CAIRO: At a time when the Egyptian prosecution's investigations continue with the three alleged suspects of the attack on the 6 Copts on the eve of Coptic Christmas, the Ministry of Interior announced that it arrested around 42 people in riots that took place in the village of Bahgoura in Nag Hammadi, Qena Governorate, where the incident occurred last week. The director of security of Qena said that 14 Muslims and around 28 Copts were arrested and referred to the prosecution for interrogations, accusing them of rioting and causing damage to property following riots and clashes that followed the recent sectarian incident that took place on January 7. Riots broke out on Saturday in the village and led to the burning of 11 shops and two motorcycles and 8 houses belonging to some Copts of the village. The Ministry of Interior also denied reports of receiving prior information about the attack in Nag Hammadi. Their statement follows the Bishop of the village accusation of the security services, that he informed them of the incident and that the security forces did not take any action to protect the church. Elsewhere in the country, some 300 human rights activists protested on Saturday, in the presence of tight security cordons in front of the Supreme Court to protest and condemn the massacre of Nag Hammadi, which claimed the lives of six Copts and one Muslim security officer. Around 30 Human Rights Organizations – including 26 members of the National Committee to Fight Against Sectarian Violence, which was founded last week, along with members of the Muslim Brotherhood, participated in the protest, chanting slogans and carrying banners saying “Egypt is for all Egyptians”; “no to Sectarianism and Sectarian violence”; “freedom of belief is the case.” One Coptic activist and a leader of the Kefaya Movement said that the protesters are defending one nation and “not only the Copts of Egypt” and he held the Minister of Interior and the Director of Security of Qena responsible for the events. Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Federation for Human Rights said that he would meet with representatives from the European Union this week “to provide an international petition against Egypt for failing to protect the Copts.” In the same context, members of the National Committee to Fight Against Sectarian Violence, on Saturday submitted a communication to the Attorney General against the Minister of Interior and security chiefs of Assiut and Qena. The statement said that despite knowledge of the security ramifications of the events, they did not take preventive measures to secure the situation in Dairout, Farshout, Malawi and also Nag Hammadi in the face of sectarian tensions. The protest comes at the time when Copts abroad continued to express their anger, frustration and outrage by the recent events, also holding the security services responsible for the outbreak of sectarian violence in Upper Egypt, or Southern Egypt, and a statement issued by the Coptic Canadian Association said that the Egyptian government and security agencies “are participating in the events, as they leave the Christians being killed and burned without any intervention to protect them.” On the other hand, the Prominent Coptic Lawyer, Morris Sadek, the chief of the National Coptic Association, called on the Unites States to intervene to save the Copts of Egypt, describing them as “subjected to genocide, like the people of Darfur, and they need the support of the international community and the decisive intervention.” He said in a statement that the French and the English occupation to Egypt was more friendly to the Copts than the current Egyptian government, appealing to both France and England to “liberate the Copts and to intervene to protect them.” BM
