ICC Note: The attacks against the Christian minority have been widespread across Egypt over the past nine months. While at times the overflow of violence has garnered national and international attention, many other attacks have gone unnoticed. While there have been moments where the greater causes of Egyptian citizens have overridden the religious and sectarian divides, in far too many instances those differences are being hardened and the attacks on minorities are continuing.

By Johannes A. Makar

05/04/2014 Egypt (International Policy Digest) – Across the street from my cousin’s apartment in Rod al-Farag, an area of Cairo’s popular Shubra district, hangs a large banner depicting the late Coptic Pope, Shenouda III.

The caption is not a quintessential spiritual saying, or biblical quote, but a message directed at the Muslim residents of the area. “To all Muslims” the note reads, “thank you for your support in times of grief.” Comparable signs of harmony were voiced during Shenouda’s funeral, three days after his passing. In a tribute to the deceased Pope, a senior cleric said, “it is because of him that we have national unity with our Muslim brothers.”

The words recollected the efforts Shenouda had made to bolster interfaith ties in the country. One of the measures he carried out during his pontificate was a ban preventing the Copts from visiting Jerusalem. “Except with our brothers the Muslims, following its liberation (of Jerusalem).” Conversely, at the same time of his passing, violence against Egypt’s Christians was on the rise again. The broad union, that had unified Muslims and Christians in the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, also, has mostly ended.

Reconciliation

Likewise, in the months after Mubarak’s downfall, the volatile political situation further cemented the position of the Christian minority. After the infamous bombing of Alexandria’s Qediseen Church, days before the protest against Mubarak was initiated, assaults continued to take place under Field Marshal Tantawi (and later under his successors Morsi, and Mansour). The height of the sectarian violence was reached in the days following the dispersal of two pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo on August 14th. More than 40 churches (and many more houses and shops) were torched. As in case of the bombing of the Qediseen church, most of the ravaged churches and battered families still wait for any form of reparation.

Yet, the larger, mediated attacks only form the tip of the iceberg. In less covered attacks, Copts have proven to be even more vulnerable. Forced expulsions, child abductions, raping, drive by shootings, murder and other crimes against Egypt’s Christian minority are widespread, with a higher incidence rate in the more rural areas of the country. Citing “a lack of evidence,” the state apparatus often fails to bring justice, leaving the culprits virtually untouched.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights has found that Christians have been forced to renounce their right to justice, and accept the result of so-called “reconciliation sessions.” During these informal meetings, local officers and religious leaders gather, forcing the victim(s) to “reconcile” with the offender(s) in the presence of local media. Among the procedure’s critics is Bishop Makarios of Minya, an area in Upper-Egypt infamous for its sectarian violence. The traditional hearings “fail in dealing with the root of the problem…Hands are shook before the media, greetings and smiles were exchanged, while hearts remained filled with hate,” he told Al Monitor.
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