II. Sectarian Tension and Violence

9. Violence erupted between Muslims and Christians in the village of al-Rahmaniya, located in the Naga' Hammadi district of the Governorate of Qena, on 19 July 2008. The clashes began following an argument, sparked when a Muslim objected to a Christian parking his car in front of the Muslim’s house. As the argument progressed, several Muslims gathered and then broke into the Christian man’s house and beat his family, causing physical injuries to seven people, among them two women, destroying a car, and stealing and vandalizing property. Press reports said that two Muslims were also injured in the clashes. The Christian injured parties accused the imam of a mosque located adjacent to their home of inciting village Muslims to the attacks.

In statements to EIPR researchers, the injured parties and Coptic eyewitnesses complained of the delayed police response; police were slow to reach the scene of the attacks although they were informed as soon as the argument began and the police station is located nearby. The victims also said they had been pressured by the police to withdraw the police report that they filed against the assailants. They said that the police detained two of the injured Copts to pressure their families to sign a reconciliation statement. The police also forced the Christian family to go ahead with the wedding of one of their daughters, scheduled for the day after the attacks. The marriage was concluded inside the village church in the presence of security leaders and the Muslim family accused of the attacks.

10. On 20 and 21 July 2008, several Copts living in the 'Izbat Bushra al-Sharqiya, located in the al-Fashn district of the Beni Soueif governorate, had their land attacked by unknown assailants, who destroyed their crops and torched one of their homes. According to field research undertaken by EIPR researcher, the attacks followed a dispute with a Muslim in the village, who objected when the archbishopric of Beni Soueif bought a plot of land from another Copt—which had been bought from a Muslim a year before—and appointed a priest to lead prayer services in the house built on the land (there is no church in the village, which is home to some 100 Christian families). Police reports were filed at the al-Fashn police station about the destruction of crops on lands owned by Mu'awwad Sami Fu'ad, Salama Rizq Fam, Mikhail Wahba Khalil, Emile Sadeq Khalil, and 'Abdel-Malik 'Ayad Abdel-Malik. A police report was also filed concerning the arson of the home of Kamel Rizq Khalil. The police had arrested no suspects in these cases as of October 2008.

The opposition Wafd Party issued a statement about the incident in the daily al-Wafd on 14 August 2008, urging the governor of Beni Soueif and the security authorities “to take immediate measures to resolve the dispute in order to prevent incidents of violence.”

It is noteworthy that on 18 July 2008, prior to the attacks, the wall separating the land owned by the archbishopric and the adjacent agricultural land was demolished. Father Ishaq Qastour, who lives in the village, told EIPR researchers that he filed a police report accusing the former owner of the land of vandalizing the wall. After the report was investigated and brought before the prosecutor, the police convened a traditional reconciliation hearing, during which it was pledged that the land would not be attacked again and the priest withdrew the complaint. Nevertheless, the attacks on the Copts’ land began only a few days after the reconciliation statement was signed.

11. Early signs of sectarian friction were detected in the district of Atfih in the governorate of Giza during July 2008, between the residents of the Christian-majority village of Deir al-Meimun and the Muslim population of the nearby 'Izbat al-Haggara. According to village residents, the tension began when residents of 'Izbat al-Haggara appropriated a plot of empty, state-owned land located on the border with Deir al-Meimun. Deir al-Meimun is home to the historic al-Gemeiza Monastery, considered by historical sources to be the oldest monastery in the world.

12. The daily independent al-Badeel reported on 2 July 2008, that a judge in the Northern Giza Court ordered the release of suspects detained in connection with a fight between Christians and Muslims in Imbaba in March 2007, which left a Christian man and his son dead. A relative of the deceased told EIPR researchers that the suspects, whose precise number is unknown, were released on a LE500 bail and have not been brought to trial yet, although more than a year has passed since the crimes were committed.

13. On 17 August 2008, the independent daily al-Masri al-Yaum reported a fight between Muslims and Christians in the Shubra al-Kheima district on 15 August 2008. According to the newspaper, the Shubra al-Kheima II police station received a report “of a fight that erupted because two Christian children were playing soccer in front of a garage owned by Said and Mohammed Mahmoud Madkour, who asked them to take the game elsewhere after the children broke a car windshield. When they did not respond, the owner of the garage cursed them. The children went to their family and told them what happened, after which their brothers, Ayman and Safwat Youssef Ishaq, went to see the owners of the garage. An argument ensued, in the course of which the Christians broke the windshield of three cars in the garage. Police were able to gain control of the situation and filed a report. The two parties agreed to reconciliation at [the prosecutor’s office.]”

14. On 24 August 2008, violence erupted between Muslims and Christians in the village of Deir al-Barsha, located in the district of Mallawi in the Minya governorate. Father Youssef Ibrahim, a priest at the Church of the Virgin in the village, told EIPR researchers that an argument took place between a Muslim and a Christian when one of the parties was unable to move his livestock across a road that was blocked by the car of the other party. The argument devolved into stone throwing that led to minor injuries. A report from the independent daily al-Dustour on 26 August carried a differing version of events, attributing the argument to a land dispute between two families. The paper reported that the two families exchanged gunfire, injuring Mahfouz Abdel-'Alim, his son Nasr, Maged Rizq Yunan, Nageh Matta Yunan, his son Shenouda, and Maged Tianon Yunan. Local Muslim and Christian leaders convened a reconciliation meeting between the two parties, who signed a reconciliation statement at the village police station.

15. At dawn on 19 September 2008, an old church building of the Greek Orthodox community in the district of Rosetta in the Beheira governorate, was partially destroyed by a bulldozer. Father Luqa Asaad 'Awad, a priest at the city’s Coptic Orthodox St. Mark’s church, accused Judge Mohamed Mustafa Tiranli and his sons, who are both prosecutors, of demolishing part of the Greek Orthodox church building, in addition to assaulting the church guard and vandalizing icons and relics inside the church, due to a dispute over the ownership of the land on which the church and several nearby shops sit. Eyewitnesses told EIPR researchers that the assault on the ancient church was committed by some 40 people, led by the judge and his two sons. The police arrested the three men on charges of participating in the attack and transferred them to the Rosetta prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the complaint. The case had not come to trial at the time of this report. Church officials also filed a complaint against the judge with the Ministry of Justice’s judicial inspection agency.

Legal documents obtained by EIPR researchers from both parties to the dispute show that the Greek Orthodox community held prayer services in the church for decades until the mid-1950s, when the community left the city and the church was closed. The judge then bought the property from the community in 1990, but the Egyptian Awqaf (Religious Endowments) Ministry, claiming that the land was originally an endowment in the name of Sidi Dawoud Pasha, intervened and placed the land under its supervision, along with the church building and 14 shops built on the disputed land, most of them rented by Muslims. The judge became involved in a legal dispute with the Awqaf over the title of the property, which was resolved by a court ruling that granted him ownership of the land and gave him the right to expel the shop renters.

The Coptic church objected to the sale, arguing that it had concluded an agreement with the Greek Orthodox community that passed on the use of churches abandoned by them to the Coptic community. The Coptic church appointed a priest who began leading prayer services in the church four months before the attack. The Coptic church also says that the decision to sell the land violates public order, citing a legal opinion issued by the State's Council in the late 1990s that prohibits the purchase or sale of any place used for prayer services and considers it Awqaf property.

On the other hand, the judge who purchased the land argued that the building cannot be considered a church, but had become an abandoned property after the Greek Orthodox community left. The judge also accused Copts in charge of the church of demolishing it to make way for reconstruction into a Coptic church. He denied any responsibility for the attack and said he was not present at the time of the events. Newspapers reported that the Coptic and Greek Orthodox churches offered to return the sum paid for the land in 1990 to the judge, in addition to compensation of the same amount in exchange for nullifying the sale contract. The dispute was still ongoing as of October 2008.

16. Sectarian tensions returned to the Christian-majority village of Dafash, located in the district of Samalut in the Minya governorate, on 24 September 2008, when a fight erupted between a Muslim and a Christian after one of them obstructed the road with his car. The ensuing fight left one Christian injured, Shenouda Milad; he sustained a head injury and received treatment at the Samalut General Hospital. Information gathered by EIPR researchers from village residents indicates that the homes of some Copts who live in a Muslim area of the village were pelted with stones and had their windows broken with clubs. When police arrived on the scene, they arrested the two parties to the argument, in addition to the random arrest of an estimated 50 Muslim and Christian youths.

Copts living in the village said that after the incident, they were pressured by police to withdraw the complaint they filed about the injury of Shenouda Milad. They added that in response to the Copts’ refusal to withdraw the complaint, the security forces engaged in random campaigns that involved sending inspectors from electricity, environmental, food, and tax authorities to Coptic-owned shops to issue violations. The police also imposed a curfew in the village, which was lifted two days later. As of October 2008, there were no reports of the Copts agreeing to withdraw their complaints.

Dafash was the site of a demonstration by hundreds of Copts on 5 June 2008, which took place after a young Coptic man from the village was killed. Security and church sources say that a village Muslim stabbed the young man in a field as revenge for snooping around the home of the murderer’s husband and his wife. Security imposed a curfew in the village for several days fearing sectarian attacks, and the murder suspect was arrested and referred to court. A traditional reconciliation meeting was held about a week after the incident, during which the family of the killer agreed to pay indemnity to the family of the deceased. On 5 October 2008 the Minya Criminal Court sentenced the defendant to a suspended one year imprisonment.

17. On 24 September 2008, four Coptic monasteries published a statement in various newspapers announcing that they would not accept tours and visitors from 24 September to 14 October. Several newspapers reported that the four monasteries—al-Qiddis al-Anba Bishoi Monastery, al-Suryan Monastery, al-Baramos Monastery in Wadi al-Natron, and the Mar Mina Monastery in Maryout—had decided to close their doors during this period after several websites posted threats to attack Coptic monasteries in Egypt. No official statement was issued on the matter by the government. Church leaders said that the threat against the monasteries had come after Muslim preacher Zaghloul al-Naggar claimed he had information about the alleged death of Wafa Costantine, the wife of a Coptic priest who converted to Islam in 2004. At the time, the news sparked unprecedented Coptic protests and she later renounced her conversion before the Public Prosecutor; she has been missing ever since. Church sources announced that Costantine is living in seclusion in a monastery and that whether she should appear to dispel rumors of her death is solely up to Pope Shenouda.