CAIRO: Days before the resumption of the trial of a Coptic man accused of raping a 12-year-old Muslim girl in the village of Farshout in Qena, his lawyer placed a request on Tuesday to relocate the court proceedings to Cairo. Lawyer Peter El-Naggar, a member of the legal council defending the accused Girgis Baroumi Girgis, cited the sensitivity of honor-related crimes in Upper Egypt. Girgis was charged with rape on Nov. 21, 2009 and criminal court proceedings began on Jan. 19 when the hearings were postponed till Feb. 17. El-Naggar told Daily News Egypt that the defense team was being "intimidated by the rape victim's family, which is an infringement on defendant s civil rights. "The sensitivity of the issue and the popular anger at the crime has undermined the prospect of a fair trial, said El-Naggar. The lawyer addressed his request to Justice Minister Mamdouh Marei, explaining that he is legally allowed to request the transfer if this will ensure that justice will be served and guarantee the defendant's right to a fair trial. In November, news of the alleged rape saw hundreds of Muslim protesters burn Christian-owned shops and attacking a police station where they believed Girgis was being held. Authorities in Egypt have claimed that the rape prompted a revenge attack in which six Coptic Christians were gunned down as they emerged from their Christmas Eve mass in the southern town of Nagaa Hammadi on Jan. 6. Rights activists have, however, contested the government's attempt to treat the drive-by shooting as an ordinary crime while downplaying the sectarian dimension, which they believe highlights the systematic discrimination against Egypt's Coptic minority.
