Kosheh file closed?

By Jailan Halawi
The incident put a pall on millennium madness and dealt a sobering blow to hopes that sectarian strife had begun to recede in once volatile southern regions. But after a year of hearings and deliberations, the Sohag Criminal Court ruling on Monday has elicited mixed reactions.
The case, popularly dubbed "Al-Kosheh II," tried a total of 96 people, both Muslim and Coptic Christian, from the southern towns of Al-Kosheh and Dar Al-Salam accused of violent rioting on 2 January 2000 that resulted in the deaths of 21 people, 20 of them Copts. The fighting erupted in Al-Kosheh, some 450 kilometers south of Cairo, following an argument between a Muslim woman and a Coptic shopkeeper. Riots quickly spread to the neighbouring village of Dar Al-Salam, increasing the number of casualties.
On Monday, the court acquitted 92 defendants and convicted four, all of them Muslim. But though 38 of the 57 Muslim defendants faced charges of murder, no one was convicted of the charge. Christian defendants faced charges of looting, arson, inciting violence and attempted murder, but all were acquitted.
The harshest penalty was handed down against Fayez Amin Abdel-Rehim, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour for illegal possession of weapons. He was also sentenced to two years behind bars for manslaughter. Mohamed Fawzi Shabib was sentenced to two years in prison, also for manslaughter, while Abul-Ela Ahmed Abdelal and El-Fangari Abdu Shaker, each got one year for damaging property.
The surprising court ruling was met with radically mixed reactions from defendants' and victims families, as well as observers concerned over the repercussions of the trial. The acquitted Muslims and Christians were obviously delighted, but widespread relief was punctuated by grief and screams of rage that the trial and verdict were unfair. Analysts have contended that the verdicts were intentionally light in order to avoid fanning the flames of sectarian strife, but families of the 20 Coptic victims and the clergy of the Al-Balyana bishopric are outraged.
In delivering the rulings, presiding judge Mohamed Afifi blamed three priests, who had not been brought to trial, for failing to stop the quarrel from escalating into riots. "Had they [the priests] cooperated with the police, the events would have ended as a simple fight between a merchant and a woman haggling over the price of a pair of shoes," judge Afifi said.
Explaining the verdict, Afifi said it was impossible to determine who was behind the killings. However, he insisted that the "investigation proved that the three priests had contributed to igniting the fire of sedition." The judge urged church authorities to punish the priests, saying "they should be held morally responsible for the escalation [in violence]."
In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly; Father Paula of the Balyana bishopric, to which Al-Kosheh village is attached, expressed his anger and frustration with the verdict, describing it as "unfair" and saying it has aggravated the sentiments of victims' families. Father Paula contended that the verdict was "too lenient" and "made light" of the value of Christians' lives.
Father Paula described the scene after the verdict as poignantly divided, saying that cries of happiness and joy filled the houses of those acquitted, but "families of the dead, shocked by the verdict, were pushed into renewed grief -- as if the killings had happened today." Although verdicts of criminal courts can be appealed, Father Paula ruled out this possibility, saying that Copts felt "betrayed" by the verdict and had "lost faith in the system." "We'll raise our voices to God, for He will give us a period of grace, but He won't forget, and there will come a day when everyone will take what is justly his," he said.
But D'iaa Rashwan, managing editor of the State of Religion Report issued by the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said that if the families failed to appeal, their cries of injustice were empty of meaning. Rashwan said that those who view the verdict as lenient have other legal channels for expressing their anger, such as the Appeals Court. "If there are any rights that are lost, it is due to people's apathy. Those who do not look after their rights should expect to lose them," he said.
"We have to draw a distinction between a court verdict and a social crisis," Rashwan argued. The role of the court, he noted, is to make sure that the law is enforced on the basis of available evidence. "One cannot ask for political or social intervention in court cases, because it would be a serious precedent," he warned.
Hafez Abu Se'eda, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), agreed that the verdict was "fair and consistent with the evidence submitted to the court." He also emphasised that it is the court's duty to decide on the basis of the evidence it has at hand, "and this is exactly what happened in this case."
Agreeing with Abu Se'eda, Tareq El-Bishri, former head of the State Council, told the Weekly that the ruling was "as fair as it could be. This is a case of a mob riot; the accusations cannot be levelled against specific persons because of the large number of people involved in the violence," he said.
But Dr Mounir Azmi, a member of the Coptic Communal Council, expressed only grief and concern. "The church was not a party [to this case] from the start. The only parties that can appeal the ruling are the victims' families and the prosecution. Since the families are poor, the prosecution should undertake the action on their behalf," he said.
Rashwan said: "What is dangerous is the feeling of injustice felt by the Coptic Christians and the families of the deceased." He added that this feeling, linked to the "incorrect" perception that there was bias in the investigations and the court's deliberations, "should be remedied at its social roots." Since the mid-1970s, when clashes broke out between Muslims and Copts in the Cairo working class district of Al-Zawya Al-Hamra, inter-religious disputes have plagued Egypt and Rashwan argues that it was at this time that the phrase "sectarian strife" entered general debate. "I insist that in dealing with the Al-Kosheh incidents, we have to dig at the social roots of the conflict, using a wide, not a narrow, definition of the term."
Last December, Afifi had ordered the release of 89 of the defendants who were being held in custody in relation to the case. They had spent up to 11 months behind bars. The remaining seven were tried in absentia.
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