CAIRO: Egypt's parliamentary fact-finding mission looking into the forced Coptic Christian evictions in the al-Ameriya village in Alexandria revoked the evictions with the agreement of the families' leaders in the village, Mina Thabet, executive member of Maspero Youth Union, a Christian rights group, told Bikyamasr.com. The mission ordered the return of all Coptic families to the village except the Mourad family, the family of a man whose alleged affair with a married Muslim woman sparked the recent violence. The mission canceled the unofficial reconciliation meeting that was held a week ago at the the state security offices in Alexandria with the presence of the village elders and came to the decision of evicting 8 Coptic families from the town. The committee issued a statement, which affirmed establishing the rule of law in dealing with citizens equally. The committee met on Thursday with the village elders in the presence of notable Coptic leaders and members of pro-change groups and Thabet said the meeting went for almost 7 hours. Thabet described the atmosphere at the meeting as “tense.” The committee arrived to the conclusion of a “third party” being behind the violence that hit the village. Several homes and shops were set ablaze both owned by Muslims and Copts in the violence. The alleged affair and rumors about a sex tape featuring the married woman ignited tension and tens of angry extremists vandalized many Coptic properties in the small village. Thabet expressed his frustration to Bikyamasr.com over the “third party” accusation, as it is used by officials in Egypt to shift blame from known parties to unknown parties. The Mourad family, however will not be returning to the village. “The Mourad family is really three families not one,” said Thabet. “You have his father and mother and then his brother and his family and they can't return to the village,” he added. “They agreed to not allow them back fearing for their lives,” he continued. One of the 8 families that was previously forced to leave was the Abou Sloiman family, which when they heard the news accepted the invitation of their life long Muslim neighbor to stay with them. “It had nothing to do with religion, it was an act of humanity that we all expect from Egyptians in times of crisis,” Thabet added. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/g4YrR Tags: Coptic, Evictions, featured Section: Egypt, Latest News
