Over the last two weeks religious freedom in Egypt has been debated by the US Congress and EU parliament, leading officials in Cairo to reject what they see as foreign interference in domestic affairs, reports Mohamed Abdel-Baky In heated congressional session the US Foreign Affairs Committee criticised President Barack Obama for a lack of seriousness in addressing "threats against Christian minorities in the Middle East" in the wake of November's Al-Qaeda attack on an Iraqi church in Baghdad and the New Year's Eve bomb at the Two Saints Church in Alexandria. Opening the hearing, Congressman Frank Wolf said the administration had not acknowledged that the violence was "directed specifically at Christians". He described the bomb at the Two Saints Church as "the worse attack on Copts in 10 years". During the hearing researcher and activist Dina Guirguis accused the Egyptian government of routinely ignoring the rule of law when faced with sectarian violence, preferring reconciliation sessions instead. Over the last decade, said Guirguis, ignorance of the Coptic contribution to Egypt's heritage had prevailed. "Six hundred years of Coptic history is absent from the educational curricula in schools, and Copts are poorly represented in the state- owned media," she said. Michele Dunne, senior researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the Egyptian government "does not bear direct responsibility" for the bombing but has mishandled sectarian problems and violence for a decade. Dunne's testimony linked sectarian tension and to a "broader pattern of human rights abuses" against all Egyptians. US State Department official Tamara Wittes said that President Hosni Mubarak had called on Christians and Muslims to unite and has increased the police presence at Christian houses of worship. She added that it was important that the Egyptian government prosecutes the perpetrators of the bombing in a transparent manner and that the US had offered Egypt assistance in this regard. "The US is in close contact with leaders of both the Coptic community and the Egyptian government should they require assistance," she said. "What was voiced during the hearing were the inaccurate claims that have long been circulated by Egypt's enemies in the US," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ambassador Hossam Zaki. The reaction of Egypt's Coptic Church to the hearing, he continued, constituted the "best possible reply to foreign parties attempting to involve themselves in Egypt's internal affairs" with a view to "provoking conflict". The government has repeatedly criticised Western reactions to the New Year's Eve attack and has been joined by the Coptic Orthodox Church, Al Azhar and opposition parties in a rare display of unity. In response to the Congressional hearing the Coptic Orthodox Church issued a statement saying that foreign pressure tends to harm Copts by giving the impression that they are seeking the support of other countries. "Pope Shenouda III opposes any form of foreign interference in church affairs and stresses that problems related to Copts are debated in Egypt and receive the attention of both Muslims and Copts," the statement concluded. President Mubarak responded on Sunday to Western criticism saying in a speech that "the era of guardianship has gone." In a message directed at Coptic communities abroad, especially in the US, he underlined that the Egyptian government would not bow to foreign pressure over internal matters. "This is something that any Egyptian, Copt or Muslim, would reject," said Mubarak. Last week Al-Azhar suspended dialogue and exchange programmes with the Vatican for an unspecified period of time. The decision came in response to Pope Benedict XVI's statements about minority persecution in Egypt. "Any interference in Egypt's domestic politics must be categorically rejected. Copts are protected by the same laws that apply to all Egyptian citizens," said an Al-Azhar press statement. Last week the European parliament discussed a resolution that seeks to impose sanctions on countries that fail to protect their religious minorities. The resolution called for "a list of measures to be compiled to be taken against states that knowingly fail to protect religious denominations".
