Saudi Arabia is funding both the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in order to bring down the Egyptian revolution, said Ehab el-Khouli, a member of the high council of the liberal al-Ghad Party. He said Said Arabia's intention is to prevent a similar revolution from occurring in Saudi Arabia. El-Khouli discussed the matter at a conference of the Union of European Coptic Organizations. “We will stand against the Wahabi funding that aims to build the country based on religious discourse. We must build the country on humanist principles and we must come up with recommendations from this conference with unified laws regarding places of worship and the criminalization of religious discrimination," el-Khouli added. The manager of the Journalists United Center, Saeed Shoeeib, expressed anger regarding the current focus on only the rights of Coptic Christians. "We must not fear the Salafis and we must discuss the rights of all Egyptians, including the rights of Baha'i's, agnostics and atheists," Shoeeib said. Egyptian writer Fatima Naoot condemned the government's passive stance and its non-confrontation of the recent emergence of violent and aggressive attacks by fundamentalist groups. Naoot said many Egyptians are against the creation of a religious state and most of Egyptians' origins are Coptic. She also expressed her surprise regarding how quickly the army rebuilt the Virgin Mary Church in Imbaba, which was burnt in sectarian clashes on May 7. She was surprised especially since Copts often have difficulty building churches, bringing up the example of the Rehab church which has been being rebuilt for years. She called on the Virgin Mary Church in Imbaba to be rebuilt quickly and the criminals responsible for the damages to be brought to justice.
