CAIRO: Western Christian organizations and news website are continuing their calls for greater American intervention in what they have called a nation of hatred and violence. The most recent case is of a 15-year-old Coptic girl who sent a letter to American President Barack Obama, asking him to intervene to end the “persecution” against Coptic Christians in Egypt. Not surprisingly, US FOX News was quick to pick up the story of Dina Gowhary, who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity and has taken the mantle of Christian rights in Egypt to Washington. “Mr. President Obama,” she begins her letter, “we are a minority in Egypt. We are treated very badly. You said that the Muslim minority in America are treated very well, so why are we not treated here likewise? We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned in our own country.” International Christian organizations, such as Baptist Press, AINA and Christian Press, have launched a stalwart campaign to address issues of sectarianism in Egypt, which reached a head earlier this month when gunmen opened fire on Coptic worshipers as they were leaving a Christmas Eve service on January 6. They are demanding that Obama follow through on his promises of religious tolerance and freedom he called for in his June speech in Cairo. According to Baptist Press, the Coptic Assembly of America, has launched an online campaign enlisting people to sign a letter to President Obama “reminding him that religious freedoms is a cornerstone of American foreign policy and should be protected around the world.” Recounting the Christmas Eve shootings, the online letter to Obama states, “This was not a solitary event — in the last 9 months alone, other sectarian attacks in Dmas Meet Ghamr, Dayrout, Al-Tayeba, Hawasliya, Farshout, and Dier Mawas resulted in more murders, Coptic businesses and homes being burned, and the forced migration of Copts from their homes. In all these cases the Egyptian government has continued its pattern of denial and refusal to prosecute the perpetrators. “Your administration has been completely silent on this massacre, despite the over 1,000 newspaper articles written in English and the protests of thousands of Copts all around the world. Pope Benedict and the Italian Foreign Minister have both spoken out, yet America — supposedly the leader of the free world, and the premier advocate for human rights — stays quiet,” the letter read. For activists and human rights advocates in Egypt, they say the situation is more complex. Ramy Raouf, a blogger who works with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) says the situation in Egypt is horrible, for both Christians and Muslims. He said, upon returning from a fact-finding mission to Nag Hammadi – where the massacre occurred – that police arrested scores of Christians and Muslims following the attack and the individuals who gave testimonies to the organization were rounded up by police upon their departure. “It is simply ridiculous,” he said. Others, such as George Ishaq, a leading opposition and pro-democracy figure and Coptic scholar, says that Egyptians must begin to understand they “are in this together.” He has repeatedly called on both Muslim and Christian organizations to end the use of pointed language when discussing sectarianism. “They have to understand that we are all living under a repressive regime and nobody is treated well,” he said. “Copts have problems with the government, but so do Muslims and we have to demand our rights as Egyptians first and foremost.” He said that much of the language used by Coptic organizations in their pleas to Washington and other Western governments are implicitly arguing that all Muslims in Egypt are to blame and “this is simply not true.” Still, for Gowhary and others, they believe they are under constant attack, with the government continuing in their promises of securing the Christian community's rights as citizens. Much of the criticism is over the supposed freedom of religion and belief established in the Egyptian Constitution, but has largely been ignored by government officials and lawmakers. “We live here in a constant state of fear,” said Maria Girgis, 34, who works at a Cairo pharmacy. But, at the same time she said, “we need to make it clear that Muslims are not the problem as an entire community,” admitting that much of the writing and demands come from Copts who are being “coerced by the Western media organizations for the purposes of making the situation seem worse than it is. Most Muslims I know deal with similar issues of government hatred and all that, so to say these things is just to get publicity.” Even still, Ishaq agrees that much of the responsibility must fall on Islamic clerics, a small number he admits, “who continue to call for things that are counter to humanity and life.” BM
