Egypt's Unjust Verdict_press_release_2001

From: Nagikheir@aol.com
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Urgent: Egypt's Unjust Verdict- A call for International Action (Pls. forward)

Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 13:07:40 EST
Nagi A. Kheir, Spokesman
The American Coptic Association
Member of the International Coptic Congress
Director of Middle East Affairs, Advocates International
9691D Main Street, Fairfax Virginia 22031
Phone (703) 764-0011 & Fax (703) 764-0077

February 7, 2001

Press Release

Egypt's Unjust Verdict

 A call for International Action

In Egypt, on February 5, 2001, instead of convicting the Muslim murder

suspects accused of killing 21 Christians in last year's El-Kosheh massacre,

a judge has accused three local Coptic priests of responsibility for the

three-day rampage. In his opening statement before announcing the verdict,

presiding Judge Mohammed Afify, a Muslim, accused three local priests in the

predominantly Christian village of failing to put a stop to the rioting. The

court's verdict was as shocking as the crime itself.

Between December 31, 1999, and January 2, 2000, one of the most horrendous massacres in Egypt's modern history took place. Twenty-one Christians were brutally murdered in cold blood, in El-Kosheh, in Upper Egypt's Sohag governate, by their Muslim neighbors. The victims included little boys and girls, and elderly men and women. Many of the victim's bodies were decapitated; some were burned beyond recognition in an unparalleled show of hatred towards the Christians, for no reason other than their being "Christians." More than 260 of the Christians' homes and businesses were destroyed or looted. The El-Kosheh massacre was Egypt's worst attack in 20 years by the country's predominantly Muslim citizens on Coptic Christians.

The 2000 New Year's massacre was preceded by a controversial murder investigation in the same village 16 months earlier, when police were accused of mistreating and torturing 1,000 Coptic villagers to force confessions implicating a Christian as the culprit.

We consider President Mubarak of Egypt to be the sole responsible person not only for this unjust verdict, but also for the persecution and killing of the Christians in Egypt. Because Egypt has had an Emergency Law since 1981, President Mubarak has been given complete control over ALL governmental functions, including free hand to arrest and to prosecute any Egyptian. To Mr. Mubarak, Christians of Egypt have become expendable as demonstrated through his constant attempt to appease the Muslims.

The Verdict:

The judge singled out the three priests accusing them of responsibility of failing to put a stop to the rioting and for escalating the events and urged church authorities to discipline them.

The court acquitted all but four of the 96 suspects in the El-Kosheh trial, including seven defendants who had eluded arrest. A total of 57 Muslims were being tried, 38 of them should have faced the death penalty for their role in the clashes.

Four Muslim defendants were found guilty of lesser crimes connected with the New Year's weekend massacre. None were present in the court when the verdict was announced, since the judge had ordered the surprise release of all 89 defendants at the conclusion of trial hearings in early December. This allowed the perpetrators of the violence to escape the country.

The stiffest penalty of 10 years in prison was meted out to Mayez Amin Abdel Rahim, a Muslim found guilty of accidental homicide and illegal possession of a weapon. One man, Mohammed Fawzi Shabib, a Muslim, was sentenced to two years in prison for accidental homicide. Two men, Abu Ella Ahmed and El Fangery Abu Shakir, were sentenced to a year in jail for damaging a car.

Since time served is generally credited towards the final sentence, the latter two have theoretically already served all but one month of their sentences.

Three of the Muslim defendants were charged with the murder of eight Copts.

But the court found all three not guilty despite adequate evidence. The court also rejected the civil case brought by the victims' families.

Although 20 Christians died, none of four Muslims found guilty was convicted of the harshest charge - murder.

Delivering the verdict:

International and National reaction to the verdicts:

According to Reuters, on February 6, 2001, titled "Coptic Pope Shenouda rejects Egypt clashes verdict." It said, Pope Shenouda, the spiritual leader of Egypt's Coptic Christians rejected the Egyptian court ruling. "We will take this case to the Court of Cassation because we want to challenge this ruling...We don't accept it," Pope Shenouda said.

On Monday, 5 February 2001, the newsroom of the BBC World Service issued newscast titled " Religious violence suspects cleared." It was subtitled 'Justice not done.' It said, "A Western diplomat who has been following the case closely also expressed surprise at the outcome. He said it was not clear whether incompetence or a cover-up was to blame."

The newscast stated that "A local priest told the BBC that justice had not been done. He said that security forces who had stood by while Christians were being killed had then protected the killers from punishment."

The Word Center for Human Rights (Egypt) issued an Announcement on February 6, 2001. It said, "The Center is deeply disappointed over the verdict issued.

The Center plans to submit a memorandum of appeal on the grounds that the verdict violates the proper rules of interpretation of the law."

On February 5, 2001, Agence France-Presse (AFP) issued a release entitled "Kosheh verdict signals Christian blood is cheap." It reported that Bishop Wissa of Balyana, which includes the town of Kosheh, said "All the murderers were acquitted. That means Muslims are encouraged to kill Christians. They are being told 'Go ahead. Kill Coptic Christians'." "This verdict means that Christians cannot live in safety. It also means that there is no justice or law," the bishop said. He said he "expected new massacres of Christians because this verdict means that the life of Christians has no value."

The APF report stated that Bishop Bassanti of Helwan, near the capital Cairo, urged the court to reconsider its verdict to "preserve national unity" after telling that the decision was "too lenient" and "makes light of human life."

On February 5, 2001, Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom, issued a press release titled "Freedom House Protests Lack of Justice in Egypt Massacre Case." It said, the Egyptian court "failed to announce a single murder conviction in the January 2000 massacre of 21 Coptic Christians in the village of Al-Kosheh."

The Center's director Nina Shea, who also serves as a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, stated, "There has been strong evidence from the outset of this case that the government of Egypt pursued a political strategy to cover up the gravity of the religious tensions in Al-Kosheh and to avoid the politically sensitive issue of punishing Muslims for the murder of Christians. This policy, evidenced by the complicity of local security officials, the spreading of misleading information by government officials who shifted the blame to unnamed 'foreigners', the cracking down on human rights reporting, and efforts by the courts to use mass trials to create an image of harmony rather than convict the guilty, culminated in today's denial of justice." She concluded that, "Egypt's Christians may well have cause to fear for their lives."

On February 6, 2001, Compass Direct said the judge singled out Fr. Gabriel, Fr. Bessada and Fr. Isaac by name, stating that the three priests "shoulder the moral responsibility for escalating the events," and urged church authorities to  discipline them.

On February 5, 2001, the Associated Press described the light sentences as an apparent "attempt to avoid flaring further sectarian violence."

The Christians are being punished for the crimes committed by the Muslims:  In addition to singling out the three priests accusing them of responsibility of failing to put a stop to the rioting and for escalating the events and urged church authorities to discipline them, there are two Christians who have been prisoner for crimes they never committed in this tragedy. They MUST be set free. They are: FIRST: On June 5, 2000, the Criminal Court of Sohag, in Upper Egypt, decided to sentence Mr. Sheiboub William Arsal (34-year-old Christian man), to 15 years with hard labor (the maximum sentence for unpremeditated murder). He was FALSELY charged with murdering two Christians. It is widely believed that five known Muslims committed this crime. Even though the names of the Muslim killers were given to the Egyptian Authorities from the very beginning, the Egyptian police detained over 1,000 Christians and brutally tortured a large number of them. The sole purpose of the police's mass arrest of the Christians was to fill their hearts with fear and horror and to force some to confess to a crime they never committed or to witness to a faulty accusation against another.

Two Christian men were presented to the Egyptian court to testify against Mr. Arsal. Before delivering their testimony, the Egyptian police have severely tortured them using electric shocks to guarantee that they FALSELY testify against Mr. Arsal.

Because the decision to convict Mr. Arsal is purely political and the charges against him were completely fabricated by the Egyptian government, the court panel (composed of three Muslim judges) refused to consider the FACTS presented by defense attorneys. Based on these FACTS, Mr. Arsal is completely innocent. By "FRAMING" innocent Christians for the murder of other Christians, Egypt avoids being labeled as a country that has "religious persecution." If Mr. Arsal were a Muslim, he would not have been charged at all.

SECOND: Sourial Gayed Isshak, 37, a married Christian storeowner from Upper Egypt's strife-torn El-Kosheh village was arrested March 9, 2000 by local police and was accused of religious slander. He was charged under Article 160 of the Egyptian Penal Code with insulting Islam last December 30, the day before the three-day rampage of violence broke out in his village. Such minor misdemeanor requires paying a fine of less than three dollars, but instead the  judge sentenced him to a 3-year prison term.

"Mr. Isshak is definitely not guilty of this charge," his attorney, Mamdouh Nakhla, told Compass Direct. Nakhla said the case provided another unfortunate proof that Egypt's law to punish the insult of religions is "very selectively applied." "Christians are insulted daily in the various mosques, by various sheiks," Nakhla said. "Christians are routinely called 'infidels' and 'enemies of God.' None of these (violations) are ever prosecuted, even though presumably the law against insulting any heavenly religion includes Christianity and Judaism, not just Islam."

A persistent pattern of injustice against the Christians in Egypt:

The Egyptian judiciary system has persistently been pleasing the Muslim majority at the expense of the Christian minority. By being lenient when Muslims commit crimes against the Christians, the courts in Egypt have encouraged Muslims to kill and persecute the Christians in Egypt.

In addition to shocking verdict on this massacre, the following are some additional tragedies that will prove the fact that the Copts have become a truly expendable commodity in the Egyptian government's attempt to appease the Muslim extremists:

* In 1999, two Muslim men confessed the killing of a Coptic priest in the village of Al-Quosia, in Upper Egypt's Assuit governate. In stead of receiving the expected lifetime in prison or execution, the judge sentenced them only 6-year in prison!

* In 1996, Ali Haridi, a Muslim, killed 15 Christians in the village of Sanabo, in Upper Egypt's Assuit governate. Execution is the punishment for committing such gross crime. In stead, the judge sentenced him to only 10-year in prison! He could be paroled after serving half the time!

* In 1997, 18 young men and women were massacred during a prayer meeting in their Church in the village of Abu-Qorkas, in Upper Egypt's Minya governate.

Even though the Muslim killers were known, the judge refused to convict any of them.

* In 1996, Muslims killed 10 Christians in the village of El-Badary, in Upper Egypt's Assuit governate. The killers were identified, but the judge refused to convict any of them!

* In 1996, 80 Muslims burned 60 homes that belonged to Christian families in the village of Kafr Dimiana, in Egypt's Sharkia governate. None of the Muslims were convicted for causing such devastation to so many families.

This gross injustice must end. True justice should never be sacrificed under any circumstances, especially for the sake of a superficial national unity.

Dismissing sentencing to the convicted murderers will politicize the sacred judicial system. This unfair sentence in such a high profile case has not only hurt Egypt's national security, but also tarnished her image to the rest of the world.

We plea for your action:

We ask you to immediately expose this tragic court verdict to the international media, and to utilize all available channels.. We plea to you to call for:

1. Punishment of the real killers in the El-Kosheh massacre. Unless severe punishment is applied, there is no guarantee that this tragedy will not be repeated.

2. Release of Mr. Sheiboub William Arsal who is serving a 15-year prison sentence with hard labor, while he is innocent.

3. Release of Mr. Sourial Gayed Isshak, who is serving a 3-year prison term.

4. End accusing the three priests in the village of El-Kosheh.

5. Compensating the families that lost loved ones, homes, businesses, and properties in this tragic massacre, with the same sum of money paid to families of the victims of Egypt Air flight number 800. If the Egyptian government fails to pay these compensations, then we need to ask the United States Congress to hold back equal portion from the AID package given annually to Egypt and to directly pay the affected families.

Here is what YOU can do:

Write to and solicit the support of the various governments, United Nations, human rights organizations around the world; and involve the western press. Write articles to editors of the newspapers; utilize the many call-in TV and radio programs to bring the persecution of the Christians in Egypt to the public eye; initiate, promote, and lead a letter-writing campaign to President Mubarak, President Bush, Secretary of State Powell, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, keys Members of Congress, United Nations Secretary General, and the Egyptian Embassy in your country.

Urge each to intervene to secure justice, safety and security for the Christians in Egypt.

Here are the addresses needed:

1. President Hosni Mubarak, The Presidential Palace, Cairo, Egypt.

2. President George W. Bush, The White House.1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,

Washington, D.C.20500. White House Chief of St

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