V. Reports, Publications and Activities

40. From 28 to 30 June 2009, Cairo hosted the fourth meeting of the International League of Azhar Graduates, a non-governmental organization established in 2007 with the aim of strengthening the relationship between al-Azhar and its alumni from around the world. This year’s meeting was titled “Al-Azhar and the West: The Guidelines and Limits of Dialogue.” Muslim, Christian and Jewish representatives were invited to discuss 34 research papers on interfaith dialogue.

The meeting produced several recommendations, among them a recognition of the value of human differences in belief. “If [this difference] is properly invested, it can be a source of wealth by which nations can be perfected and civilizations flourish.” The meeting also advocated “peaceful coexistence and cooperation among the revealed religions” as a pressing necessity “to confront the crises created by political ideologies that exploit religions to achieve their ambitions.” The recommendations also stated that “the spaces of agreement among religions are bigger than the gaps of difference, and action based on values on which religions agree is capable of mending what politics has corrupted.” They also noted, “The greatest obstacle to a successful dialogue among civilizations is the West’s unjust policy toward Islamic societies. This makes it incumbent on Christian societies to call on their politicians to relieve this injustice.” The meeting also recommended that “the International League of al-Azhar Graduates register at the UN Economic and Social Council to enhance its ability to engage in dialogue with civic institutions and invest its energies to achieve the message of al-Azhar.”

41. The city of Vienna, Austria was the site of the first conference of the European Union of Coptic Organizations for Human Rights, held on 10 and 11 July and titled “A Future Vision for Reclaiming Copts’ Rights in the Midst of Global Political Changes.” The conference concluded by calling on “President Mohamed Husni Mubarak to immediately intervene to save the Copts of Egypt and resolve their problems, fearing for Egypt’s reputation.” The conference adopted several resolutions, among them “filing documented legal complaints with international rights organizations against the ongoing abuses committed against Copts,” as well as urging the Egyptian government to sign the optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights “so that Egyptian individuals can submit their complaints” to the UN. In addition, the conference called on the government to draft bills regulating freedom of belief and it urged the Egyptian parliament to issue a personal status law for non-Muslims, as well as a unified law regulating the establishment of places of worship. The conference called for the immediate release of Father Mataous Abbas Wahba, convicted of falsifying official documents to facilitate the marriage of a Muslim woman and Christian man, whose appeal is still pending.

42. In July, the cities of Cairo and Alexandria saw several protests sparked by the murder of Egyptian national Marwa al-Sherbini on 1 July 2009 inside a courtroom in Dresden, Germany. She was killed by a German man whom she had sued for insulting her for wearing the hijab. The funeral for al-Sherbini—dubbed “the hijab martyr” by the Egyptian press—in her hometown of Alexandria on 6 July turned into a mass demonstration during which protestors held aloft banners condemning racism and urging Egypt to follow up on the case. After the procession, dozens of citizens organized a demonstration in front of the German embassy in Cairo to protest al-Sherbini’s killing, while hundreds more gathered in al-Azhar and condemned the crime, calling on the German authorities to impose the maximum penalty for premeditated murder. The verdict from the German court trying the murder case had not yet been issued as of the writing of this report.

43. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a consultative body whose members are appointed by the US President and congressional leaders, sent a letter to President Barack Obama on 10 August asking him to raise the issue of religious freedoms and human rights in his meeting with President Mubarak in Washington D.C. The commission urged Obama to discuss with the Egyptian President attacks on Copts, administrative barriers facing Baha’is and Muslim converts to Christianity who seek to obtain official documents, and the Egyptian role in the UN in attempting to ban “defamation of religions” in violation of freedom of religion and expression. The commission also urged the Obama administration to draft a timetable for the implementation of a set of specific political reforms. Once more, the commission also advocated removing the religious portfolio from the domain of the security apparatus – including the state security police, and particularly matters pertaining to the construction and renovation of houses of worship and religious conversion.

44. On 18 August 2009, several Copts organized a demonstration in front of the White House during the Egyptian President’s visit to the US capital. The demonstration, joined by several non-Christian groups and figures, was timed to coincide with the meeting between the two leaders in the White House. Demonstrators chanted slogans urging a resolution of Coptic problems in Egypt and calling for steps to be taken on the road to the establishment of democracy.

45. In late August, the National Council for Human Rights, an official consultative body under the authority of the Egyptian Shura Council, released the report it submitted to the UN Human Rights Council as part of the universal periodic review; the report addressed the state of human rights in Egypt as of the beginning of 2010. In the field of freedom of religion and belief, the report asked the Egyptian government to “rapidly make a reality of the principle of citizenship enshrined in the Constitution in the 2007 amendments”, and adopt the unified law governing the establishment of the right to construct places of worship drafted by the council. The report also recommended that the government adopt its recommendation to pass an equal opportunity and anti-discrimination law and establish a commission to oversee implementation of the law. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to release all the reports on Egypt submitted under the universal periodic review mechanism in November 2009, including the government report and reports submitted by Egyptian and international human rights organizations.

46. On 11 September 2009, an estimated 7,000 Copts gathered in the Church of the Virgin and Pope Kyrillos in the Izbat al-Nakhl area of Cairo to celebrate the Coptic new year. The crowd carried banners demanding an end to discrimination against Copts and attacks on them, a rejection of the use of customary reconciliation meetings to mitigate these attacks, the issuance of a unified law on houses of worship and the release of a Coptic priest who was convicted of marrying a Muslim woman and a Christian man with falsified documents.
The assembly followed on the heels of calls by Christian websites and Facebook groups asking Copts to strike on that day in defense of their rights. The organizers of the strike urged Christians to stay at home and wear black if they went out, as an expression of “Coptic anger,” according to a call issued by a Facebook group called Copts for Egypt. Pope Shenouda III and other church leaders refused to support the call for a strike.