CAIRO: The jailing of a Christian student in Egypt has highlighted the country's continued struggled for religious tolerance. State media reported on Saturday that Gamal Masoud, a secondary school student from Assuit in the southern part of the country, has been ordered to remain in custody for four days after he posted images of the Prophet Mohamed on his Facebook page. According to prosecutors on Saturday, Masoud had posted images believed to be “offensive” to Islam and could be faced with charges of “contempt of Islam.” According to the young student, the images were posted to his page without his knowledge, but could do little to stop the investigation from moving forward. Security and military troops have been deployed across Masoud's village and neighbouring areas after angry Muslims torched houses belonging to Christians, state media reported. The report of Masoud's detainment ends a turbulent year in Egypt, which began last New Year's Eve with a bomb attack on a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, which left over 20 dead and hundreds wounded. Less than one month later, a popular uprising ousted former President Hosni Mubarak, but sectarian violence persisted. Last April, in the Cairo neighborhood of Imbaba, Muslims attacked Christian worshipers in the area, which led to clashes and at least 14 Christians killed in what was the worst sectarian violence in years. On October 9, the military opened fire and run over Christian protesters demanding greater rights after a church in Assuit was attacked and burned by Muslim rioters. The resulting violence left at least 27 people dead and hundreds more wounded. But the country's leaders believe sectarian violence can be stemmed through unity and understanding all Egyptians are part of the same system. George Ishaq, a leading figure of the National Coalition for Change, told Bikyamasr.com in a previous interview that both Christians and Muslims must understand they have faced similar oppression over the past few decades under the Mubarak government. “Egyptians, both Christian and Muslim, have to understand we live in the same country and if we do not believe we are in this together, then the revolution will fail and we will fall back to dictatorship and mistrust,” he said. Leading feminist thinker Nawal al-Saadawi agrees with Ishaq's assertion. She told Bikyamasr.com that “sectarianism is a very recent concept in Egypt.” What she believes is that the intolerance that has arisen in the country, and which has led to violence and deaths, “is a result of the growing Gulf conservative Islam that is slowing permeating Egyptian society. It isn't something that we can let go, but we can fight it and get things done to make people believe that Egypt is for all Egyptians, Christian and Muslim.” BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/tBKFo Tags: Christian, Coptic, featured, Islam, Prophet Mohamed, Sectarianism Section: Egypt, Latest News, Religion
