Al-Kosheh dossier reopened

Tensions were high at the opening of the retrial of 96 men suspected of involvement in sectarian clashes in Al-Kosheh, reports Khaled Dawoud
The retrial of 96 suspects accused of involvement in one of the country's worst instances of sectarian clashes in decades opened on Saturday in the southern province of Sohag amid tight security measures and an atmosphere of tension.
While people around the world were celebrating the advent of the new millennium almost two years ago, Muslim and Christian residents of the village of Al-Kosheh in Sohag took up arms against each other. The result was the killing of 20 Christians and one Muslim. Relations between the two communities in the village were already uneasy, so when a minor quarrel occurred between a Muslim woman and a Christian merchant tensions escalated, drawing in not only village residents but also people living in nearby villages.
Police rounded up dozens of suspects immediately after the clashes, and 96 of them -- 58 Muslims and 38 Copts -- were later put on trial. Those accused of murder were Muslims, while Christians were mainly accused of rioting, looting and burning property.
In February, the court acquitted 92 defendants and convicted four on minor charges. The four were given jail terms ranging between one and 12 years.
The court at the time lashed out at the prosecution, saying that it had failed to provide sufficient evidence to convict the defendants, although the court conceded that in the chaos following the clashes, it would have been difficult to determine who exactly was responsible for the killings. The court also expressed scepticism about the truthfulness of witnesses' testimony due the pressures of family ties and divisions along religious lines.
The February sentences angered many Christian villagers who said that freeing virtually all of the defendants amounted to giving a licence for similar anti-Copt attacks in the future. Those who lost relatives in the clashes called for a retrial.
The Christians' complaints received additional strength after the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III, personally expressed dissatisfaction with the court ruling. At a public meeting early this year, he said that the Church was in contact with authorities to seek a retrial. Under the Egyptian legal system, only the prosecution is permitted to officially request a retrial.
Shortly after Pope Shenouda's statement, the state security prosecutor filed an appeal against the ruling. In late July, the Court of Cassation, the nation's highest tribunal, approved the request and ordered a retrial in a different judicial circuit.
The Court of Cassation's decision and its timing appeared to be aimed at allaying Coptic anger. In mid-June, thousands of Coptic youths held unprecedented protests at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo after a sensationalist, privately- owned newspaper, Al-Nabaa, published pornographic photos of a defrocked monk. The newspaper claimed that the man had blackmailed women using video-tapes he had secretly made of their sexual encounters. In their demonstrations, the young Christians brought up the Al- Kosheh case and demanded that authorities arrest and punish those who killed the 20 Christians.
However, Naguib Gebraeil, a lawyer representing the Church, denied that the Court of Cassation's decision to order a retrial was politically motivated. "The Court of Cassation is a court of law, and it is the highest in Egypt. Thus, I don't think it would succumb to any pressure or that its decision was influenced by the Al-Nabaa drama," he told Al-Ahram Weekly.
He added that in the initial trial "the court made several mistakes, and ignored plenty of evidence provided by the prosecution." If there was anything political, Gebraeil said, it was the court's ruling. "The judge probably feared that handing down harsh sentences [against Muslim defendants] would lead to renewed clashes. So, he sought a compromise by freeing everybody, including the Christian defendants. But that did not make us happy because we still want those who killed the 20 Christians to be punished."
Gebraeil said that the circumstances surrounding the retrial were not very favourable. "After the US started its attacks on Afghanistan, some representatives of extremist groups tried to blame Copts because, like Americans, we are Christian," he said. "But that approach is totally wrong because we are Egyptians before anything else. We are also sure that Americans are only looking out for their interests, and if we have any problems here in Egypt, we have to solve them on our own."
After the retrial opened on Saturday, Judge Lutfi Salman decided to adjourn hearings to allow for a more thorough study of the case. He said the date for the resumption of hearings would be announced in January.
Despite fears by Al-Kosheh's Christian residents that the initial decision to free 92 defendants would give them the opportunity to flee, 81 defendants were in court on Saturday. Only 15 defendants -- including Christians -- did not show up.
The 81 pleaded not guilty and were allowed to return to their homes pending the resumption of the proceedings.
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