CAIRO: Various US-based Coptic organizations have called for a demonstration to coincide with President Hosni Mubarak's upcoming visit to Washington. The Voice of the Copts, the National American Coptic Assembly and the American Coptic Union have called upon the members of the Coptic diaspora to protest in a peaceful manner in front of the Whitehouse on Tuesday Aug. 18. The call for demonstration, however, has not gone uncontested. Caleem Hamid, chairman of the Coptic Assembly of America (not to be confused with the National American Coptic Assembly), stated on the organization's website that they will not protest but that they have sent a list of their demands to the Egyptian president. The statement added that they look to Barack Obama to petition Mubarak so that he will "truly practice democracy, respect human rights, and to give the religious minorities their rights as citizens. According to Hamid, the most pressing issue is uniform law regarding the construction of houses of worship. Many Egyptians have complained about the bureaucratic obstacles imposed when petitioning to build and repair churches; such obstacles do not exist for work on mosques. The organizations calling for mobilization, however, have listed a number of demands, including the "return of all abducted Coptic women to their families immediately, a "just and fair representation of the Egyptian Coptic community and the immediate release of Coptic priest Father Metaos who was charged for forgery and sentenced to five years in prison. The organizations claim Father Metaos' innocence. The Voice of the Copts, the National American Coptic Assembly and the American Coptic Union have also appealed to President Obama "to stand by his election promises concerning countries which do not respect human rights and freedom of religion. Milad Hanna, prominent Coptic thinker, spoke to Daily News Egypt about the proposed protest, saying that the effectiveness and strength of the demonstration is dependent on the organizers' ability to mobilize. Hanna's daughter, Moshira, however, is concerned about the after-effects of the demonstration and that it may lead Americans to believe that Copts are mistreated in Egypt- whether rightly or wrongly so. She added that Copts need to be active and become "a conscious segment of society. These sentiments were reinforced by political analyst Sameh Fawzy who argued that the Copts must mobilize through the local community in Egypt, by publishing their views and becoming involved in political life. "They have to be actors rather than recipients, he added. Fawzy also believes that issues such as legislation regarding the construction of churches ought to be dealt with directly by the Coptic Orthodox Church. He added that the resolution of any Coptic concern ought to be carried out from within Egypt as opposed to from the outside. Recently, Parliament passed a quota system law for the representation of women which caused a stir amongst the Copts who consider themselves to be similarly underrepresented. There is growing concern about the neglect and even persecution of the Coptic community and the Voice of the Copts, the National American Coptic Assembly and the American Coptic Union ended their statement by calling for an end to "the 'ethnic cleansing' of the Copts. The organization Free Copts announced on its website that it will be screening a documentary that they produced to coincide with Mubarak's visit to Washington. The film, "Besieged Copts, deals with the "persecution of Copts in Egypt.
