so much so that the United States has posted troops in neighboring Djibouti to try to prevent terror groups from taking hold in the Horn of Africa.But U.S. efforts to influence chaotic, clan-riven Somalia have consistently fallen flat, sometimes with deadly results. The United States has not carried out any direct action in Somalia since the deaths of 18 servicemen there on a humanitarian mission in a 1993 battle in Mogadishu depicted in the film "Black Hawk Down."Islamic radicals seized control of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Monday, defeating U.S.-backed warlords in weeks of fighting that left more than 330 people dead.

Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. officials have expressed concerns that Somalia could become a haven for terrorists, a concern U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack repeated on Monday. "We do have real concerns about the presence of foreign terrorists in Somalia, and that informs an important aspect of our policy with regard to Somalia," McCormack said in Washington.On Tuesday he rejected suggestions that the extremists' success in Mogadishu is a severe setback for U.S. policy. The situation in Mogadishu is "very fluid" and has been for years, McCormack said.A U.S. official told The Associated Press recently that Islamic leaders in Mogadishu are sheltering three al-Qaida leaders indicted in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The same al-Qaida cell is believed responsible for the 2002 suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya, which killed 15 people, and a simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner over Kenya.Now men willing to shelter al-Qaida suspects have established their authority, if limited to Mogadishu.

The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, confirmed that the U.S. was cooperating with the secular warlords to capture the men. But the warlords took that small goal and turned it into a bid to defeat the Islamic leaders who had within two years developed the most powerful militia in Somalia.

Time to Challenge Muslim Extremists.

2006-06-07T08:37:00.000-04:00

There is no section of Canada's multicultural mosaic under more stress today than this country's 750,000 Muslims. Many in this community are reeling, struggling to absorb the shocking news that 17 of their members have been arrested in connection with a bomb plot allegedly targeting public buildings in Toronto and southern Ontario.

Adding to the horror conveyed by such charges is growing fear of a backlash against the entire community. Vandals have already struck, shattering the windows of a Rexdale mosque.
But with 12 men and five youths now charged with committing terror-related offences, there is a new urgency to understand why some individuals opt to attack the very country in which they were raised and educated. It is a question that has been asked in England, where native-born Muslims bombed London subways, and in Madrid, where homegrown Muslim terrorists attacked public transit with deadly results.
Regrettably, it is now a question that may need answering here.

The vast majority of Canada's Muslims are strictly law-abiding. And, to their credit, many Muslim leaders have denounced violence unequivocally, noting that it is the responsibility of the Muslim community itself to act to stop the incitement of hatred by some members of its own families, educational and religious institutions.

As Tarek Fatah, of the Muslim Canadian Congress, says: "We can't just go on behaving as if everything is normal," adding there are "fascist cult believers and they need to be combatted within the Muslim community."
Clearly, there are simple truths arising from the weekend events, most notably that all 17 of the people arrested are Muslims. Our important efforts at cultural understanding cannot disguise that fact.
Around the world, Muslim extremists have launched numerous terror acts. Many invoke Islam as a justification for their violence. And they have often hit Western targets on the grounds that our society and our way of life are an affront to Islam as they perceive it. In England, a few radical Islamic religious leaders have even openly called for acts of violence.

But there are fundamental values expressed in our Charter of Rights that are not negotiable, that represent who we are as a society. As Harper rightly said yesterday in the House of Commons, "terrorists and the people they represent stand for nothing but hatred."
In the coming days, Canadians must strive to avoid a possible backlash to the arrests. To do that, the onus will be on all of us. But the key will be the Muslim community itself. Individuals must accept responsibility for developments and alienation in parts of the diverse Muslim community.
To prevent a backlash on a scale that has occurred in parts of Europe, parents and friends, and community and educational and religious leaders within the Muslim community — as well as the greater Canadian society — must be ready to challenge the extremists in their midst.
If we are to move forward as a nation against terror attacks, all Canadians — Muslim and non-Muslim — must realize we are in this together.

Darfur Muslims Seek a Haven in Israel.

2006-06-06T19:34:00.000-04:00

There are 220 Sudanese refugees being held in Israeli prison cells, army bases and remote kibbutzes.

IN 2000 Sanka, a 30-year-old Sudanese Muslim, fled his village in Darfur after the infamous Janjawid — Arabs loyal to the Khartoum Government — arrived on horseback with machineguns, killing his father and stealing camels and cattle.

Sanka rode on a tobacco lorry to the town of Niala, where he waited in vain for his family. He then headed east, looking for work, but was rounded up and beaten by the Sudanese police. He scraped together the money for a one-way airfare to Egypt, and he spent the next four years drifting around Cairo and Aswan, until he was arrested in late 2004.

Facing expulsion to Sudan, he bribed his way out of custody and took a bus to the Sinai Desert bordering Israel. He wandered lost for 24 hours, un- til he stumbled across the blue-and-white flag of an Israeli military border post. “I expected to get shot in the head. If that had happened I would have said to them, ‘God bless you’. Everything was so hopeless for me,”.
Sanka was not shot. The Israelis patched him up and held him for a month before attempting to send him back to Egypt. The Egyptians refused to take him. He spent a year in an Israeli prison before being sent to a kibbutz, while his fate was decided. “Sudan is the enemy of Israel. You are a citizen of that country, so we can’t release you,” a judge told him.

Sanka — not his real name — is not alone in his extraordinary five-year odyssey from an Arab state to a Jewish one, and from a country in the grip of one genocide to a nation built on the ashes of another.
He was merely a pioneer, and ever more Sudanese — Muslims and Christians — have followed in his footsteps, desperate to escape the conflicts in Darfur and southern Sudan that have cost more than two million lives.

There are 220 Sudanese refugees being held in Israeli prison cells, army bases and remote kibbutzes. The Israeli Government believes that many more may have entered the country undetected, using Beduin smugglers to take them across the unfenced border. The influx has accelerated sharply since December.

Trafficking in People.

2006-06-06T09:41:00.000-04:00

Iran and Syria were added to a US blacklist of countries trafficking in people, a State Department report said, while raising concerns over an influx of sex workers to Germany for the World Cup soccer tournament.
Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, Laos and Belize were also on the blacklist for the State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report" which analyzed efforts in about 150 countries to combat trafficking for forced labor, prostitution, military service and other purposes.
The six countries join Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Sudan, Cuba and Myanmar among the "Tier 3" worst offenders of human trafficking who could face sanctions if they do not take immediate measures within 90 days.
"By calling to account any nation, friend or foe, that can and should do more to confront human trafficking, we are pressing countries into action," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in the presentation of the 290-page report.
"The harsh reality of human trafficking stuns even the hardest of hearts," she said.
The United States estimates that up to 800,000 people -- primarily women and children -- fall victims each year to trafficking, Rice said.
Iran and Syria, both of which have been accused by Washington of backing international terrorism, were cited in the report for being a "source, transit and destination country" for women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation.
The United States is currently in the forefront of international efforts to slap UN Security Council sanctions on Iran if it does not suspend uranium enrichment activities, which could lead to the manufacture of nuclear bombs.
"Iran is downgraded to Tier 3 after persistent, credible reports of Iranian authorities punishing victims of trafficking with beatings, imprisonment and execution," the State Department said.
A key criteria of US law, which is used as a basis for the rankings, is protection of human trafficking victims.
"The law specifically says victims should not be punished for acts they commit after they've been trafficked, whether it's prostitution or anything else," said John Miller, a State Department advisor on efforts to stem the problem.
"We hope this situation will change in the next year," he said.

Canadian Terror Probe Expands to 7 Nations.

2006-06-05T18:20:00.000-04:00

Sermons were "filled with hate" against Canada.

Police said Monday more arrests are likely in an alleged plot to bomb buildings in Canada, while intelligence officers sought ties between the 17 suspects and Islamic terror cells in the United States and five other nations.
A court said authorities had charged all 12 adults arrested over the weekend with participating in a terrorist group. Other charges included importing weapons and planning a bombing. The charges against five minors were not made public.
The Parliament of Canada, in Ottawa, is believed to be among targets the group discussed. Toronto Mayor David Miller said CN Tower, a downtown landmark, and the city's subway were not targets as had been the speculated in local media, but declined to identify sites that were.
A Muslim prayer leader who knew the oldest suspect, 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal, told The Associated Press on Monday that Jamal's sermons at a storefront mosque were "filled with hate" against Canada.
Authorities said more arrests were expected, possibly this week, as police pursue leads about a group that they say was inspired by the violent ideology of the al-Qaida terror network.
"We've by no means finished this investigation," Mike McDonell, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told AP. "In fact, you might look at it that, really, we're just starting with the arrests. We have a responsibility to follow every lead."
Although both Canadian and U.S. officials said over the weekend there was no indication the purported terror group had targets outside Ontario, McDonell told AP on Monday that there are "foreign connections," but he would not elaborate.
A U.S. law enforcement official said investigators were looking for connections between those detained in Canada and suspected Islamic militants held in the United States, Britain, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Denmark and Sweden.
American authorities have established that two men from Georgia who were charged this year in a terrorism case had been in contact with some of the Canadian suspects via computer, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
Prosecutors have said the Georgia men, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed, traveled to Washington to shoot "casing videos" of the Capitol and other potential targets.
Sadequee, 19, a U.S. citizen who grew up near Atlanta, is accused of lying to federal authorities during an FBI terrorism investigation. Ahmed, 21, a Georgia Tech student, faces a charge he provided material support and resources for terrorism.
In Atlanta, Ahmed's lawyer, Jack Martin, told AP there may have been some connection between his client and the suspects, but he insisted it wasn't part of any terrorism plot.
"Other than having the possibility that they may have met at some point, I know of no indication that anyone believes my client had anything to do with what these guys were up to," Martin said.
A U.S. counterterrorism official said the 17 suspects in Canada are an example of a type of group that authorities have been concerned about for some time: self-organized, ad hoc cells of homegrown extremists, a development first seen in Britain.
The official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Canada's government rightfully considered the 17 a serious threat because there was evidence the group was far along in planning attacks.

Egypt Ferry Sinking Inquiry Opens.

2006-06-05T10:24:00.000-04:00

An inquiry has opened in Egypt into the sinking of a ferry last February in which more than 1,000 people died.
The man the authorities have accused of being chiefly responsible for the disaster - the owner of the al-Salam ferry, Mamduh Ismail - was not present.
He left Egypt for the UK after the sinking and Cairo has issued a summons against him through Interpol.
In April, a parliamentary investigation criticised the ship's owners, maritime authorities and the government.
'Wicked collaboration'
The investigation found that there had been "wicked collaboration" between the company that owned the Egyptian ferry and the maritime authorities.
It said the ferry failed to meet minimum safety standards and that the agency responsible for maritime safety allowed it to sail despite being aware of its state.
The ferry apparently did not have enough lifeboats or fire-fighting equipment.
The parliamentary investigation also criticised the Egyptian government for its handling of the crisis.
Mr Ismail has denied responsibility for the disaster and accused the ship's captain, who went down with his ship, of overestimating the crew's ability to fight a fire that broke out on board.
Only 388 people survived after the al-Salam Boccaccio 98 sank in the Red Sea on 3 February.
The ferry was crossing from the port of Duba in Saudi Arabia to Safaga in Egypt, where the inquiry is taking place.
The passengers were mostly Egyptian workers.
Egyptians were shocked at the huge death toll and there was more outrage when it emerged that Mr Ismail, a well-connected businessman, was allowed to leave the country before investigations were completed.

“Tourism Benefits Everyone”

2006-06-05T09:01:00.000-04:00

The Ministry of Tourism kicks off a public awareness campaign.

IT’S A PRETTY SLICK commercial: An uplifting Arabian tune plays as happy taxi drivers polish their gleaming vehicles, bus drivers straighten their ties, hotel staff arrange flowers on restaurant tables — even the hagga baking flatbread kneads the dough with a smile.
But when the slogan “Tourism Benefits Everyone” flashes across the TV at the end of the three-minute spot, you have to wonder if this isn’t the most self-evident music video in Egyptian history.
The Ministry of Tourism doesn’t think so. Yes, millions of tourists visit Egypt every year, but in studies the ministry commissioned in recent years, visitors reported negative impressions about their interactions with Egyptians, resulting in a low rate of repeat visits.
Left unaddressed, this image problem could have serious repercussions for the country’s tourism industry.
“A single negative experience can affect a visitor’s decision to return to a destination. Word of mouth is so powerful; it can overshadow even the best promotional efforts,” says Randa Mustafa, an internal communications and public-awareness consultant for the Ministry of Tourism. “Moreover, as competition becomes more fierce in the global tourism arena, it is perhaps quality in service delivery, rather than the diversity or allure of the destination itself, which will determine who will be able to draw visitors back.”
According to Mustafa, the Ministry of Tourism does not have an estimate of the percent of repeat visitors.
To meet this challenge, the Nazif government launched a five-year National Tourism Awareness Project (NTAP) in late April to promote attitudes and behaviors that foster a more welcoming environment for tourists.
“The findings of the research showed that negative ratings were attached to several points of contact with tourists, ranging from the reception at the airport to taxis, and unfavorable experiences at various tourist sites,” says Mustafa.
Egyptian Tourism Authority Chairman Ahmed El-Khadem elaborates: “By analyzing these complaints, we found that most of the negative attitudes generally came from contact with the less educated, the less socially conscious.”
Both El-Khadem and Mustafa agree that many Egyptians don’t draw causal links between tourism, the economy and, in turn, their own livelihoods.
In 2005, Egypt received a record-high 8.6 million tourists who spent a total of 85.2 million tourist nights, accounting for $6.8 billion in revenues. The need for the average citizen to understand the significance of these numbers is the essence of the awareness program, which includes a multimedia campaign, a research component and a training program.
The three-part media campaign has already hit the airwaves. The first phase focuses on how many jobs tourism creates and how it factors into our daily lives.
“Tourism is the number-one provider of jobs worldwide,” Mustafa says. “In fact, every 1 million additional tourists Egypt receives create 200,000 new direct and indirect jobs. Tourism also holds forward and backward linkages to 70 different industries.”

While Europe Slept.

2006-06-04T13:43:00.000-04:00

How Radical Islam is Destroying the West From Within. A Book By Bruce Bawer.

This stunner of a book about Continental Islam has two main themes. The first is that Europe has a Muslim immigration and reproduction problem. This radically new and explosive demographic, according to the author, is not being converted to Western liberalism or adopting Western life-styles.
While Europe Slept argues that while Europe is currently only about ten percent Islamic -- vs. two percent for America -- if present trends continue it will only take a generation or two for Muslims to become the majority. The once-noble Continent will become what Bat Ye'or in 2005 called "Eurabia." The shocking claim by Gary Bawer is that well before 2050, most of Europe is likely to become an outpost of Islamdom governed by Sharia.

The second theme is that Europe today is a hellhole of leftist multiculturalism, far worse than anything in America, and even far worse than almost anyone in America suspects. American expatriate Bawer -- who has lived the past ten years in various European countries, mostly Holland and Norway -- is almost uniformly horrified by every country he resides in or visits. According to him, political correctness and multiculturalism are "a habit of thought that in America is an annoyance but in Europe is a veritable religion."

Bawer excoriates his European friends for their propensity to display phony "respect" and "understanding" of the various foreigners in their midst, especially Muslims. He blasts their cult-like belief in the mantra of multiculturalism and their unlimited "belief in peace and reconciliation through dialog," even with Islamists who emphatically reject peace, reconciliation, and dialog as methodologies or ideals.

While Europe Slept also makes the interesting observation that there is virtually no American-style "religious right" to oppose growing Muslim power. Virtually the whole Continent is atheist or de facto atheist.

This leads to some odd political terminology and alliances. Bruce Bawer consistently champions what he calls "the liberal resistance," but he doesn't seem to know where to find it or even how to describe it. What he does describe, in sickening detail, is how much the multicultural left utterly protects the Islamism. These two have formed an evil alliance in the heart of Western Civilization which seems all but unstoppable.

Israeli PM Heads for Egypt Talks.

2006-06-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is travelling to the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh for talks with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Mr Olmert has just been to Washington for talks with President George W Bush and is expected to head to Europe soon.
But in the Middle East his choice is rather more limited since Israel has made peace with only Egypt and Jordan.
Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian Authority, will be a key issue in the talks with President Mubarak.
Mr Mubarak is expected to encourage Mr Olmert to hold talks with the moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is not a member of Hamas.
For his part, Mr Olmert may take the chance to talk about his plan to establish Israel's borders for good with or without the Palestinians and there may be a certain awkwardness to the meeting.
The meeting comes only two days after the Israeli army killed two armed men in Egyptian uniform on the Israeli-Egyptian border - a frontier which is normally very quiet.

Canada Nabs 17 Terror Suspects in Toronto.

2006-06-03T17:46:00.000-04:00

Canadian police foiled a homegrown terrorist attack by arresting 17 suspects, apparently inspired by al-Qaida, who obtained three times the amount of explosives used in the Oklahoma City bombing, officials said Saturday.

The FBI said the Canadian suspects may have had "limited contact" with two men recently arrested on terrorism charges in Georgia. About 400 regional police and federal agents participated in the arrests Friday and early Saturday.
"These individuals were allegedly intent on committing acts of terrorism against their own country and their own people," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement. "As we have said on many occasions, Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism."

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested the suspects, ages 43 to 19, on terrorism charges including plotting attacks with explosives on Canadian targets. The suspects were either citizens or residents of Canada and had trained together, police said.

The group had taken steps to acquire three tons of ammonium nitrate and other bomb-making materials — three times the amount used to blow up the Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injured more than 800, said assistant Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner Mike McDonell.
"This group posed a real and serious threat," McDonell said. "It had the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks."

Luc Portelance, assistant director of operations with Canada's spy agency, CSIS, said the suspects "appeared to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaida" but that investigators have yet to prove a link to the terror network.
Five of the suspects were led in handcuffs Saturday to the Ontario Court of Justice, which was surrounded by snipers and bomb-sniffing dogs. A judge told the men not to communicate with one another and set their first bail hearing for Tuesday.

Tight security required visitors to the court to remove their shoes to pass through three checkpoints guarded by police carrying assault rifles and submachine guns.
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko, in Washington, D.C., said there may have been a connection between the Canadian suspects and a Georgia Tech student and another American who had traveled to Canada to meet with Islamic extremists to discuss locations for a terrorist strike.
Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, U.S. citizens who grew up in the Atlanta area, were arrested in March.

Egypt Pays 30% of Palestinian Salaries.

2006-06-03T10:57:00.000-04:00

The Egyptian Red Crescent's Relief Committee under Suzanne Mubarak decided Monday to pay 30 percent of the salaries of the Palestinian Authority employees, who have been unpaid the past three months due to the West aid cutoff to the Hamas government.The committee will also send in the coming days food stuffs, medicines and medical kits to the Palestinian territories. The Palestinians have been facing serious shortages of food and medicine since the US and the EU suspended direct aid to the Hamas-led government.Israel has also stopped transferring customs duties worth around $50 million a month collected for the Palestinian Authority.

Abu Hamza Was Allowed to Preach Hate as Authority Looked the Other Way.

2006-06-02T17:58:00.000-04:00

Time and time again British officials were given evidence of the radical cleric's involvement in terrorism, but nothing was done to stop him.

NO ONE seemed willing to take responsibility for tackling the Abu Hamza problem.
Government departments pointed the finger of blame at one another; politicians complained that the police and the spymasters did not investigate him properly; Scotland Yard moaned about MI5 and vice-versa. Detectives felt that the Crown Prosecution Service let them down; the CPS moaned that the court system was stacked against them. The judges retorted that they did not make the laws; if anyone was to blame it was the civil servants and politicians at Westminster. The blame game went round and round as Tony Blair banged the table in exasperation.

Every chance there had been to pursue Abu Hamza seemed to have been missed, wasted or blocked.

For more than twenty years there had been a catalogue of bureaucratic foul-ups and a lack of resolve by the British authorities to tackle him, even when presented with a clear opportunity to do so.
The first occasion was in 1980, when Abu Hamza was arrested as an illegal immigrant and brought before the courts for overstaying his visa. Had his case been subjected to a proper investigation, potential offences under the Marriage Act, the Births and Deaths Registration Act and the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act could have been discovered. But the validity of his marriage to Valerie Traverso and the truth about his claim to be the father of her baby daughter were not examined.

He came to the attention of the police again in the mid-1980s, when his bullying behaviour began to alarm the imams and trustees of a number of mosques. Members of the Muslim community in Brighton approached Sussex police, and at Regent’s Park mosque in London trustees took court action to keep him away from the building.

When he returned from Afghanistan and Bosnia in the mid-1990s there was further trouble in Luton. But he was left to carry on with his activities and to seize control at Finsbury Park.
Abdulkadir Barkatullah, one of the management committee ousted by Abu Hamza, said he and community representatives went to the police seven times to complain about assaults and extremist activities inside the mosque. No action was taken.

The Prime Minister had urged the Muslim community to do more about the scourge of extremism within its own ranks but, Barkatullah said, “When we did do precisely that with Abu Hamza, we were ignored.”

Read the rest of this article at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,29389-2205344,00.html

Israeli Army Kills 2 Gunmen on Egypt Border.

2006-06-02T11:40:00.000-04:00

Israeli soldiers killed two gunmen dressed as Egyptian army officers who attacked them on Israel's border with Egypt on Friday, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

The gunmen were part of a three-person squad that stormed across the frontier at dawn near Israel's Mount Saguy, opposite the Egyptian border town of Bir el-Ma'in, Lieutenant Michal Luft said. The third gunman fled back over the border, she said.
"The gunmen killed in the clash were in Egyptian military uniforms with officer ranks, which is rare as Egyptian army officers do not generally come to this area," Luft said. She declined to speculate on the identity of the gunmen.
An Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman said he heard of a clash at Israel's border between three men coming from Egypt and the Israeli military, but said he had not heard they were wearing Egyptian army uniforms. He declined to comment further.
Egypt was the first Arab state to sign a peace deal with Israel, in 1978, and their desert border is largely unfenced.
The frontier sees regular smuggling and occasional attempts by Palestinian militants from the coastal Gaza Strip to cross into the Egyptian Sinai and from there infiltrate into Israel.
Friday's incident took place 100 km (63 miles) from Gaza, a distance unusual for Palestinian infiltrations, Luft said.
Israeli troops killed an Egyptian smuggler in a border clash on Tuesday.

Cairo's Taxis: Time For a Change.

2006-06-01T10:47:00.000-04:00

For many visitors to Cairo, their most memorable experience is not their visit to the Giza pyramids or even the Egyptian Museum's Tutankhamen exhibit. It's the city's taxis.
To engage one of these exhaust-spewing cars, you bellow your destination as it careens by. If it stops, you jump in, soon finding yourself bumping along in a rickety, grime-encrusted 1970s vehicle, often lacking rearview mirrors and door handles.
At the end of the ride, the 30-year-old meter is still frozen at 10 cents per kilometer. So the driver determines the fare based on your nationality, fluency in Arabic, and insider knowledge. Arguments are not uncommon.
But this tradition - so much a part of any visitor's experience in this city of pharaonic antiquities and largely ignored traffic lights - may become a thing of the past.
Earlier this year, the Egyptian government launched a fleet of spanking-new yellow taxis complete with air conditioning, credit-card-friendly meters (that work), phones, seat belts, spotless vinyl seating, rear- and side-view mirrors, windows that close, doors that open, and drivers in suits and ties who don't smoke, blast the radio, or yell.
The government hopes that these cars (and drivers) will be more welcoming for the country's citizens and tourists alike.
"We want taxis with a more civilized appearance, to offer our citizens and tourists more comfort," says Gen. Mahmoud Yassin Ibrahim, Cairo's vice governor.
Until the new taxis were introduced, Cairo offered three main public transport options besides the black-and-white cabs with their busted taillights: sardine-stuffed buses, death-defying minibuses, and a surprisingly clean and efficient metro, complete with women-only cars to protect female passengers from jeering males.
In addition to adding an appealing alternative to the mix, the new taxis could also help alleviate the pervasive pollution of desert dust, factory fumes, and car exhaust in this growing megalopolis of 16 million, since the government is considering fueling the vehicles with natural gas.
Plans to gradually replace Cairo's 70,000 black-and-white cabs have been in the pipeline for a while, but it wasn't until Egypt's reform-minded Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif took office in 2004 that implementation began in earnest. The government chose three private companies to operate the 150 new Volkswagen Paratis and Hyundai Elantras - a fleet it plans to increase 10-fold by the end of the year.
Customers pay 60 cents for the first kilometer in the new taxis, and then 17 cents for each additional kilometer. And rather than yelling their destination as these cabs speed past, customers can call for service or go to any of the city's 36 taxi stations.
I went down to Tahrir Square - one of Cairo's loudest, most crowded, and hottest centers - on a recent afternoon to see how this service was catching on.
At the new taxi station there, three glistening yellow cabs stood neatly in line, contrasting starkly with the noisy, dusty haze of jockeying cars, trucks, motor scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians.
Watching a young Egyptian man and woman wait in the suffocating sun for 30 minutes as streams of black-and-white taxis pass them, I can't help but ask why.
"I prefer to wait than take a regular taxi," replies Mohamed Ossama, an engineering student at a nearby university. "They're much more relaxing."
Finally my curiosity - and the heat - get the best of me and I decide to head home in one of these new-fangled cabs. I do so reluctantly. Yes, Cairo's black-and-white taxis are smelly and grimy. Yes, the drivers are abrupt, rude, and money-grubbing.
But these cabs are so much a part of this crazy city that I hate to see them go - especially since I long ago mastered the art of hailing these relics and haggling over the fare.
I take the plunge, though, and settle into the yellow cab, civilly mentioning my destination. The well-groomed driver in a blue suit and tie closes his window and starts the air conditioning.
Instantly I'm transported from Cairo's horn-blasting, traffic-jammed streets, away from the heat, the crowds, the dust and dirt, to this cool oasis of smooth black vinyl, seat belts that quickly snap into place, and a meter that clicks away as methodically and efficiently as a grandfather clock. We glide over the Nile on the Kasr El Nil bridge, sail into the island of Zamalek, and come to a gentle stop at my apartment.
I pay the 6.50 Egyptian pounds ($1.12) shown on the meter - 25 cents more than a regular taxi. There's no Cairo charm, no insider knowledge necessary, nothing that separates me, a 17-year Cairo resident, from the tousled, backpack-lugging budget travelers. But, I decide, as the air conditioner hums away - who cares?

US Delegate In Cairo.

2006-05-31T16:20:00.000-04:00

A delegate comprised of 20 assistants of members of US Congress has started a visit to Cairo by meeting with members of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the People's Assembly. The American delegate has also visited the National Council of Human Rights, and had talks with Dr. Ahmed Kamal Abou El Magd, and a number of the Council members.

During the long meeting with Dr. Abou El Magd, and others, memebers of the delegate have discussed the Copts situation in view of the events of Alexandria, and the role of the National Council of Human Rights in realizing the role of citizenship among all Egyptians, and confirm their sharing in public affairs.

The delegate has also discussed the matter of Dr. Aymen Nour, leader of the "Ghad" opposition party, and his release of prison on health grounds. Sources said that Dr. Abou El Magd has explained that Nour has exhausted all the legal measures available to him and there remains only the two possibilities of release on health grounds or political pardon. Decision regarding these possiblities is in the hands of the Egyptian President alone.

The Next Copts Conference.

2006-05-30T20:12:00.000-04:00

In an interview posted on the web site of Copts-United, Eng. Adly Abadeer, the well known Coptic advocat, announced that a Coptic conference is being arranged between Copts-United and the International Christian Association, which president is Dr. Mounir Dawood.
It seems that, so far, the date of the Conference wil be June 19, 2006, and it will be held in the building of the United Nations, in New York city, USA.

U.S. Denies Envoy's 'Interfering' Remarks.

2006-05-30T11:17:00.000-04:00

"To hell with U.S. assistance"

The U.S. embassy in Cairo denied its ambassador had made comments about Washington's aid to the Arab world's most populous nation that had Egyptian MPs up in arms.
Lawmakers accused the ambassador of interfering in Egypt's domestic affairs after parliament was told of the reported comments by ambassador Francis Ricciardone.

"The U.S. has interests and pays money to the Egyptian government, which must work to achieve those interests," independent MP Kamal Ahmed had quoted Ricciardone as saying.
Ahmed also accused him of describing the Egyptian opposition as "opportunist", triggering harsh criticism of Ricciardone across the political spectrum.

But the U.S. embassy dismissed the claims. "Allegations reportedly raised in the Egyptian People's Assembly regarding statements by the U.S. ambassador have no basis in fact," the U.S. embassy said. "(They) bear no resemblance to public or private comments by the ambassador or other members of the embassy." Washington, it said, "provides economic and military assistance for programs supporting priorities of the government of Egypt, by mutual agreement with the United States, to advance our shared interests in strengthening peace, democracy, and prosperity in Egypt and the region."

Egypt, a leading recipient of US economic and military aid, has received more than $60 billion since 1979, including $34 billion in foreign military financing credits to buy U.S. materiel and services.
But Washington has spoken out recently against Egypt's strong-arm tactics against the opposition, including the jailing of prominent opposition leader Ayman Nur and crackdowns against anti-government demonstrations.

"To hell with U.S. assistance," the state-owned Al-Ahram daily quoted Ahmed as declaring in parliament.
Other MPs, including Haydar Baghdadi of the ruling National Democratic Party said that if true, the comments amounted to interference in Egyptian internal affairs.
"Egypt does not accept interference in its internal affairs from any country, large or small, or from any country that gives us aid or receives aid from us," commented Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mofeid Shehab.
Speaker Fathi Sorur asked parliament's foreign affairs committee to study the allegations, saying if they turned out to be correct, the government should respond.

Giza Pyramids Still Baffle the World.

2006-05-29T14:03:00.000-04:00

He pointed excitedly at what he calls its mechanics — every carving, every joint, every scratch — all, he said, part of a fabulously intricate engineering design by ancient Egyptians

THEY have been called mystical, awe-inspiring, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. But it is safe to say that in the 45 centuries the great pyramids of Giza have cast their formidable shadow over the desert, they have never before been described as a cuckoo clock.
But that is what Jean-Pierre Houdin said as he lifted his tall lanky body up the steps into the pyramid of Cheops, the largest of the three pyramids high up on the Giza plateau overlooking this teeming, ancient city on the Nile.
"This is not just a pile of rocks," he said, his words curled around a soft French accent. "This is a cuckoo clock."

Then with a short, friendly laugh, he loped through the cool, dank passage and examined his cuckoo clock with the enthusiasm of a child. He pointed excitedly at what he calls its mechanics — every carving, every joint, every scratch — all, he said, part of a fabulously intricate engineering design by ancient Egyptians."It is an engineering project, from A to Z," he said, again with the same friendly chuckle.

People in search of themselves often look to great challenges: running a marathon, climbing a mountain or learning a new language. Mr. Houdin selected the pyramids as his vehicle for personal reflection, as the salve for his midlife crisis. His was an analytical venture, a quest to explain what appears impossible to prove, at least given the current public record: exactly how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids using about 2.5 million stones, each weighing at least several tons.
Now, eight years later, he is ready to present his findings, one step at a time, and in doing so will be remembered either as the man who unlocked the secrets of ancient brilliance or as a bit of an eccentric who merely indulged his imagination.

"When you work every day, your mind is turned off to new ideas," said Mr. Houdin, whose wardrobe seems to be primarily black T-shirts and black jeans. "Then one day you are old. I looked for a new life."
Mr. Houdin says he had a successful business in France for 20 years designing buildings and homes, when he shut everything down to focus on the pyramid built by Cheops, second ruler of the fourth dynasty. Mr. Houdin thinks he has the answer to how it was built — a series of theories, really — which he says he developed over more than 5,000 hours working with three-dimensional imaging software on his computer. Along the way, he also learned a bit about the challenges of dealing with modern Egypt and a bit about the competitive and ego-laden world of Egyptology.
"It's huge, yes it's huge," he said, staring up at the eastern face. "But it is a cuckoo clock. Everything is precise."

OVER the years, those who study the pyramids have learned a lot about their construction. They know that the bedrock of the plateau was incorporated into the base, so fewer stones were needed than originally estimated. Egyptologists say there is evidence that the stones of the pyramid were cut from the earth south of the base of the pyramid and that some of the granite rafters were transported from Luxor in the south.
What no one is exactly sure of is how the ancient Egyptians managed to move and assemble the stones into a pyramid 480 feet high. There are theories, including one popular one that the builders constructed a huge ramp leading to the very top of the pyramid. (There is another theory, too, that aliens were involved.)

Mr. Houdin says the large ramp theory could not have worked because it would have to be way too long, miles in fact, to avoid a slope that was not too steep. Mr. Houdin's main theory is that the only way to get stones up to the apex would be with a small outside ramp and a second ramp that spirals up the inside the pyramid. By his estimation, the outside ramp went up about a third of the way, while there was an inside ramp that is still there, sealed inside the walls of the pyramid, waiting centuries to be discovered.

Coptic Orphans Helping Children of Egypt.

2006-05-28T13:39:00.000-04:00

From the web site of George Mason University's Student Newspaper.

Doris Abdel Messieh, director of public relations for an organization called Coptic Orphans, came Thursday and addressed a group of students at George Mason University. Coptic Orphans exists to provide food, clothing, medicine and educational assistance to orphans in poverty stricken parts of Egypt. The word orphan has a special and specific meaning to the organization. “Kids who have lost their fathers,” Abdel Messieh said. “That is how we define orphans.”
Abdel Messieh said this group is in particular need. “We estimate approximately 100,000 children who are in dire need of help,” she said. “We have only been able to touch the lives of about 7,000.”

To show why students should help these individuals, Abdel Messieh presented the video entitled, “We are the Youth of Our Nation.” American students smiled from photograph to photograph as the song, "We are the Youth of Our Nation,” by the band P.O.D., played in the background. The atmosphere, however, changed drastically from smiles to sorrow. Americans watched Egyptian underage workers, and saw hurt children and homes filled with raw sewage as REM’s song “Everybody Hurts” filled the silent room. “[The video] was very touching," said Hiba Aziz, 18, a sophomore at Mason and president of the Orthodox Christian Students, an on-campus organization that was host to the event. Abdel Messieh agreed. “I think that presentation pretty much speaks for itself,” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks, shed for a recent return from Egypt where a boy, with no front door or furniture, still found a way to fight the poverty.
“He has managed to be at the top of his class every year,” she said. In spite of his living conditions and a misdiagnosis that left him addicted to cortisone, he persevered. “He has hope. He has been given hope.”

But the presentation was not just about the orphans. It was about American youth, and what they can do to help these children. “That is what this presentation is about," said Mark Nakhla, 20, a senior and vice president of the OCS. “It’s about hope. To put a smile on someone’s face.”
“That is what Coptic Orphans wants to do,” said Abdel Messieh. “Give them hope.”

How can students help out? “There are many programs there in Egypt,” said Abdel Messieh. However, the one students can get most involved in is “Serve to Learn.” Individuals spend three to six weeks in Egypt teaching English. “They are there to provide a classroom environment and show that it [learning] is enjoyable,” said Abdel Messieh.
“It was a lot of fun, especially if you care about these kids,” said Tony Soliman, a senior at Mason’s Prince William Campus, who returned from Egypt this past August. “I would do it every year if I could.”

For more information on Coptic Orphans, visit their Web site, www.copticorphans.org

Iraqis Killed 'for Wearing Shorts'.

2006-05-27T15:32:00.000-04:00

The coach of Iraq's tennis team and two players were shot dead in Baghdad on Thursday, said Iraqi Olympic officials.

Coach Hussein Ahmed Rashid and players Nasser Ali Hatem and Wissam Adel Auda were killed in the al-Saidiya district of the capital.
Witnesses said the three were dressed in shorts and were killed days after militants issued a warning forbidding the wearing of shorts.
Other Iraqi athletes have been targeted in recent incidents.

In this case, according to accounts, the men dropped off laundry and were then stopped in their vehicle by gunmen.

Two of the athletes stepped out of the car and were shot in the head, said one witness. The third was shot dead in the vehicle.
"The gunman took the body out of the car and threw it on top of the other two bodies before stealing the car," said the witness, who requested anonymity.

He said leaflets had been recently distributed in the area warning residents not to wear shorts.
Last week, 15 members of Iraq's taekwondo team were kidnapped between Falluja and Ramadi, west of Baghdad, said a member of the Iraqi Olympic Committee. The kidnappers have demanded $100,000 for their release.

Copts Demonstrate at King Tut Exhibit.

2006-05-26T21:46:00.000-04:00

Under the shadow of immense gold banners heralding the opening of the King Tut exhibit, dozens of Coptic Orthodox Church members from across the Chicago area gathered Thursday outside the Field Museum to protest religious discrimination against fellow Christians in Egypt.

Some demonstrators hoisted wooden staffs with crosses, while others wore crucifixes around their necks or carried American flags as they chanted: "We all stand tall, equality for all."The crowd of about 80 included members of the three area Coptic Orthodox churches: St. Mark in Burr Ridge, St. Mary in Palatine and St. George in Monee. With heavy media attention surrounding the Tut exhibit, the Coptic community saw an opportunity to raise awareness about the plight of Christians in their homeland."We need to be recognized as people and we need to be heard," Atef MacKar said. "It is important to show that we are the Copts, we are sons and daughters of King Tut and we will not tolerate seeing our sisters and brothers persecuted in Egypt."MacKar, who lives in Downers Grove and attends St. Mark, said the protest was planned to coincide with the visit of an Egyptian delegation for the exhibit opening.

Protest leaders said their goal was to send a message to U.S. politicians that foreign aid to Egypt should be contingent on religious freedom and human rights.Another protester, Cameel Halim, said the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has worsened the situation for Egypt's Coptic community."I get sad when I visit Egypt now," he said. "The Copts have lost their pride. Spirit is down. They are isolated from society."

The Coptic Orthodox Church was founded by St. Mark the Evangelist in the city of Alexandria around A.D. 43. The Copts make up about 12 percent of Egypt's population of 77.5 million.Discrimination and human rights abuses against Coptic Christians remain widespread in Egypt, according to a report released this month by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Copts face societal intolerance, and Egyptian authorities have been accused of being lax in protecting their rights.No Christians serve as governors, presidents or deans of public universities, and very few Christians hold positions in the upper ranks of the security services and the armed forces, Coptic community leaders said.
A 14th Century law bars Christians not only from building new churches, they said, but also from performing necessary maintenance on structures without government approval.Recent violence in Coptic churches in Egypt has renewed fears of escalating religious strife. In April, a Muslim man was accused of knife attacks at three Coptic Christian churches in Alexandria that left one man dead and about a dozen others wounded. The incident unleashed three days of rioting on the same weekend Christians were observing Orthodox Palm Sunday.Anissa Essam Hassouna, an official with the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs and part of the Egyptian delegation visiting Chicago, said Thursday that the government has "neglected" the issue of how Copts are treated in Egypt but "is trying to do better.""This will continue to be a sensitive issue until a law comes out and says everyone has real rights," she said.

Another protester at the Field, Magdy Gergis, said he was unsure what effect the protest would have but hoped it would educate the public."At least the problem will be exposed to people," Gergis said. "At least we will show our sadness and suffering. Some people here in America have an idea of what is happening with the Copts. But since many of us still have family there, we live it and feel it every day."

Christians are Leaving the Middle East.

2006-05-26T09:50:00.000-04:00

From the web site of Watani, the Egyptian weekly newspaper ( http://www.wataninet.com)

How many Christians are still living in the lands where Christianity was born? The data are random and are often mere ‘political figures.’ The statistics vary from simple to double according to the source; communities or governments. But everywhere, their numbers tend to be declining.

Recently, two warning signals flared-up: Iraq and Egypt. The reasons of the exile of the Christians of Iraq, who are mostly Assyro-Chadian, are obvious: the war and the chaos which followed. The Sunnis who attack the majority Shiites did not forget the Christians. Between 60,000 to 100,000, out of approximately 800,000, have left Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.In Egypt, the Copts, heirs to the very first Christians, are also tempted by the exile. Politically marginalized, and faced with difficulties when they want to build or enlarge a place of worship, they were alarmed by the success of 88 Moslem Brotherhood deputies in the legislative elections of December 2005, and also by the simultaneous attacks against three churches in Alexandria last April. They emigrate from the countryside, not only to the cities, but towards abroad. Beyond the aggressions, the reasons of their departures are complex: the land reform of Nasser and the demographic pressure undoubtedly play important roles.

Everywhere in the Near East, Christians are anxious. “For them, the future is invisible”, says Joseph Yacoub, professor of political science at the institute of the human rights in Lyon. “They live more and more in fear.” Their bitterness is all the more sharp, as many of them assert themselves to be as much Arab as the Moslems. Many have played political roles in Egypt before Nasser, and in the creation of the Pan-Arab parties like Baath, or the Palestinian movements.

Christians often affiliate with the Arab-Moslem nationalism: The Coptic pope Shenouda III prohibited his faithful from going to Jerusalem “as long as all the Moslems and all the Arabs were not able to go.” And Mgr Michel Sabbah, the first Palestinian patriarch in the Holy Land, denounces the Israeli occupation regularly. But they fear that such pledges are not enough any more. Already, under the pressure of Islamists, the Arab governments, including Egypt, have all, except for Lebanon, made references to the Shari’a in their Constitutions as “principal source” of legislation. Joseph Yacoub fears to see the discriminations being further accentuated wherever Islamists take power.

Palestinian Dreams of Returning to Israel Job.

2006-05-25T17:27:00.000-04:00

On a sunny Friday afternoon, Tawfiq Saad sat in front of his house, drinking tea and watching his four children play in a small patch of land right across the house, which lies near the northern borders of the Gaza Strip, in the small town of Beit Lahiya. Suddenly, a thunderous sound echoed throughout the area, and clouds of smoke rose less than a hundred meters from where his house lies. The terrified children dashed to the house screaming. The youngest of them, five-year-old Najat, jumped into her father's arms and started crying. "This has been the way since two months now," said 42-year-old Saad. "Israeli army artillery keeps pounding the place whenever Palestinians fire locally made rockets at them." However, Saad admits that he does not blame the Israelis entirely for his children's suffering. He even says that he has talked to his neighbors in order to call on Palestinian militants not to fire rockets at Israel from their area. "They fire the rockets and flee, and leave us the civilian residents to bear the brunt. I don't believe [the Israelis] would bombard Gaza if the rockets stopped. We need to understand their motives," he explained.

Indeed, Saad's point of view is not common among Palestinians in this conflict-torn area, and it is unusual in light of his personal circumstances: Saad has been unemployed for about two years, and lives off food rations from benevolent organizations and from the odd jobs that he does for friends and relatives. Up until two years ago, Saad worked as a blacksmith at an Israeli-owned metal workshop near the Israeli town of Khadera. There, he earned more than $1,000 a month building metal fences, window bars and protection railings. He claims that Israelis came from as far as Tel Aviv to have their metal needs built by him. He remembers being called "the metal wizard". Saad recalled that in May 2004, as he was finishing up his work at the workshop, a suicide bombing took place. "I remember hearing that afternoon something on the radio about a suicide bombing in the town of Khadera, which is just 10 minutes away by car from the workshop I worked in. Suddenly, my [Israeli] boss, Yisrael, hurried inside and asked me to return to Gaza immediately." "He drove me alone to Erez Checkpoint [north of Gaza Strip], and asked the soldier there to expedite my entry procedures to Gaza," Saad recounted. "He told me he was afraid that Jewish settlers living near the workshop might want to retaliate against me because the suicide bomber was a Palestinian. He told me he'd call in a few days to let me know when I could return to work," he added. But two years later, Saad is still awaiting that call. Yisrael still rings him up often to check on him, and sometimes sends him money on Jewish holidays, but he never calls to offer back his old job. "Go and ask Yisrael about me. He'll tell you that I'm one of his best blacksmiths. He still says that to me on the phone. He tells me that work has not been the same since I left."

Nowadays, Saad's income has declined to virtually zero a month. He does not have enough money to build his own workshop. He has barely enough to support his family. "I can't start my own workshop because I've spent my savings building this house for my family," he said. "Even if I did build a workshop, then I would barely find customers willing to pay the prices I used to charge in Israel. There are thousands of other workshops that can do the same work for less money," he lamented. "But definitely not in the same quality as mine."

Iranian Students Fight Police.

2006-05-24T13:42:00.000-04:00

Stone-throwing Iranian students fought police and Islamic vigilantes on Wednesday in protest against restrictions imposed by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, witnesses said.
Students who covered their faces with scarves lit fires outside dormitories through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, photographs showed. By dawn the streets were littered with hundreds of stones they had thrown.
Deputy Tehran Governor Abdollah Roshan told the ISNA students news agency 40 policemen and four students had been injured. He said the police had arrested six people.
Senior student leader Abdollah Momeni said up to 2,000 students had gathered for the protest over the expulsion of some students and the way authorities had been handling critics.
He added 20 had been seized by Islamic vigilantes who broke into the dormitories.
"The main reason for the objections in recent days goes back to the limitations imposed on universities and political students after the new government came to power," Momeni said.
Religious conservative Ahmadinejad was inaugurated in August.
"Some active students have been expelled and some students face mass summons before disciplinary committees. We are also objecting to recent dealings with critical professors such as Ramin Jahanbegloo," he added.
Iran earlier this month said it had arrested philosopher Jahanbegloo on charges of espionage. He specialized in liberal political philosophy and worked extensively on developing understanding between Iran and the West.
Other student witnesses said the crowd had chanted "Down with despotism" and hurled stones at police cars outside the dormitories, breaking their windows.
Iran's last major nationwide student demonstrations were in 2003, when hundreds of students were arrested.

Revised Saudi Textbooks Still Demonize Christians, Jews,Non-Wahhabi Muslims and Other "Unbelievers".

2006-05-24T07:14:00.000-04:00

Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom released a report analyzing a set of Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks in use during the current academic year in Islamic studies courses for elementaryand secondary students. The textbooks promote an ideology of hatred towards people, including Muslims, who do not subscribe to the Wahhabi sect of Islam.
The report, entitled Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance, was prepared by Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom in cooperation with the Institute for Gulf Affairs.

The report's findings contradict claims made repeatedly by senior Saudigovernment spokesmen that they have thoroughly revised their educational materials. Over a year ago, Saudi embassy spokesman Adel al-Jubeir stated:"We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths." The newSaudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki al-Faisal, while on a nation-wide speaking tour earlier this year, asserted: "We eliminated what might be perceived as intolerance from old textbooks that were in our system." Just last week, on May 18, the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince SaudAl-Faisal stated that ".the whole system of education is being transformed from top to bottom. Textbooks are only one of the steps that have been takenby Saudi Arabia."

However, the report shows that these textbooks:

* Condemn and denigrate the majority of Sunni Muslims who do not follow the Wahhabi understanding of Islam, and call them deviants and descendants of polytheists.
* Condemn and denigrate Shiite and Sufi Muslims' beliefs and practices as heretical and call them "polytheists;"
* Command Muslims to "hate" Christians, Jews, "polytheists" and other"unbelievers," including non-Wahhabi Muslims, though, incongruously, not to treat them "unjustly";
* Teach the infamous forgeries, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,as historical fact;
* Teach other conspiracy theories accusing Freemasons, Lions Clubsand Rotary Clubs of plotting to undermine Muslims;
* Teach that "Jews and the Christians are enemies of the [Muslim]believers" and that "the clash" between the two realms is perpetual;
* Instruct students not to "greet," "befriend," "imitate," "showloyalty to," "be courteous to," or "respect" non-believers;
* Assert that the spread of Islam through jihad is a "religious duty;"
* Instruct that "fighting between Muslims and Jews" will continue until Judgment Day, and that the Muslims are promised victory over the Jewsin the end;
* Include a map of the Middle East that labels Israel within its pre-1967 borders as "Palestine: occupied 1948."

The Wahhabi sect of Islam is the foundation of the Saudi state's political ideology, and at the core of its educational curriculum. According to theSaudi embassy in Washington, the Saudi public school system has 25,000schools, educating some 5 million students. Saudi Arabia also runs academies in 19 world capitals, including one outside Washington in Alexandria,Virginia, that use some of these same religious texts. Moreover, SaudiArabia also distributes its religion texts around the world to some Islamic schools and madrassas that it does not directly operate.

Gadhafi's Video Clip.

2006-05-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

Gadhafi insults Christians and Jews and attacks their bibles.

Video: http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1121wmv&ak=null

Islam will take over Europe without violent force within a few decades, said Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi in a speech aired on the Arab satellite network Al Jazeera.
"We have 50 million Muslims in Europe," Gadhafi said. "There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe – without swords, without guns, without conquests. The 50 million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades."
If Turkey is added to the European Union, the Libyan leader said, Europe will have another 50 million Muslims.
He pointed out Albania, a Muslim-majority country, and Bosnia, which is half Muslim, already have entered the EU.
"Europe is in a predicament, and so is America," Gadhafi said. "They should agree to become Islamic in the course of time, or else declare war on the Muslims."
Gadhafi emphasized Muslims view Muhammad the prophet not only of the Arabs or Muslims but "of all people."
"He superseded all previous religions," Gadhafi said. "If Jesus were alive when Muhammad was sent, he would have followed him. All people must be Muslims."
He said Christians believe Muhammad is not their prophet because their holy texts "are forged and call for hatred."
"The so-called Old Testament and New Testament are neither Old Testament nor New Testament – because both testaments were superseded, and they are forged," he said. "They were written by hand hundreds of years after Jesus."
Gadhafi continued: "In the Bible there are things that are inappropriate for both Jesus and Moses. If we want to mend the state of humanity, and live in a global village, because of the globalization, we must search for the true Bible, because the Bible that exists today is a forgery. Today's Bible does not mention Muhammad, whereas our Lord's Bible mentions Muhammad repeatedly."
Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reported in December 2003 Gadhafi provided al-Qaida with chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction before changing heart and agreeing to destroy his arms program.

Iran Passes a Nazi Law.

2006-05-20T16:38:00.000-04:00

Iran may force color-IDs on Jews, Christians to prevent Muslims from shaking the hands of "unclean" non-Muslims in public.

Iran's parliament passed a new law this week that would force the country's Jews, Christians and other religious minorities to wear color-coded ID badges to designate them as non-Muslims in a move that heralds broader faith-based persecution.

Iranian expatriates confirmed reports the Iranian parliament, or majlis, has approved a law that would require the roughly 25,000 Jews living in the Islamic Republic to attach a yellow strip of cloth to their clothing; Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would wear blue ones.

The law further mandates that non-Muslims adhere to a dress code under which they wear "standard Islamic garments" that remove ethnic and class distinctions, the Canadian National Post reported Friday. The purpose would be to prevent Muslims from shaking the hands of "unclean" non-Muslims in public. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader and highest authority, must approve the law for it to take effect. If ratified, it could take effect as early as next year. "This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, head of the Simon Weisenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis." The Weisenthal Center has written to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to call on the international community to pressure Iran into abandoning the measure. "There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," Hier told the Post. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this." The new law was drafted two years ago under then-President Mohammad Khatami but was blocked in parliament. Hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently summoned the matter for review. Ahmadinejad has deemed the Holocaust to be a myth and has publicly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." The West believes Tehran is secretly and illegally using its nuclear energy program to develop a weapon, a claim Iran denies. However, Iran has said its armed forces would respond if attacked and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said earlier this month that Israel -- within range of Tehran's missiles -- would be the first target.
Iran boasts the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside of Israel, but Jews in the country have become increasingly fearful as the Iranian leadership heightens rhetoric for Israel's destruction.

In March, U.N. Human Rights Special Rapporteur Asma Jahangir raised alarm of a surge in religious persecution under Ahmadinejad when she reported that followers of the Bahai faith, Iran's largest non-Muslim minority religion, were being closely monitored by state authorities under a new directive. A top Iranian military official sent a confidential letter October 29 instructing certain government agencies to "identify persons who adhere to the Bahai faith and monitor their activities" and "in a highly confidential manner, collect any and all information about members of the Bahai faith." The Anti-Defamation League said in a statement this policy targeting Bahais, whose faith is not recognized by the Iranian constitution, "sets a dangerous precedent" that is "reminiscent of the laws imposed on European Jews in the 1930s." The Bahai faith is a monotheistic religion founded in Iran over 150 years ago. More than 200 Iranian Bahais have been killed and hundreds imprisoned since the 1979 Islamic revolution, according to Bahai officials, including civil servant Dhabihu'llah Mahrami, who died of unknown causes last December in an Iranian prison.

Mahrami, 59, was sentenced to death by an Islamic revolutionary court in 1996 for allegedly converting back to the Bahai faith from Islam, but insisted he had never ceased being a Bahai. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison. "Unfortunately, Mr. Mahrami's incarceration is not unique," said Adam Ereli, deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department. "Members of the country's religious minorities -- including Sunni Muslims, Sufis, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians -- are frequently imprisoned, harassed, and intimidated based on their religious beliefs."

Mass Rally Against Religious Killing.

2006-05-19T10:36:00.000-04:00

MORE than 25,000 people marched in defence of secularism in Turkey yesterday, shocked at the killing of a leading judge by an Islamic extremist gunman.

Angry crowds outside the Ankara mosque, where the funeral of the murdered judge Mustafa Ozbilgin was being held, pushed government ministers, who some see as being too religiously minded, on their way inside.
And outside the country's top administrative court, protesters booed Abdullah Gul, the foreign minister, and called for the government's resignation.

Four more people were detained yesterday in connection with the Wednesday killing, when a suspected Islamic lawyer stormed into a chamber of the top court, shooting dead Mr Ozbilgin and injuring four others while shouting he was "a soldier of Allah".
The attack raised tensions between the secular establishment and the religious-minded government and sparked an outpouring of nationalist sentiment in the capital. Judges led thousands of people to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's mausoleum to pay homage to the republic's founder and show their support for secularism.

The gunman, who was detained shortly after the attack, had apparently targeted the judges because they ruled in February against a woman becoming a headteacher on the grounds that she wore a headscarf on her way to work. Turkey does not allow headscarves to be worn in government buildings and universities.
"We have to rally against the people who brought our country to this point. We're so sorry about this attack and therefore we all want to be on the streets and make our voices heard," said Gumus Ocak, a housewife in Ankara.
Turkey's political leaders, including Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, have condemned the attack.

Sinai militant suspect killed by explosives.

2006-05-19T10:30:00.000-04:00

A man wanted for involvement in bombings of tourist resorts in Sinai killed himself by accident on Friday while trying to attack police who were pursuing him, security sources said.
Arafat Ali, 28, was blown up by an explosive device which he had tried to throw at policemen who had encircled him in Rafah, a town which is straddles Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.

The sources said he was second in command of a group called Tawhid wal Jihad, which the authorities say has carried out a series of attacks in Sinai since October 2004.
They describe it as a group of Bedouin from the Sinai peninsula with militant Islamist views. The police say they killed the group's leader earlier this month.

Egypt Warns Against Street Protests.

2006-05-18T19:53:00.000-04:00

Egypt warned Tuesday it would deal with unauthorized street protests as violations of the law, suggesting police would likely arrest activists if they demonstrate again this week in support of two pro-reform judges facing disciplinary procedures.

The warning from the Interior Ministry followed clashes last week in downtown Cairo when thousands of riot police beat and chased demonstrators supporting the judges who blew the whistle on electoral fraud in last year's parliamentary vote. Authorities arrested 255 people.
The assault on demonstrators drew worldwide criticism.

The European Union called the police operation "disproportionate" and questioned arrests made under emergency laws that allow detentions without warrants and imprisoning people for months without charge.

Gamal Mubarak, who is the president's youngest son and his presumed political heir, talked briefly last week with President Bush while at the White House for meetings with top officials.
Gamal Mubarak is spearheading democratic reform within his father's ruling party. But many in Egypt question whether the changes aim to ensure his father's hold on power.

"Where is My Father?"

2006-05-16T12:17:00.000-04:00

They want to "cleanse the area of the Copts".

The web site www.copts-united.com is showing a video of an interview with the family of Medhat Aziz Ibrahim from Kafr Seleem, Beheyra Governorate, in Egypt. Medhat, who is a Copt, has been arrested about 6 weeks ago, and his family has no contact with him since then. They were told that he is not allowed any visits, and they are not allowed to know his whereabouts.

In the video of the interview, and with a background of very noisy "Ezans" (Loud calls for Moslem prayers) Medhat's daughter wept as she told of what happened. The family lives in an area full of fanatic Islamists who insisted on talking with Medhat about his religion. He did not like their way of insulting Christianity, and had a few arguments with them about it.

On the 10th December, 2005 a group of bearded Islamists gathered around the house where Medhat lives with his family. They started shouting and hurling insults on him, calling him a "Kafer"(nonbeliever) and challenging him to come down. Telling his family that he cannot hide as a coward, he went down, unarmed, to face the Islamists. The were armed with thick sticks and swords, and started attacking him viciously. Someone dragged him back to the house thus saving his life, and it seemed that the matter would stop here. However, few hours later, Members of the State Security came to the house and arrested Medhat, without telling his family of the reasons for the arrest. Since his arrest, Medhat seems to have disappeared in thin air. No one knows why he was arrested, where he is kept, or how long he will be detained. Their house was attacked and all the glass windows smashed. All this plus fabricated accusations against Medhat were supported by members of the Police, especially an Islamist officer with the name of Mousa Abou El Eyneen. The family is still in the dark as to what is happening to Medhat.

The daughter and her mother cry quietly as they tell the story, and Medhat's brother shows the official document of the detainment. They tell of neighbours shouting at them" Be grateful that you(as Copts) are allowed to live with us(Moslems)" and "Let us burn the house of Kafers (Christians)". Also some Islamists declaring that their aim is to "cleanse the area from the Copts".

As for the little daughter, all she wants is to have her father back, safe and sound.

The video is in Arabic

Gamal Mubarak Visits the White House.

2006-05-16T09:38:00.000-04:00

The son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who some speculate may be in line for the presidency if his father steps down, visited the White House last week for a meeting at which he was briefly greeted by President George W. Bush, a spokesman said on Monday.
"Gamal Mubarak was in Washington briefly on private business and asked to see the national security adviser, Steve Hadley," Frederick Jones, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said.
"Mr. Hadley met with Mr. Mubarak on Friday. The president dropped by to greet Mr. Mubarak and convey his best regards to his father, President Hosni Mubarak," Jones said.
He would not provide any details about what was discussed at the meeting.

Egypt: Official Government Site Promotes Hate Against Non-Moslems.

2006-05-15T15:31:00.000-04:00

By Sherif
The hatred intentions of the Egyptian Government towards none Muslims officially and clearly Revealed

الحكومة المصرية تظهر رسميا الكراهية و البغض ضد غير المسلمين

A website of the Ministry of Al Awqaf , a ministry in the Arab Republic of Egypt, has recently revealed the official position of its Government regarding the Christians, Jews, non-Moslems and believers of other faiths.
Ironically, the Ministry of Al Awqaf, is fully funded by public money including Christian taxpayers in Egypt, and the statements made in its website by the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs should represent the position and views of the state of Egypt. The statements in that site are shocking in that they clearly and unambiguously reveal the Egyptian Government can no longer accuse deranged individuals or groups of inciting religious strive. Inciting comes primarily from the Government. There is no need, therefore, for international commissions to investigate whether Christians are persecuted in Egypt. In this website, the Government of Egypt says it all, and tells as it is.

The statements made in its website by the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs should represent the position and views of the state of Egypt. The statements in that site are shocking in that they clearly and unambiguously reveal the Egyptian Government can no longer accuse deranged individuals or groups of inciting religious strive. Inciting comes primarily from the Government. There is no need, therefore, for international commissions to investigate whether Christians are persecuted in Egypt. In this website, the Government of Egypt says it all, and tells as it is
http://www.islamic-council.com/non-muslims_u/Chapter3.asp

الحكومة المصرية تظهر رسميا الكراهية و البغض ضد غير المسلمين

الموقع الرسمي لوزارة الاوقاف المصرية علي شبكة الانترنيت أظهر موقف الحكومة المصرية رسميا تجاة اليهود و المسيحيين وغير المسلمين. من سخرية القدر ان هذه الوزارة ممولة من حصيلة الضرائب التي يساهم فيها المسيحيين المصريين (الأقباط) بنسبة تصل إلي 40% من الحصيلة العامة. في تصريح وبيان المركز ألأعلى للشؤون الإسلامية الذي يمثل النظرة الرسمية للحكومة و الدولة المصرية. البيان المنشور في هذا الموقع بيانا مثيرا للاشمئزاز بل يعد بيانا مروع وفظيع وهذا البيان يعد دليل ألا دانه الدامغ للحكومة المصرية التي لا تستطيع أن تدعي وتتهم المخبولين عقليا أو جماعة من المتطرفين المحرضين علي الجهاد فالحكومة هي وراء كل هذا وهي المحرض الأول في عمليات الاضطهاد ضد المسيحيين في مصر. لم يعد علي منظمات حقوق الإنسان العالمية الحضور لمصر للتأكد من الاضطهاد الواقع علي المسيحيين من عدمه ففي موقع وزارة الأوقاف تجد الحكاية كما هي وتراها هي هي كما الواقع و الحقيقة في مصر.

أنني أنصح القراء الدخول إلي الموقع المذكور وبسرعة قبل أن تفطن الحكومة المصرية لهذه الفضيحة وتتستر وتخفي الحقيقة.

هذا الموقع يقدم الدليل الدامغ و الإثبات لكل الحكومات الديموقراطية في العالم كي تعرف حقيقة النظام المصري وبل أنه نظام إرهابي ومصر تفرخ يوميا الآلاف من المتطرفين.

الموضوع لا يحتاج إلي تعليق فكل شيء واضح ويجب أن نعلنه للعالم أجمع لكي يعرفوا حقيقة النظم الإسلامية العنصرية مهما حاولت لبس المظهر الديموقراطي. فهي دول بنيت علي التعصب و احتلال الأوطان بالسيف وهي دعوة لا تقبل الأخر بل تطعن في الأخريين وتهيج عندما يبدي الأخريين أرائهم حتى ولو بالرسم.

Attack on Christianity:

“The racism and nationalism of Judaism makes a mockery of its ethical teachings while Christianity's propagation of the doctrine of the Trinity and the vicarious atonement of mankind's sins by Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) nullifies all its moral values. In Islam there are no such loopholes”

Attack on non-Islamic political leaders:

“The opposition of Islam to divergent faiths, philosophies and ideologies not directed towards any hatred of individuals but rather the system that has produced them. It is not persons which Islam opposes but perverted values and evil ways of life which lead only to ruin and disaster, but because all non-Islamic ways are wrong, the leaders who personify these values and are fighting with all sorts of cruel and treacherous means day and night to obliterate the truth of Islam from the world, become hateful and therefore must be bated and opposed with every resource we possess.”

No reconciliation with other believers:

“On what foundation can a lasting reconciliation between Muslims, Jews and Christians be based? We must realize that under the existing circumstances, no friendship is possible. Jewry and Christendom have joined hands to destroy us and all we cherish. Zionism, freemasonry, Christian missionary activity and Orientalism have combined to annihilate us religiously, culturally and even physically. It would be sheer folly to kiss the hands that are beating us!.”

No peace with Ahl El Kitab "People of the book" i.e.Christians and Jews, until we subdue them:

“Peaceful relations and mutual respect among us can only be achieved through strength. We must cease indulging in apologetics and present the Islamic message to the world honestly and forthrightly. Before we can hope to succeed with Tabligh on a large scale, we must first convert the nominal Muslims into true believers. We must establish a full-blooded Islamic state where the world will witness our precepts translated into action. Finally, we must crush the conspiracies of Zionism, free-masonry, Orientalism and foreign missions both with the pen and with the sword. We cannot afford peace and reconciliation with the Ahl al Kitab until we can humble them and gain the upper hand”

I could not imagine the western countries, in particular, Denmark would not officially protest this dishonored and humiliation to other religions on an official site . The Egyptian Government played a huge role in igniting the flames against Denmark and against the western world. This site is a living proves that the Egyptian Government is fuelling terrorism around the world. However, it is also proven all what is written in the following article is false. Christians and Jewish authorities should protest officially to the world body and all help and financial support should immediately be stopped.

Hereunder the full text as written in the site of the ministry of Alawqaf (The Islamic council for Islamic affairs) I thought we should keep it as an evidence and prove against the Islamic dictator Mohamed Hosni Moubark and his behind the seen friends the Muslims brotherhood his very close allies

Website’s statements appear in an article titled “ Islam Versus Ahl El Kitab Past and Present”. Excerpts of this article are presented here without comments.
http://www.islamic-council.com/non-muslims_u/Chapter3.asp

Moslem Requests Building a Church.

2006-05-14T14:29:00.000-04:00

According to the web site of Masrawy, Mr. Ahmed Mostafa El Gabalawy, a moslem member of the National Egyptian party representing the governerate of Quena, has recently caused a stir in the political and religious circles when he presented a demand to the Egyptian Minister of Construction to allow the building of a new church on a piece of land in the town of New Quena. The Minister has agreed to the demand, and gave instructions to respond immediately to the request.
In the demand presented by Mr. El Gabalawy, he referred to the fact that in the planning of New Quena, more than one mosque were built, and in the name of justice and in order to stress national unity, he has decided to request the construction of a church according to the conditions and at a price decided by the Minister of Construction. He also stressed that this request was not emotional or meant to cause a noise in the media, but comes according to Islam directions and to ensure social peace between Moslems and Christians.

Islamic Terrorists have Confessed to Beheading Three Schoolgirls.

2006-05-14T11:21:00.000-04:00

The three girls, aged 15,15, and 17, were attacked as they walked to a Christian school.

Police in Indonesia announced that suspected Islamic terrorists have confessed to beheading three Indonesian schoolgirls in Poso, on the island of Sulawesi, in October 2005.
Five of the suspected terrorists were arrested on May 5 in Tolitoli regency, Central Sulawesi. The Jakarta Post identified them as Apriyantono, alias Irwan; Arman, alias Haris; Asrudin, Nano and Abdul Muis (some Indonesians use only a single name).
“Two of the arrested men were involved in the murders,” national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam told reporters. “Another was detained for carrying ammunition, while the other two were arrested as accessories to the crimes.”
Two additional suspects have not yet been publicly identified.
An Associated Press (AP) report initially said two of the seven suspects were associates of Noordin Top, a key leader of the homegrown terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Alam, however, has since insisted that, “it’s certain they weren’t involved with Noordin.”
Alam said the suspects would be taken to national police headquarters in Jakarta for further interrogation.
AP reported on Wednesday (May 10) that all seven men had confessed to playing a role in the beheadings of the three Christian teenagers on October 29, 2005.
The men attacked four girls – Theresia Morangke, 15, Alfita Poliwo, 17, Yarni Sambue, 15, and Noviana Malewa, 15 – early in the morning as they walked to a Christian school in Poso district. The first three girls were beheaded; Malewa received serious injuries to her face and neck but survived the attack.
Malewa later described the attackers as six men wearing black shirts and masks, and said one of the men carried a two-way radio.
The girls’ heads were wrapped in black plastic bags; one was left on the steps of a church in nearby Kasiguncu village, and the other two near a police station five miles from Poso town. The bags contained a note stating in part, “We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents.”
The men are also suspects in other violent attacks on Christians, including the murder of the Rev. Susianty Tinulele, 26, who was shot at the Effatah Church in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on July 18, 2004 by a gunman who entered the church wearing a mask. Four teenagers sitting outside the church were also injured in the attack.
A Series of Brutal Attacks
Two more schoolgirls – Siti Nuraini and her friend Ivon Maganti, both 17 – were shot in the face on November 8. Nuraini died from her wounds but Maganti survived the attack. (See Compass Direct, “Two More Schoolgirls Critically Injured in Poso, Indonesia,” November 9, 2005.)
Machete-wielding assailants also attacked three young people, killing one of them, on November 18; and a Christian couple were shot and seriously wounded on November 19. (See Compass Direct, “Weekend Shooting, Machete Attacks Stun Christians in Indonesia,” November 21, 2005.)
A bombing in the predominantly Christian village of Tentena in May 2005 left 22 dead and at least 74 injured.
Another bomb exploded on New Year’s Eve (December 31, 2005) at a predominantly Christian area market in Palu, Central Sulawesi, killing eight people and injuring 56.

"Have the ships of love left?"

2006-05-13T15:34:00.000-04:00

In Egypt, an Old Beacon of Tolerance Flickers.Fatal Stabbings Underline Growing Sectarian Tensions in Historic Port City of Alexandria.

This ancient port city clings to a self-proclaimed myth of urban tolerance as stubbornly as barnacles adhere to its harbor breakwaters. Ask anyone idling on the waterfront drive what Alexandria is like, and the answer will be that everyone gets along here, that the city is neither narrow-minded, like villages in Egypt's far south, nor coldly anonymous, like Cairo.
Alexandria's tolerance stems, residents say, from the city's earliest days. When Alexander the Great founded a Greek settlement on Africa's shore in 332 B.C., it merged cultures from north and south, east and west, quickly growing into a place that welcomed travelers, traders and refugees from all over the Mediterranean region. But last month, a 2,300-year-old reputation was undermined, perhaps fatally, by a dagger stroke.

On April 14, a man with a knife drove to three Coptic Christian churches here and stabbed several worshipers, killing an elderly man, Nushi Atta Girgis, on the steps of Saints Church. The attacker was a Muslim, and the assault ignited three days of sectarian street fighting. It was not Egypt's gravest outbreak of Christian-Muslim violence: Worse rioting took place last fall when Muslims protested a play about a Christian convert to Islam who switches back. But the stabbing set off public alarm because there was no apparent trigger for the attacks and because Egypt had looked to Alexandria as a model of tolerance.

"There has been an acceleration of conflict, and that is worrisome," said Sameh Naguib, a democracy activist and expert in economic development. "There is a kind of national agitation going on, and the unpredictability of it all is cause for concern. It's especially unfortunate that it should happen in Alexandria. It shatters an ideal that is particularly needed in Egypt: the ideal that we all can live together in peace."
Cosmopolitan Alexandria was once one of the Mediterranean's most easygoing cities, home to Greeks, Armenians, Italians, Jews, Arabs, Turks and many others. A major seaport, Alexandria attracted artists, poets and writers. Egypt's best-known film director, Youssef Chahine, had long held up his native city as a national exemplar. In his 2004 movie, "Alexandria . . . New York," the lead character praised Alexandria as a symbol of tolerance.
The city's reputation as a beacon of cordiality extended throughout the Middle East. When news spread of last month's knife attacks, a Saudi writer for the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper asked "Alexandria that overlooks the wide sea" a pointed question: "Have the ships of love left?"

Yet the city's celebrated tolerance has been more legend than reality for 50 years. An exclusionist Arab nationalism, combined with anti-foreign sentiment nourished by the 1956 Suez War and the 1967 Middle East war with Israel, gradually drained the city of its cosmopolitan populace and character. Almost all that remained was a kind of archaeology of sophistication. The faded Cecil Hotel, with its cafes and wrought-iron elevator, sits on the waterfront drive still known by its French name, the Corniche. Ruined palaces of aristocrats crumble in their lush gardens. Nearly empty churches -- Greek and Armenian Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican -- nestle among a forest of minarets and mosques. The old synagogue sits under guard, unused.
The mix of Muslims and Christians was Alexandria's last live exhibit of true urban variety. Now, sectarian hostility is palpably on the rise. It is rare for a foreigner to run into a Copt and not hear expressions of deep-seated fear of and complaints about Muslims, or to converse with a Muslim and not hear that Copts are privileged.
Maher Atta, son of the man who was fatally stabbed in April, recalls a time when Muslim and Christian families would visit during each other's festivals, celebrate each other's weddings and attend the same entertainments. That is all coming to an end, he said.
"People see on TV preachers saying bad things about each other's religions," Atta said. "They see people burning churches in Pakistan or blowing up mosques in Iraq, and they feel hostility." he said. On the wall of his apartment hung icons of the Virgin Mary and pictures of Coptic holy men, fixtures in Coptic homes throughout Egypt. Across the hall, a Muslim family's living room was adorned with Koranic verses, just as commonplace in Islamic households.
Atta noted that until a few years ago, religion classes in schools were taught in the context that everyone was Egyptian. Now, separate religion classes are held for Muslims and Christians. "The teachers can call the others infidel, and no one is around to challenge it," he said.
His father was attending a service at Saints Church when he left to go to a restroom outside. A car with three men arrived, and one got out and began to stab worshipers entering and exiting the church. During Atta's funeral the next day, Copts and Muslims fought each other with sticks and swords. Christian jewelry shops were looted as police stood idly by.
The alleged killer was captured and identified as Mahmoud Salah-Eddin Abdel-Rizziq. Police said he was deranged. Maqqar Ibrahim, a priest at Saints Church, protested: "If this person is mentally ill, why is it his illness only appears when he enters a church?" The accomplices escaped.

The Caliphate: One nation, under Allah.

2006-05-12T10:37:00.000-04:00

The three middle-aged men sitting in an Indian restaurant in Jordan's capital scarcely look like Islamic revolutionaries. They are smartly dressed in Western-style suits and sip thoughtfully from cans of Pepsi as they share their plan to reshape the Muslim world.

"[President] Bush says that we want to enslave people and oppress their freedom of speech," says Abu Abdullah, a senior member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Party of Liberation. "But we want to free all people from being slaves of men and make them slaves of Allah."
Hizb ut-Tahrir says that Muslims should abolish national boundaries within the Islamic world and return to a single Islamic state, known as "the Caliphate," that would stretch from Indonesia to Morocco and contain more than 1.5 billion people.

It's a simple and seductive idea that analysts believe may someday allow the group to rival existing Islamic movements, topple the rulers of Middle Eastern nations, and undermine those seeking to reconcile democracy and Islam and build bridges between East and West.
"A few years ago people laughed at them," says Zeyno Baran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and the leading expert on Hizb ut-Tahrir. "But now that [Osama] bin Laden, [Abu Musab al-] Zarqawi, and other Islamic groups are saying they want to recreate the Caliphate, people are taking them seriously."

Even more moderate Muslim groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt pay lip-service to the ideal of reestablishing the Caliphate, leaving less ideological space for Muslims who want to move toward Western models of democracy.
"The Caliphate is a rallying point between the radicals and the more moderate Islamists," says Stephen Ulph, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation. "The idea of a government based on the Caliphate has a historical pedigree and Islamic legitimacy that Western systems of government by their very nature do not have."
But unlike Al Qaeda, Hizb ut-Tahrir believes it can recreate the Caliphate peacefully. Its activists aim to pursuade Muslim political and military leaders that reestablishing the Caliphate is their Islamic duty. Once these leaders invite Hizb ut-Tahrir to take power - effectively staging a military coup - the party would then repeat the process in other countries before linking them up to form a revived Caliphate.

"We spread our ideas by addressing people directly," says Abdullah Shakr, a fluent English-speaker, who, like all three men, spent time in Jordanian jails for membership in the party. "We don't care if the government knows about us, but ... we try not to catch their attention."

Egypt arrests Bloggers

2006-05-11T13:04:00.000-04:00

Egypt: Award-Winning Blogger Among New Arrests

Reuters: Egyptian security officials arrested 11 more political reform activists, including an award-winning blogger, Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, Human Rights Watch said today. This brings to more than 100 the number of people detained over the past two weeks for exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression. Approximately half of those arrested are members of the Muslim Brotherhood who were putting up posters and distributing leaflets protesting the April 30 extension of emergency rule for another two years. The Emergency Law has been in effect since President Hosni Mubarak came to power in October 1981. The others were detained for demonstrating in support of a group of judges campaigning for greater judicial independence.

"These new arrests indicate that President Mubarak intends to silence all peaceful opposition," said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division.
The latest arrests occurred on May 7 near the South Cairo Court where activists arrested on April 24 were scheduled to appear before a judge. Police released three of the 11 new detainees, but transferred the remaining eight to the Heliopolis state security prosecutor, who extended their detention for 15 days. The eight detained are: Ahmed 'Abd al-Gawad, Ahmed 'Abd al-Ghaffar, Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, Asma'a 'Ali, Fadi Iskandar, Karim al-Sha'ir, Nada al-Qassas and Rasha Azab.
On May 8, authorities extended for another 15 days the detention of a dozen activists arrested on April 24. They initially faced charges of blocking traffic, but the authorities later transferred their cases to state security prosecutors. Yesterday, authorities extended the detention of 28 activists arrested on April 26 and 27 for another 15 days. All those arrested between April 24 and May 7 for demonstrating now face charges of "insulting the president," "spreading false rumors," and "disturbing public order" under the parallel state security legal system set up under the Emergency Law.
According to a statement published on an activist Web site, activists detained between April 24 and 27 have begun a hunger strike to protest prison conditions, including threats of torture and ill-treatment.
"The activists detained over the past two weeks should be released immediately, unharmed," Stork said. "The Egyptian government is responsible under international law for their safety."
The campaign of judges for greater judicial independence has become a rallying point for political reform activists. The Judges' Club, the quasi-official professional organization for members of the judiciary, refused to certify the results of last year's parliamentary elections after more than 100 of the judges reported irregularities at polling stations. In February, the government-controlled Supreme Judicial Council stripped four of the most vocal judges of their judicial immunity.
For the names of demonstrators detained prior to May 7, please click here

More info from Alaa's blog:

Alaa detained for 15 days
Submitted by Manal on Mon, 08/05/2006 - 17:56.
Alaa and the rest of the group that was kidnapped yesterday, will be detained for 15 days. They didnt go directly to the prison as we thought, but spent the night at the Khalifa's police station and are supposed to be transferred to the prisons now. The 3 women will go to El Qanater prison, as Tora prison where the rest of the 40 detainees are held has no section for women, and the men are supposed to join the rest and go to Tora prison, but some think that they will also taken to El Qanater prison (which has sections for both men and women). They renewed 15 more days to the detainees of 24th of April, today. They are not releasing them anytime soon. Plz help spread the word, you can find photos for Alaa
http://www.manalaa.net

Protesters Clash With Police in Cairo.

2006-05-11T09:31:00.000-04:00

Egyptian security forces beat activists and arrested journalists in Cairo on Thursday during protests in support of judges facing a disciplinary committee for criticizing election abuses last year.

Activists organized at least three separate demonstrations in central Cairo but in each case plainclothes security men moved in, beating and detaining selected protesters.
Thousands of riot police, armed with sticks and shields, sealed off main streets near the High Court, disrupting traffic in the heart of the capital.
The protesters gathered quietly around the corner from the court to escape the attention of security forces and then began chanting "Judges, judges, save us from the tyrants!"
They marched for some 15 minutes before teams of plainclothes security attacked the leaders, pulling them to the pavement and beating them with fists.
One activist was held against a wall and beaten until his face bled heavily. At least a dozen were arrested. Plainclothes policemen also detained at least six journalists covering the protest, a Reuters witness said.
They dragged away cameramen from news organizations including Reuters and Al Jazeera television and confiscated their cameras. An Al Jazeera cameraman was badly beaten.
Demonstrators dispersed when the security forces began their crackdown. Some managed to regroup to continue chanting.
The demonstrators included supporters of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood and secular activists. "Down, down with Hosni Mubarak," they chanted, in reference to Egypt's president.
Shops closed their shutters in Talaat Harb street, one of the downtown area's main streets, for fear of violence. Security sources said at least eight activists were arrested.
The authorities arrested dozens during a protest in support of the judges last month. They are still in prison.
The two judges, Mahmoud Mekky and Hesham Bastawisi, face charges of violating judiciary rules by talking on television about abuses in last year's elections.
They have also been prominent in a campaign by the informal Judges Club to obtain full financial and administrative independence from the Ministry of Justice.

Egyptians detained for beating up local residents.

2006-05-10T12:39:00.000-04:00

Two Egyptian citizens have been detained in St. Petersburg (USA) for beating up a young woman and a man, Interfax was told at city police headquarters.

A resident of St. Petersburg born in 1982 was beaten up outside a cafe on Moskovsky Prospekt at about 1 a.m. on Wednesday when he tried to help a young woman whom five foreigners, armed with the leg of a chair, were dragging somewhere. Eyewitnesses called the police and two Egyptians were detained at the scene. The others managed to escape," a police spokesman said.

The young man was hospitalized with brain concussion and head injuries. The young woman had numerous bruises and brain concussion.
"The detained foreigners are now being identified, since they had no documents on them and don't speak Russian. The launching of criminal proceedings is being considered," the spokesman said.

Sinai Bomb Leader Killed.

2006-05-09T13:23:00.000-04:00

Egyptian police say they killed Sinai bomb leader.

Egyptian police on Tuesday killed the leader of the group behind suicide bombings which killed 19 people in the Sinai peninsula last month, the Interior Ministry said.
Counter-terrorism units and police surrounded an agricultural area on the outskirts of the north Sinai town of El Arish in the morning after receiving information that Nasr Khamis el-Milahi was hiding there, it said in a statement.
Milahi and an assistant, named as Abdullah Alyan Abu Jarir, tried to escape and a firefight broke out between them and the police. Milahi was killed and Abu Jarir was captured, it said.
Police found two automatic weapons, ammunition and hand grenades on them, it added.
The authorities had named Milahi as the leader of a group called Tawhid wal Jihad (One God and Jihad), which they blame for a series of attacks in Sinai since October 2004.
They describe it as a group of Sinai Bedouin with militant Islamist views. The group itself has never issued a public statement or claimed responsibility for attacks.
The Sinai attacks have killed at least 117 people. The Red Sea resort of Taba and beach camps further south were bombed in October 2004 and Sharm el-Sheikh was bombed in July 2005.
Men identified by the authorities as members of the group have come mainly from El Arish, a poor town on the Mediterranean coast.
The police last week killed six men wanted over the bombings in gunbattles in northern Sinai.

Islamists New Attack on Copts ?

2006-05-09T12:41:00.000-04:00

The web site www.copts-united.com reports today that an attack has been launched by fanatic Islamists against Copts in the village of Wasef Ghaly Pacha, in El Ayat, Egypt.

The attack started when the Islamists entered the church soon after the service, and assaulted the priest. This was followed by spread of violence in the village where some properties of Copts were destroyed, and some of their cars and their land set on fire. There has been no response from the security forces of the village up to the time of sending the report, and the Copts were left to face the violence.

The report also mentions that the Copts of the village are to afraid to get out of their homes, and the priest cannot leave the church, because of the dangers and the threat to his life.

House of Lords Discusses Copts.

2006-05-08T18:36:00.000-04:00

The British House of Lords discussed today the situation of Copts in Egypt and the latest events of Alexandria. The discussion started by a comment by Baroness Cox, and then different members of the House stated their opinions and expressed their support for the Copts cause.

The following link which was forwarded by Dr. Ibrahim Habib, allows you to watch the meeting. The part related to the Copts discussion is at the beginning of the clip.

http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Console.aspx?Meeting=5087

Victim Vows to Keep Travelling

2006-05-08T12:14:00.000-04:00

Egypt bombing victims challange Terrorism.

An Australian woman injured in the Egyptian bombings has spoken publicly for the first time about her ordeal.
Georgina Blake from Harefield in south-western New South Wales is in hospital in Wagga, recovering from injuries suffered in the bombing in the Egyptian town of Dahab last month.
Ms Blake was surrounded by her family as she faced the media for the first time today.
She says she has every intention of returning to Egypt and terrorism should not stop others from venturing overseas.
"It can happen anywhere in the world and I was just in the wrong place or the right place or whatever," she said.
Ms Blake and a Melbourne woman were the only Australians injured in the blasts, which killed about 24 people.

Long Term Effects of Attacks.

2006-05-07T14:36:00.000-04:00

Rehab Saad writes about delayed reactions to the Dahab terrorist attacks.

That the October 2004 bomb attack on Taba was widely interpreted as a reaction to attacks taking place against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories led many to predict -- correctly, it turned out -- that the impact on tourist numbers visiting Sinai would be minimal. When Sharm El-Sheikh was attacked in July 2005 the impact on tourism, particularly in south Sinai, was much stronger. And many fear the industry is at the beginning of a real crisis.

"I am not happy and I don't know where it is all heading. We should respond somehow, but frankly I don't know what that response can be. The fact that these incidents are a recurring phenomenon is very disturbing," said Elhami El-Zayyat, president of Emeco Travel and ex-head of the Egyptian Tourism Federation.
Emeco Travel, a market leader in conference and incentive tourism, is reporting huge cancellations in conferences scheduled in the next few months. "This is very natural," says El-Zayyat. "This kind of expensive tourism is very sensitive to any negative developments." More worrying, he says, is that operators in Italy and France have told clients who had booked trips to Egypt before the attack that they can postpone their journey for up to 12 months at no additional cost.
"Of course there will be a negative impact but so far everything is normal. We are following up and monitoring occupancy rates and the reaction of tour operators. We are also monitoring aviation movement, both schedule and charter. Everything looks normal so far," says Hala El-Khatib, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Tourism.
The challenge now, she believes, is to "rebuild confidence in the destination, and this involves organising familiarisation trips for travel agents and tour operators as well as foreign journalists to come and investigate the area themselves".
The second challenge, says El-Khatib, concerns the rates charged: "We are trying hard to convince hotels not to decrease their rates because it will be extremely difficult to return to a higher rate once things get better."
Of Egypt's 170,000 hotel rooms 56,000 are in South Sinai, and they average a 93 per cent occupancy rate.

Subsidizing Hate School.

2006-05-07T09:01:00.000-04:00

An Islamic school in London is teaching that non-Muslims are akin to pigs and dogs, and it is doing so with subventions from the British taxpayer.

More alarmingly, when notified of this problem, the British authorities indicate they intend to do nothing about it.
The Times (London) reported on April 20 in "Muslim students ‘being taught to despise unbelievers as ‘filth'," that the Hawza Ilmiyya, a Shi‘i institution, teaches from the writings of Muhaqqiq al-Hilli. This scholar lived from 1240 to 1326 and wrote the authoritative work on Shi‘i law (Shara'i‘ al-Islam). About non-believers, called kafirs, he taught:
The water left over in the container after any type of animal has drunk from it is considered clean and pure apart from the left over of a dog, a pig, and a disbeliever.
There are ten [sic] types of filth and impurities: urine, faeces, semen, carrion, blood of carrion, dogs, pigs, disbelievers.
When a dog, a pig, or a disbeliever touches or comes in contact with the clothes or body [of a Muslim] while he [the disbeliever] is wet, it becomes obligatory-compulsory upon him [the Muslim] to wash and clean that part which came in contact with the disbeliever.
In addition, a chapter on jihad specifies conditions under which Muslims should fight Jews and Christians.
Although Hilli's attitudes were standard for a pre-modern Shi‘i, they are shocking for 2006 London. Indeed, several students in the Hawza Ilmiyya found them "disturbing" and "very worrying." Their spokesman told the Times that students "are being exposed to very literalist interpretations of the Koran. These are interpretations that would not be recognised by 80 or 90 per cent of Muslims, but they are being taught in this school. A lot of people in the Muslim community are very concerned about this." The spokesman concluded with an appeal urgently to re-examine "the kind of material that is being taught here and in other [Islamic] colleges in Britain."
The Tehran regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sponsors the Hawza Ilmiyya; for example, three of the eight years in the curriculum are spent at institutions in the Iranian city of Qom. Indeed, the school's 1996 founding memorandum states that "At all times at least one of the trustees shall be a representative of the Supreme Spiritual Leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
The institution that funds this school, the Irshad Trust, is a "registered charity" at the Charity Commission (see the trust's page at the commission website), a privilege that qualifies it for various tax concessions; in other words, the British taxpayer is effectively subsidizing the school. In particular, the school benefits from a program called "Gift Aid," under which the government refunds the income tax paid by the donor. Gifts made to registered charities can claim and receive a 28 percent tax refund.

Man remanded over cartoon protests.

2006-05-06T10:10:00.000-04:00

A man charged with soliciting murder in connection with February's Muslim cartoon protests has been remanded in custody in London.

Abdul Muhid, 23, appeared at Bow Street Magistrates Court in central London. His next appearance will be at the Central Criminal Court on June 23.
He is one of six men charged over their alleged involvement in the London demonstrations against cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, first published in a Danish newspaper in September.
Muhid stood up in the dock throughout the 30-minute hearing. Bearded, wearing robes and carrying some books, he spoke only to give his name, an address in Stoke Newington, north London, and his date of birth.
He is charged with two counts of soliciting to murder.
Four other men have already appeared in court charged with offences relating to the demonstration.

What it is like to be an Oriental wife of a Saudi.

2006-05-05T16:37:00.000-04:00

"Worse still, people aren’t even embarrassed by their derogatory behavior."

One of my friends, a Saudi, announced that he was leaving the country. I must say I was a little taken aback by his sudden plans for departure because he was very successful, from a merchant family and appeared to have a bright future ahead of him.
“But I thought you loved it here?” I asked amazed at his decision.
“I did,” he replied sounding unconvinced by his own admission.
“Well then,” I said, “you’re being stupid. I think you’re too idealistic about what life in America is all about. And besides, you could do so well in your own country and supporting your own people.”
He sniggered at my optimism and finally apprised me of what it was that had made such a move essential.
“Lubna,” he began, “ever since I got married things haven’t been the same.”
I found this odd as he had tied the knot with the love of his life. They had met at university in the States and his wife was a smart beautiful Oriental woman whose uncle was the president of a Far Eastern country.
“Oh,” I sympathized. “These things happen, you know.”
“No. You have misunderstood. I am extremely happy. But I am just sick to death of the way we are treated as a couple. Whenever we go out, people here instinctively assume that I am with my servant! In restaurants they have attempted to seat her at a different table to the rest of us. I don’t need to tell you how some people here are accustomed to bringing their maids and drivers to dinner as glamorous accessories and then shoving them into a corner because they are not fit to share the same space as them.
“At the immigration she is always treated like a domestic helper and they love to question her rudely and act as if the status on her visa is a mistake. I mean how can someone with Oriental features aspire to the heights of marrying a Saudi? Surely they have given the maid the wrong visa? This kind of blatant disrespect is incredible.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you some of the stories. At a family wedding my wife was not even allowed into the main hall and ended up sitting in the section with the maids until one of my sisters went to fetch her. I am just finished dealing with this sort of rampant humiliation. Worse still, people aren’t even embarrassed by their derogatory behavior. They look at me as if I have issues. As if it’s fair game to treat my wife badly because she is Oriental. Even members of my own family treat her with a sort of indifference and find her presence hard to swallow.”
“That’s weird,” I said, “because your brother is married to a foreigner. It’s not exactly new to the system then is it?” I commented.
“Yes, but she is a pure white American. Come off it, Lubna. Whether you like it or not, a Katie from the great US of A is any day more preferable to any woman regardless if she happens to be from one of the top families of Asia,” he retorted in disgust.

The New Martyrs.

2006-05-05T09:47:00.000-04:00

Richard Z. Chesboff, of the NY Daily News, writes about the suffering of Christians in Islamic countries.

It's one of today's most compelling news stories, yet it's all but ignored by most of the international media. I'm talking about the growing persecution of Christian minorities in the Islamic world.
It briefly made headlines last month when machete-armed Egyptian fanatics attacked worshipers in three Coptic churches in Alexandria and murdered one aged man at prayer. Then of course, there was March - when an Afghan man escaped a death sentence for the "crime" of converting to Christianity.
But how many people heard about the recent arrest and jailing in Saudi Arabia of a group of Filipino guest workers for holding Christian prayer services in the privacy of their home? Or who knows about the three Sunday School teachers charged in Indonesia last year with the crime of "Christianization" and summarily sentenced to three years in prison?
The story is similar wherever Sharia - orthodox Islamic law - reigns supreme. From Pakistan to Darfur, Christians have become regular targets for Islamic gangs who shoot at worshipers, then torch their houses of worship.
Even in Islamic countries not strictly run by Sharia law, pressures mount on local Christians to leave the homes they've known for centuries. Iraq's Christian sects, among the oldest Christian communities anywhere in the world, have been directly targeted by terrorist bombs, and Christians are now high on the list of those fleeing Iraq's sectarian strife. Thirty years ago, Lebanon was 60% Christian. Since then, an estimated 3.5 million Christians have emigrated, reducing the country's Christian population percentage to barely 25%. And in the Palestinian territories, direct and indirect pressures have also led to an increasing Christian exodus. One striking result: Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and once a predominantly Christian Arab community now has an overwhelming Muslim majority.
Few people seem prepared to connect the dots. Some American evangelical groups like the Washington-based International Christian Concern try to raise the alarm. And America's Copts, especially those based in the New York area, actively lobby against the legal and social discrimination that face their Egyptian co-religionists. Yet most mainstream church groups seem to ignore the threat.
During certain periods, Islamic countries did allow "the peoples of the book" to live in relative peace among them. But the rise of Islamic extremism is silencing even voices of limited tolerance. More than 800,000 Jews were forced to flee the Islamic world between 1948 and 1955. Unless there is an outcry against the new wave of discrimination now facing Christians, these ancient communities are also doomed to disappear.

US body criticizes religious freedom in allies.

2006-05-04T13:41:00.000-04:00

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its annual report to Congress and President George W. Bush's administration, harshly criticized three key U.S. allies -- Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt -- for their poor performance on religious rights.
The commission designated 11 countries as being "of particular concern" because of extreme religious persecution: Burma, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Another seven states were placed on a watch list because of serious violations: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria.
Created by Congress in 1998 to ensure that religious freedom became a central goal of U.S. foreign policy, the commission raised the alarm about the situation in Iran and Afghanistan.
"The situations in Afghanistan and Iraq serve to underscore the precarious state of this fundamental freedom," commission chairman Michael Cromartie wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a letter accompanying the report.
In Afghanistan, the report said, conditions for freedom of religion of non-Muslims had become particularly problematic in the past year, compounded by flaws in the new Afghan constitution, which does not contain clear protections for religious minorities.
"Religious extremism, even in official circles, is an increasing threat to democratic consolidation in Afghanistan," the report said.
In Iraq, the commission was deeply concerned by sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims and targeted attacks on secular Muslims, religious minorities and women.
"There has been an ongoing stream of violence and extremism in Iraq driven by religious intolerance," the report said.

On Saudi Arabia, the commission concluded that "freedom of religion does not exist" as the government banned all forms of religious expression except its own interpretation of Sunni Islam and continued to finance "extreme religious intolerance and hatred" around the world.
The commission criticized the Bush administration for failing to punish Saudi Arabia for violations listed in last year's report and urged it to take action this year.
China, a major U.S. trade partner, conducted "severe and pervasive violations of religious freedom and related religious rights," according to the report.
Iran's record deteriorated in the past year, the report said, citing Iran's treatment of members of the Bahai faith and Jews.
The performance of Pakistan, an ally in the "war on terror," improved its efforts to protect minorities but still fell short, the report said.
In Egypt, "discrimination, intolerance and other human rights violations affect a broad spectrum of religious groups," including Coptic Christians, Bahais, Jews and members of minority Muslim communities.

Terrorists "New Look".

2006-05-03T12:03:00.000-04:00

The Egyptian weekly “Al Ahaly” reported on its web site that, according to security sources in Egypt, the terrorists who recently carried out the attacks in Dahab have all been recruited after the attacks on Sharm El Sheikh in 2005.

The report states that the leadership of the Islamist group have ordered their new members to remove all signs of being religious, including shaving their beards, and not appearing in any way as fanatic Moslems. The leader of the terrorist cell that carried out the Dahab explosions, a person with the name of Attallah El Sewerky has shaved his beard immediately after joining the group, and then left to be trained by the militant section in a farm near the town of El Areesh in Sinai. When he came back, he had a completely new look. Security sources said that members of the new terrorist cells wear jeans, smoke cigarettes, and mix with tourists in a way not showing any signs of “being religious”. These tactics are completely different from those employed by el Quada, which adds to the difficulties facing the security forces.The same sources have said that the terrorist organization of “Tawheed and Geehad” that is responsible for the Sinai attacks has widely recruited members from the governorates of Ismailia, Mersa Metrouh, North, and South Sinai. More than 100 persons have joined, forming about 20 cells.

Saudi Prince Accused of Drug Smuggling Avoids Prosecution.

2006-05-02T16:15:00.000-04:00

This week in Miami, while two drug defendants face a jury of their peers, one of their alleged co-conspirators remains safe and sound. The defendants are charged in a drug conspiracy case that involved the smuggling of two tons of cocaine from Colombia to France.
U.S. and French investigators say Nayef bin Sultan bin Fawwaz al-Shalaan, a member of the Saudi royal family, used his private 727 jet to smuggle drugs from South America to Le Borget airport outside of Paris. Under the rules of diplomatic immunity, when the prince landed at the airport in his private jet, his entourage received little or no inspection, a French official said.
The prince is now under indictment in the United States and France, but he remains in Saudi Arabia, a royal fugitive, protected by his powerful family, according to U.S. drug agents.
Doris Mangeri Salazar, a real estate agent from Coral Gables, Fla., who is described as the prince's former girlfriend, and her friend Ivan Lopez Vanegas, 49, are on trial in Miami. A Swiss banker alleged to have been the money launderer in the drug trafficking scheme has been indicted but is in Spain, which refuses to extradite him.
'No Doubt Whatsoever'
There is an outstanding international arrest warrant for the prince, but there is little law enforcement can do because neither the United States nor France has an extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia.
According to a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Miami, Joe Kilmer, the investigation yielded plenty of evidence of the prince's participation in the crime ring. "We feel there's no doubt whatsoever that the prince had every bit of knowledge as to what he was involved with," he said.
The Saudi government has not made the prince available for questioning, according to U.S. agents, and has done little to cooperate with the investigation. The Saudi government has not made any official comment on the case.
The former special agent in charge of the Miami office of the DEA, Tom Raffanello, said that he does not expect any further cooperation from the Saudis.
Authorities say the value of the smuggled cocaine was $36 million and that some of the drug money was moved through a Swiss bank in Geneva that was owned by the prince himself.
Police in France say that the Saudi interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, even threatened to cancel a $6 billion contract with a French company over the case. The details of the alleged threat were sent in a diplomatic cable from the French ambassador in Riyadh.

Al-Arian Sentenced for Aiding Terrorists.

2006-05-01T11:27:00.000-04:00

A judge sentenced former professor Sami Al-Arian on Monday to another year and a half in prison before he will be deported in his terrorism conspiracy case.
Al-Arian, 48, was sentenced to four years and nine months, but he will get credit for the three years and three months he already has served while being held before and after his trial.
His lawyer, Linda Moreno, asked the judge to release her client now, but the judge refused and called Al-Arian "a master manipulator."
Al-Arian signed a plea agreement April 14 in which he admitted providing support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a State Department-designated terrorist group responsible for hundreds of deaths in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The former University of South Florida computer engineering professor took the plea deal despite a jury failing to convict him of any of the 17 charges against him after a six-month trial last year. As part of the plea agreement, Al-Arian admitted to being associated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad from the late 1980s and providing "services" for the group, which included filing for immigration benefits for key members, hiding the identities of those men and lying about his involvement.

Three Killed in Sinai.

2006-05-01T06:59:00.000-04:00

Sinai Bedouins attack Police.

Egyptian police on Sunday shot dead three men suspected of belonging to a group of Sinai Bedouin who killed 18 people in the Red Sea resort of Dahab last week, police sources said.
A police patrol came across two of the men in the Mount Hilal area of northeastern Sinai. The men threw two hand grenades at them but the grenades did not explode, they said.
Police opened fire in response and killed them both.
In a separate incident, police killed another suspected member of the group in a gunbattle in the Mount Maghara area to the west. Police captured four suspects and were pursuing others hiding in a mountainous area of northern Sinai some 270 km (170 miles) from Dahab, the police sources said.
The Egyptian government has blamed the mysterious group of Sinai Bedouin, which had its origins in the Mediterranean town of El Arish, for four other bombings at resorts on the Sinai coast and in northern Sinai over the past four years.
Two men blew themselves up on Wednesday in separate attacks on a multinational peace force and a police station in northern Sinai.
Shortly after the Dahab blasts last Monday police said they had formally detained at least 10 people and taken in about 70 local Bedouin for questioning.

Bombings Are Possibly Related.

2006-04-27T08:20:00.000-04:00

The Egyptian security forces say they are pursuing the possibility that the latest bombings in Dahab and the northern Sinai were the work of the same group which carried out previous attacks against the Red Sea resorts of Sharm El Sheikh and Taba.

Unnamed police sources have been quoted by the official Middle East News Agency as saying that all lines of inquiry were open, but that it was likely that the bombings were the work of the same group.
They named three fugitives, all Sinai natives, and said they were part of a local cell of Islamic militants hiding in the mountains of the region.
Despite the scale of the attacks against the three Sinai resorts, the Egyptian authorities have never said much about their investigations.
But some information started to surface in recent months with the start of the trial of four men who face charges in connection with the bombings in Taba in October 2004 which killed 34 people including foreign tourists.

Press reports earlier this month which quote court documents, said the bombers in Taba and Sharm El Sheikh were members of a militant group called Al Tawhid Wal Jihad established by a young dentist, Khaled Mosaed, in the town of Al Arish in the northern Sinai in 2002.
He is said to have succeeded in recruiting around 100 men whom he organised in separate cells often kept ignorant of each other in order to limit the damage should members fall into the hands of the security services.
The reports say Mr Mosaed was motivated by anger against the United States over what he regarded as its humiliating treatment of the Muslim world. He also considered Arab governments which fail to implement Islamic law and which are seen to collude with the US as legitimate targets.
So far, nothing has been made public suggesting that there were links between the Sinai militants and al-Qaeda, though it is clear they are at the very least inspired by the actions of Osama Bin Laden and his followers.
The men on trial for the Taba bombing include Younes Alyan Abu Greir who was arrested in September and whose confessions appear to have provided the authorities with their first major breakthrough almost a full year after the first attacks.
Mr Abu Greir was reportedly arrested in the Sinai, after police shot at him when he tried to evade a roadblock.

El Adly, Will He be Removed?

2006-04-26T10:49:00.000-04:00

In a report by Nabeel Sharaf Eldeen in Elaph, there are strong rumors widely circulating in Cairo that the Egyptian Interior Minister, Habeeb El Adly, is expected to be removed from his post following the last terror attacks in Sinai. In his place, a council would be made of senior security officials, and headed by Omar Soliman, the head of "Mukhabarat", the egyptian equivalent of FBI. This council will take the responsibility of dealing with terrorists following the repeated attacks that happened recently.

Twin suicide attacks in northern Sinai.

2006-04-26T10:03:00.000-04:00

More terrorist attacks within two days of Dahab's explosions.

Twin suicide attacks targeting security personnel rocked northern Sinai near the Gaza Strip, two days after triple bombings killed at least 18 people in a resort further south.
A first suicide bomber blew himself up as vehicles carrying an Egyptian police officer and peacekeepers from Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) passed by, an interior ministry statement said.
The attacks took place near the MFO's base in Al-Gura, which lies some 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of the Gaza Strip.
"Two MFO vehicles were involved. They were probably five kilometres (three miles) away from Al-Gura. They were headed to Al-Gura from Rafah. The vehicles were damaged, but there were no casualties," MFO spokesman Ian Baxendell told AFP on Wednesday.
The second suicide bomber was on a bicycle when he tried to detonate his explosive charge against an Egyptian police vehicle that was rushing to the scene of the first attack, the interior ministry said.
"The suicide bomber died on the spot but the explosion did not cause any damage," the interior ministry added. The second explosion took place east of Al-Gura, near the Gaza Strip border town of Rafah.
Baxendell said an investigation was under way.
Two Canadian members of the force were wounded in August 2005 when a bomb exploded in Al-Gura as their vehicle passed, days after multiple bomb attacks in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh left some 70 people dead.
A group calling itself "Egypt's mujahedeen," or holy warriors, later claimed responsibility for the attack, which officials said at the time was carried out with gas canisters.
The MFO is an independent peacekeeping force not related to the United Nations, created as a result of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and funded mainly by the two neighbours and the United States.
It currently has contingents from Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Hungary, Italy, Fiji, New Zealand, Norway, the United States and Uruguay.
The fresh violence came as Egyptian investigators were questioning suspects arrested in connection with Dahab's deadly triple bombings.
Security sources said 30 suspects had been rounded up since the explosions rocked the resort on Monday as it was packed with foreign tourists and Egyptians enjoying a traditional spring holiday.

It was"Like War".

2006-04-25T12:33:00.000-04:00

A description of the scene of the explosions in Dahab.

A German doctor, Michael Hartlich, holidaying in Dahab, described how a 10-year-old boy died in his arms.

"It was like war," Mr Hartlich told the AFP news agency, still shocked and upset several hours after the blasts. "I'd never seen anything like it before, a child, a baby, blood everywhere, the smell of burnt skin, of burnt hair."
As investigations continued on Tuesday, dazed holidaymakers mingled with police and media near the scenes of the attacks.

Pools and trails of blood still stained a stretch of Dahab's seaside promenade, the Reuters news agency reported.

"I came outside and saw a person on fire and others with cuts on their head and arms. Some people had lost their fingers or their feet," Ahmed, an employee at a Chinese restaurant near the blast scene, told Reuters.
"The summer is just coming and there were lots of bookings but now it will be a disaster."

Conflicting Reports of The Number of Dead in Dahab

2006-04-24T19:30:00.000-04:00

According to the web site of Elaph, there are conflicting reports on the number of victims in the Dahab explosions. The Egyptian Interioe Ministry claims that there are 10 dead, while some “Medical” sources state that the number of dead is more like 35, while the number of wounded is more than 200. Most of the victims are Egyptians, beside some other European nationals.

Security source said that the 3 explosions were located in the market area, Al Mashrabiya hotel, and the entrance to Dahab. An eye witness claims that the explosions happened within 5 minute of each other.

On the other hand, Mr. Shalom Cohen, the Israeli Ambasador in Cairo has said on the Israeli radio that he was informed by the Egyptian security forces that there are no Israeli victims among the dead.

Explosions Rock Dahab, Egypt.

2006-04-24T17:04:00.000-04:00

Once again, an Egyptian resort is the target of multiple expolsions in a day when all Egyptians celebrate the feast of Spring.

Three explosions rocked the Egyptian resort city of Dahab at the height of the tourist season Monday, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 150 at just one hotel, according to the doctor in charge of the Sinai peninsula rescue squad.
Police said the explosions hit the central part of the city where there are many shops, restaurants, bars and guesthouses. The blasts ripped through the town shortly after nightfall when the streets would have been jammed with tourists, mainly with Europeans, Israelis and expatriates living in Egypt.
Dr. Said Essa, who runs the rescue squad, said his casualty figures were for victims at the el-Khaleeg Hotel only. He said there were casualties from the other explosions.
A witness, Serge Loussararian, told CNN that an explosion took place in an area with restaurants and bars. "We heard the explosion and then we saw a big light. And a lot of people running," he said.
Terrorist attacks have killed nearly 100 people at several tourist resorts of Egypt's Sinai region in the past two years.
Bombings in the resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, near the Israeli border, killed 34 people in October 2004. Last July, suicide attackers in the resort of Sharm el-Sheik killed at least 64 people, mainly tourists.
The Egyptian government has said the militants who carried out the bombings were locals without international connections, but other security agencies have said they suspect al-Qaida.
For years, Dahab was popular, low-key haven for young Western backpackers — including Israelis — drawn by prime scuba diving sites and cheap hotels, which mainly consisted of huts set up along the beach. In recent years, a number of more upscale hotels have been built, including a five-star Hilton resort.
Dahab is located on the Gulf of Aqaba on the eastern side of the Sinai Peninsula and is about 65 miles south of Taba, near the border at the southern tip of Israel.

Copts Around The World Rally in Protest.

2006-04-22T12:26:00.000-04:00

According to different web sites, Copts in various parts of the world are coming out in large rallies to show their anger and frustration with the repeated attacks and hate crimes committed by fanatic Moslems against Christians of Egypt.

These demonstrations follow the knife attacks on 3 churches in Alexandria, Egypt, which caused the death of a worshiper, and the injury of many others. The attacks were the latest in long chain of hate crimes against Copts that are noted to be escalating with the alarming rise of Islamic extremism in Egypt.

During the last few days, Diaspora Copts have demonstrated in Greece, as well as in Cyprus. In the USA, Copts came out in large numbers in a demonstration in front of the White House in Washington D.C.

Another demonstration is being arranged to march in front of the U.N. building in New York City, on Monday April 24, a day that is celebrated in Egypt as “Sham El Neseem” or spring celebration. On the same day, the resident Copts of California are planning another large rally in front of the Federal Building, in Los Angeles.
Monday, April 24th is also the day for the Copts of Australia to come out in their demonstration in Melbourne, and the Canadian Copts to express their feelings by marching in Ottawa, the capital city.

Explosion of Sectarian Violence Feared.

2006-04-20T09:15:00.000-04:00

Egypt's latest bloodletting between Christians and Muslims has many fearing an explosion of sectarian violence in the Arab world's most populous country, fueled by frustration with plummeting living standards.

Increasingly radicalized Muslims, facing growing unemployment, have found it easier to take out their anger on the small Christian minority than confront the government of President Hosni Mubarak, social commentators say.
"It's a war with ourselves, with fanaticism and hatred among the sons of this nation," said Mohammed El-Sayed Said, an Egyptian political analyst. "What makes things more dangerous is that it is that the poor and marginalized who have become part of these clashes, which gives it a popular depth that is hard to control."
The latest clashes erupted Friday with knife attacks at three Coptic Christian churches in the port city of Alexandria. Three days of rioting by Christians and Muslims followed. Two people — a Christian and a Muslim — died, at least 40 were wounded and more than 100 were detained.
"Egyptians have become Muslim or Christian first, they only become Egyptians first in football stadiums," said Sherif Youness in the Egyptian independent daily Al-Masry el-Youm.
Observers elsewhere in the Arab world blame the same religious extremism that fueled violence between Christians and Muslims during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war and the sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that plagues Iraq today.

Strife between Egypt's Muslims and Christians is nothing new. The Copts, whose liturgy follows Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions, were a majority in Egypt when the Muslim Arabs conquered it 1,400 years ago.
They now comprise about 10 percent of Egypt's 73 million people. Modern tensions are fueled in part by a perception among some Egyptian Muslims that Coptic Christians control an inordinate amount of wealth compared to their population.
In January, a Copt was killed in fighting with Muslims and police over an attempt to turn a guest house into an informal church without government permission.
In October, Muslim militants attacked churches in Alexandria protesting the distribution of a DVD they deemed offensive to Islam. Four people were killed in weeklong riots.
In reality, most Copts are not wealthy and many contend they have too little say in Egypt's political and social life. They complain especially of job discrimination in the high ranks of the civil service where positions such as general, provincial governor and faculty head are almost invariably held by Muslims.

Pope Shenouda: No Meeting.

2006-04-18T16:40:00.000-04:00

A report published today mentioned that Pope Shenouda has declined a meeting request by a number of officials from the government, security directors, and the ruling party in Egypt. The reason given was that the Pope is in a period of seclusion in a monastry.

There seem to be discussions in the leadership circles of the Coptic church about declining to receive the state officials who usually come for a visit on the occasion of Easter. This attitude expresses protest from the church regarding the repeated attacks on Copts and Coptic institutions, which happen without a strong reaction from the government against the fanatic Moslems. The numbers of these fanatics have increased in a way that threatens great dangers.