CAIRO: Hossam Bahgat, chairman of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, denied that the media is overreacting after press reports of recent sectarian clashes were believed to be rumors, and were accused of exaggeration. On the contrary, the media is not to be blamed at all. We are talking about injuries, assaults and arrests that leave no room for exaggeration, Bahgat told The Daily Star Egypt. A sectarian clash in El-Damoud village in Luxor was reported to have taken place on Saturday, leaving 13 men and women injured after a fight over the ownership of a piece of land. The story, reported by Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, was the third of its kind after the sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria last Thursday, which made headline news in both Al-Masry Al-Youm and Al-Dostour newspapers. The clashes came one month after the Al Ayyat sectarian incident that took place on Friday May 11 in Bamha, leaving 11 Christians injured and 35 Muslims arrested. Bahgat indicated that Egypt is witnessing what he describes as a serious escalation that could only get worse. There is no easy answer to the sectarian issue, says Bahgat. "The first step is for the government to stop providing cosmetic solutions and begin addressing the causes that lie in the laws and policies for the problem to be solved. The timing of the clashes, from Bahgat s point of view, is not surprising as it is the [accumulation] of two decades of persistent failure by the government to address the problem of sectarianism in society. According to Bahgat, the double standards that exist in laws, media and education that discriminate between Christians and Muslims is the reason behind the increase of these incidents. As the first and only practical move towards solving the sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians, the National Council for Human Rights held a roundtable talk to discuss the laws regulating permissions to build churches and mosques. Ahmed Maghrabi, minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban communities, Hafez Abu Saeda, director of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, along with Mohamed Fayek, head of Civil and Political Rights Unit at the Council attended the meeting. Participants also included Priest Yoanes of the Orthodox Church, lawyer and activist Abdallah Khalil, Gamal Shaher and other representatives from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Endowments, and Advisor to the Ministry of Justice, former Vice President of Al-Azhar, representative of the Anglican Church and Orthodox Church; academics and political party representatives. Abu Saeda told The Daily Star Egypt that the meeting discussed the new law suggested by that the National Council for Human Rights, asking that equal conditions be made for the construction of all types of religious sites. The request, which I see as fair, provides equality to all citizens, Abu Saeda said. Saad Zaghloul, a Coptic appeals lawyer, told The Daily Star Egypt in a previous interview that no regulations have been implemented in the constitution regarding equality in building churches and mosques since this particular article was issued in the 1800s during the Mohamed Ali era. Obtaining a license to build a church has always been very difficult and not as easy as it is with mosques, he said. The old law entailed that churches should acquire permission from the president himself. Recently, it s been modified and the license can be obtained directly from the governor; but this adjustment didn t make it any easier for Christians. According to Zaghloul, both governors and district council members obstruct, or at least make it difficult, for Copts to get approval and even when they do, the subsequent procedures take much longer than they do when compared to building mosques that don t need any actual authorization. Even a small issue like renovating an old church s bathroom requires permission from the head of the district council, he added. He believes that Christians face graver stumbling blocks in areas outside Cairo. Abu Saeda indicated that both Sheikhs and Priests who attended the meeting were equally pleased with the suggested law that they felt will strengthen the concept of citizenship. Ever since Egypt was ruled by the Ottomans, the required licenses and paper work for building or renovating churches had to be under the authority of the head of the state, until President Mubarak give some authority to governors in 2000, Abu Saeda said. But until now, according to Egyptian law, the license to build a new church is in the hands of the President, Abu Saeda added. On the other hand, Sobhy Saleh, an MP affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood told The Daily Star Egypt that the sectarian clashes are not expected to be discussed in the PA any time soon since the annual recess begins next week. Saleh, who acknowledges the importance of the issue, indicated that the problem is more legal than political. The government and the Ministry of Justice should pull their hands out of the issue leaving it to the legal system that should devise suitable rules and verdicts with no discrimination between Muslims and Christians, Saleh said.
