The Egyptian Parliament has dedicated one of its main sessions to respond to a draft law that has been presented to the American Congress in order to highlight "violations against Coptic Christians in Egypt." The bill, drafted by Coptic Solidarity, an American non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Washington, was prepared to support Copts in Egypt, and will be presented to the US Congress for review. According to state-owned agency MENA, Head of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Tarek Radwan said that bill which was presented to congress was approved by six members only, and carries claims that may be considered "lies". Head of Egypt's State Information Service Diaa Rashwan attended the parliamentary session where he said that the information that the bill based its conclusions on is "corrupt and not based on any proof that shows that there is violence or discrimination against Copts." Rashwan added that "all Egyptians are being targeted by terrorism," asserting that this idea should reach congress. He demanded the Egyptian government invite members of congress to visit the Egyptian Parliament to find out the real situation and conditions of Copts, asserting that they should not listen to any entity that does not represent Christians. At the beginning of this week, Head of Parliament's Human Rights Committee Alaa Abed denounced the bill. Last August, international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report accusing Egypt of committing systematic torture against prisoners. A parliamentary delegation recently made a number of visits to prisons to prepare reports aiming to clarify the real situation, as they see it, of prisoners in response to HRW's report. HRW's findings stirred anger among government institutions, pro-state media, and public figures, all of whom rejected the torture claims and accused the NGO of publishing lies, inaccuracies, and acting upon a pro-Muslim Brotherhood agenda.
