CAIRO: Pope Shenouda III, head of Egypt's Coptic Christian Church, has announced his approval of the unified law of building places of worship. Pope Shenouda sent his approval in a letter to the Justice Committee, according to Ameer Ramzi, a member of the committee. The committee prepared the bill upon certain references, including another bill drafted by the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, a bill produced by the National Council for the Human Rights, and recommendations given by Shenouda and al-Azhar, Egypt's leading Islamic authority. Another source on the committee said the bill does not say ‘unified,' the term widely used by the media, but is called ‘Worship Places.' The bill drafted by the committee follows: The decree: Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Law decree of the year of 2011 By rules and provisions of worship places After checking the Constitutional Declaration issued on February 13, 2011; after decree No. 1 / 2001; after Law resolution No. 42/ 1967 on the authorization and specialization; after Arab Republic of Egypt president's resolution No. 391/2005; after checking Law no. 119/ 2008 on issuing the building Law; and after the Egyptian Cabinet's approval; we issued the following: Article 1: The concerned administrative body in any town shall be authorized to issue permits of building, destroying, expanding, supporting, and restoring, as well as building additional floors for worship places, within 60 days. By ending the before mentioned period of time without issuing the refusal permit, the request submitted to the concerned body is considered accepted, and the request's owner shall notify the body carrying out the request. The governor of the town has right to settle all related complaints during 30 days starting from the date of the complaint. Article 2: The permit may allow attaching the celebrating centers, medical unities, and social services to the licensed worship place or the place that will be licensed. The permit shall be issued in the relevant matter in accordance with the provisions, and rules of the executive regulations. The permit shall not be issued if the worship place was a building for residents or for any purpose not for worship, except in necessary cases. Building on agricultural land shall be approved by the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture. Article 3: The concerned Administrative body shall put the following provisions into consideration when issuing licenses for worship places: 1. The building request shall be attached with an approval from Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf (religious endowment in Islamic law), or from the non-Muslim concerned body which is recognized in Egypt. 2. There shall be relative relation between the number of worship places for any religion, sect, or doctrine which are legally recognized in the country and the number of the population who live in the area of worship place. The residents shall not be less than 50 families or 200 persons. 3. The distance between the required place for worship and another nearest worship place shall not be less than 500 meters, and the total area of building the worship place shall not be less than 250 cubic meters. 4. Building the worship place shall not be on disputed land. 5. The worship places shall not be built on Nile banks, canals, archeological or historical areas, and other places banned to be built in accordance with Building Law No. 119/2008, and other Laws. Article 4: The request for permission for building the works above mentioned in the Article 1 of the Law thereof shall be submitted to the concerned administrative body in accordance with the executive regulations. The Prime Minister shall issue the executive regulations of the relevant Law's provisions within 60 days when the law came into force. The executive regulations of the current Building Law are valid until issuing the executive regulations and decisions concerning the relevant Law. Article 5: Unlicensed worship places which fulfilled all required measures in accordance with the Law thereof have right to settle the situation with the concerned administrative body by issuing the license within 6 months after issuing the relevant Law. Articles 6 and 7 are being considered: Article 6: He who violates the relevant Law shall be punished by the same punishments mentioned in the Building Law No. 119/ 2008. Article 7: Any case not applied upon the provisions of the Law thereof shall be applied upon the provisions of Building Law No. 119/ 2008. Article 8: The relevant decree shall be published in the state-run newspaper and shall come into force on the second day of issuance.
