Copts abroad criticize the American Ambassador to Egypt for praising the situation of freedoms Cairo: A Coptic organization in the United States criticized the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Margaret Scobey, for praising and commending press freedoms and the situation of minorities in Egypt. The organization has demanded the U.S. embassy take “more extreme positions” against the Egyptian government. Kamil Halim, the head of the Coptic American Assembly, expressed his shock and sorrow at the American Ambassador's recent statements in which she said that Egypt enjoys, “the full freedom of press and publication,” and and that minorities were not discriminated against in Egypt. The ambassador added that, in Egypt, human rights organizations work in an atmosphere of “freedom”. Halim said, in a letter sent to U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the Coptic Christians in Egypt encountered many forms of “persecution” in the last year. Halim cited in the letter, which was sent on December 21, some incidents of sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians in Egypt as examples of the “persecution” of Christians in Egypt. Halim said in the letter that many human rights activists in Egypt have been harassed, such as Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim and Dr. Ayman Nour as well as a number of bloggers and journalists. The letter accused the U.S. embassy in Cairo of following the policy of, “denial, cover up and involvement,” with the Egyptian government in, “the persecution of the Copts.” Halim said, in a letter addressed to Ambassador Scobey, “We recognize, as Egyptian Americans, that we were shocked and distressed and we were disappointed by your  remarks. We know first and foremost, it is not true at all.” Haleem called  on the U.S. embassy to take, “a more decisive position, stringent, more openly and clearly against the Egyptian government for its flagrant violations of human rights,” in his letter to Scobey.
