Tag Archives: Country: Egypt

Washington Post: Egypt’s presidential electoral commission permanently disqualified 10 presidential hopefuls, including three front-runners, on Tuesday, upending the election just weeks before next month’s vote.

AP: More than 10,000 Egyptians marched from mosques and protested in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday in a show of strength by Islamists, demanding the country’s ruling generals bar Hosni Mubarak’s former spy chief and other ousted regime officials from running . . .

AP: After the death of their spiritual leader, more than 2,000 Egyptian Copts have poured into the Holy Land for the Easter holidays, defying a ban he imposed on visiting Jerusalem and other Israeli-controlled areas.

Trudy Rubin at the Philadelphia Inquirer: Last week, a Muslim Brotherhood delegation from Egypt came to Washington to convince skeptics that Islam and democracy can coexist.

AP: Hosni Mubarak’s former vice president said he decided to run for president to prevent Islamists from turning Egypt into a “religious state.”

BBC: Several lawsuits had demanded Cairo’s Administrative Court block the decision to form the panel as it did not reflect the diversity of Egyptian society.

YNetNews.com: El-Shater stressed that Shariah is his top and final goal and that he would work on forming a group of religious scholars to help parliament achieve this goal,” the statement read.

BBC: A Grad rocket has landed in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, but has caused no damage or injuries, Israeli security officials said.

Newsmax: Speaking out against religious extremism takes courage in today’s Egypt, especially when extremists make up an absolute majority in Parliament

The Telegraph: An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old Christian boy to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, actions that sparked sectarian violence.

AP: Egypt’s constitutional panel is meeting to try to resolve a crisis after liberals, Christians and others walked out . . .

AP: Egypt’s official news agency says the country’s Coptic Church is withdrawing from a committee to draft the nation’s new constitution.

Christian Science Monitor: Islamist parties now dominate the constitution-writing process in post-revolution Egypt and Tunisia. If they can make Islam compatible with democracy, they will give hope to others in the Middle East still struggling in the unfinished Arab Spring.

AP: The panel selected over the weekend includes nearly 60 Islamists and only six women and six Christians.

AP: Angry residents in the conservative, Muslim-majority town held protests and set fire to the Gergis family businesses.

AP: Pope Shenouda III, an giant figure for 40 years at the helm of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, was laid to rest on Tuesday . . .

AP: The decision to lift the travel ban and effectively let the American defendants avoid trial triggered a political storm within Egypt, with the ruling generals accused of succumbing to U.S. pressure and interfering in the work of the judiciary.

Boston Globe (AP): Egyptian security officials say militants have again blown up a gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that transports fuel to neighboring Israel.

Christian Science Monitor: With elections now over for Egypt’s parliament, lawmakers are are deciding who gets to write the country’s new constitution. There is much at stake including the role of Islam in the state and the power of the military. Yet for such an important document, the timeline is rushed: The constitution is expected to be put to a referendum before presidential elections, scheduled to begin May 23. Here’s what key stakeholders want Egypt’s new constitution to look like.

The Religion Clause Blog: . . . the southern Egyptian province of Assiut has sentenced Makram Diab, a Christian, to 6 years in prison for showing contempt of religion and insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Diab, a school employee, made remarks that infuriated his Muslim co-workers . . .

BBC: A court in Egypt has dismissed one of the two complaints brought against a billionaire Coptic Christian tycoon which accuse him of insulting Islam.

AP: Egypt’s newly elected upper house of parliament picked an Islamist as its speaker on Tuesday, consolidating control by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party over the two legislative chambers.

Ahram Online: After sweeping the first free elections in both countries, Islamists in Tunisia and Egypt reveal tendencies of more religion that previously admitted despite emphasis on working with the secularists

Persecution.org: “A mob of nearly 20,000 radical Muslims, mainly Salafis, attempted this evening to break into and torch the Church of St. Mary and St. Abram in the village of Meet Bashar,in Zagazig, Sharqia province,” the Assyrian International News Agency reports.

Roll Call News: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is delaying the confirmation of Adalberto Jose Jordan to join the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as well as a transportation bill in an effort to force Senate leaders to schedule a vote on his proposal to cut off aid to Egypt until Americans being held there are released.

CNSnews.com: A top Muslim Brotherhood official has warned that any cuts in U.S. aid to Egypt could affect Cairo’s peace treaty with Israel . . .

WorldNetDaily: Analysts have begun warning that the recent increase in violent protests in Egypt is putting the nation’s millennia-old minority Christian community in great danger, and members may be forced to leave their homeland.

Asia News: Muslims in the area of el-Amerya, with the complicity of police and state authorities, set fire to Christian homes and shops, and forced several families to leave the country, under the threat of further violence.

The Washington Post: Despite continuous attacks on Coptic Christians, a delegation of Egyptian Christian leaders said Wednesday (Feb. 8) they do not support the development of a Christian political party as a possible solution.

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is calling on the country’s ruling generals to sack the current military-appointed government . ..

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s military-backed prime minister says Cairo will not halt its crackdown on foreign nonprofit groups despite what he calls threats to cut off aid from Western and Arab countries.

The Daily Caller: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has caused a storm of controversy by saying in a television interview that the people of Egypt should not look to the United States Constitution when drafting their own governing document because it’s too old and there are newer examples from which to draw inspiration.

Christian Freedom International: But despite the consistent defamation of Christianity by prominent Muslims — which has included calling Christians “infidels” and “criminals” and the Bible as “fake” and “Greek mythology” — complaints filed by Christians against Muslims for these offenses in accordance with the contempt of religion law have come to no avail.

News from The Associated Press: Egypt has banned the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and a number of other Americans from leaving the country as tensions rise over moves by Egyptian authorities to restrict the work of international rights organizations.

Religion Clause: Salafi Al-Asala Party member, Mamdouth Ismail, and 15 other members added to the official oath calling for respect for the constitution and law, the phrase “as long as it does not contradict God’s law.”

News from The Associated Press: Top parties in Egypt’s incoming parliament are picking an Islamist as speaker for the first time.

Religion Clause: The document, according to al-Azhar head Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, “preserves freedoms of worship, opinion, scientific research and art and creative expression.” In a nod to conservative Islamists, the document also provides that the arts must not “contradict religious sentiments and established social mores.”

Politico: But one point is already clear: Political Islam is moving from being the dominant opposition voice in the largest Arab country to being a dominant voice of government.

The Washington Post: A prominent Christian Egyptian media mogul faces trial on a charge of insulting Islam, lawyers said Monday, based on his relaying a cartoon on his Twitter account.

The Egyptian Gazette: The new Egyptian Parliament, which will be inaugurated on January 23, looks set to be dominated by Islamists. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafist Al-Nour Party, which seeks to impose strict Islamic Law, similar to Saudi Arabia, have captured a clear majority of votes in Egypt’s first elections since the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak. It’s a huge blow for the liberals and young activists who drove the uprising. This has divided people in the street; some are more afraid of the Salafists than the Muslim Brothers.

News from The Associated Press: Another New Year’s has passed since, and there are still no answers in Egypt’s most dramatic anti-Christian attack. The investigation was halted 11 months ago and never picked up again.

Catholic Culture: Shouting “Allahu akbar” [Allah is greater], residents of Assuit, a southern Egyptian city, burned Christians’ homes after images deemed insulting to Muhammad appeared on a local Christian teenager’s Facebook page.

Jerusalem Post: Egyptian party’s deputy leader tells ‘al-Hayat’ that they won’t negotiate with Israel, will seek to cancel peace treaty.

The Washington Post: The spokesman of Egypt’s ultraconservative Islamist party told Israeli Army Radio in unprecedented remarks broadcast Wednesday that the group is not opposed to the country’s historic peace treaty with Israel.

News from The Associated Press: Egyptians turned out in large numbers Wednesday for a second round of parliamentary elections, with Islamists looking to boost their already overwhelming lead and liberal voters concerned the outcome will push the country in a more religious direction.

The Washington Post: Egypt’s military rulers said Wednesday the next parliament will not be representative enough to independently oversee the drafting of a constitution, and they will appoint a council to check the influence of religious extremists on the process.

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s military rulers say they will appoint a consultative body to guide the drafting of the country’s new constitution so it will represent the whole political spectrum and limit influence of religious extremists.

Religion Clause Blog: As reported by CNN, the relatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party took 40% of the vote, while the more fundamentalist Noor Salafi Movement took 20% of the vote.

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s ultraconservative Islamist party plans to push for a stricter religious code in Egypt after claiming surprisingly strong gains in the first round of parliamentary elections, a spokesman said Friday.

Israel National News: Islamist parties are expected to control Cairo’s parliament by the spring with the Muslim Brotherhood projected to be in the driver’s seat.

News from The Associated Press: They say the Muslim Brotherhood could take 45 percent of the seats up for grabs.

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was leading in initial, partial results from Egypt’s parliamentary elections but it was facing stiff competition in many places both from more hard-line Islamic groups and from a liberal-secular alliance, judges overseeing counting said Wednesday.

News from The Associated Press: Israel expects a “grave erosion” in its peace agreement with Egypt and is even preparing for the possibility of the historic deal collapsing altogether, a Cabinet minister said Wednesday, in the first official assessment of the unrest rocking Israel’s southern neighbor.

NYTimes.com: THE images streaming from Cairo’s streets last month were not as horrifying as those of the capture and brutal death of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, but they were savage all the same.

News from The Associated Press: Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied Friday in Cairo’s Tahrir square with Islamists in the forefront to protest against what they say are attempts by the country’s military rulers to designate themselves as the guardians of a new Egypt.

News from The Associated Press: Attackers threw rocks and broken glass at a march by Coptic Christians in Cairo Thursday, injuring 10, in the latest outbreak of sectarian violence less than two weeks before the start of parliamentary elections.

Christian Post: Egypt’s Coptic Christians continue to protest military rule, and fear further marginalization with the upcoming parliamentary elections starting Nov. 28.

Baptist Press: The killing of 27 people — including at least 23 Christians — who were protesting the burning of a church building has removed any respect most Egyptians had for the transitional military government, according to Christian human rights activists and members of Egyptian churches in the country.

Raymond Ibrahim at Hudson New York: Western media coverage of the recent massacre of Coptic Christians in Cairo, Egypt—in which the military killed dozens of Christians and injured some 300—was, as discussed earlier, deplorable. It merely repeated the false propaganda of the complicit state-run media, without checking facts. Since then, further proofs of the lies and brutality surrounding the massacre have emerged . . .

Education News: In mid-October Egyptian media published news of an altercation between Muslim and Christian students over a classroom seat at a school in Mallawi, Minya province. The altercation lead to the murder of a Christian student. The media portrayed the incident as non-sectarian. However, Copts Without Borders, a Coptic news website, refuted this version and was first to report that the Christian student was murdered because he was wearing a crucifix.

ADF Attorney Kevin Theriot at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: An Egyptian court is reported to have sentenced a man to three years in jail and hard labor because he ”intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and ridicule on Facebook.”

Vatican Insider: Pope Shenouda III has asked for the release of all those who were arrested during the event which led to the massacre of dozens of Copts by the military on Sunday, October 9. But meanwhile, a meeting that was to lead to a law that would unify rules for the construction of places of worship concluded without success.

AFP: An Egyptian court sentenced a man to three years in jail with hard labour on Saturday for insulting Islam in postings on Facebook, the official MENA news agency reported.

News from The Associated Press: An international rights group warned Tuesday that Egypt’s ruling generals may try to cover up the circumstances surrounding the killings of more than 20 Coptic Christian demonstrators when the military broke up their protest by force earlier this month.

Ken Blackwell at Townhall: Egyptian violence against Christians is intolerable. When peaceful demonstrators demanding only protection of the law are attacked, we see a complete breakdown of civil order. More than that, the fact that Egypt ’s Christians are being killed with impunity means there is no Arab Spring. We need a thorough reassessment of our foreign policy goals.

Montreal Gazette: Christians in Egypt are used to persecution, but the latest attacks threaten the country’s move to democracy, says Con Coughlin.

CSMonitor.com: he Egyptian military said today that they are investigating who killed 17 Christian protesters on Sunday. Their denial of guilt has angered many Egyptians, who complain of a new dictatorship.

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s Coptic church blasted authorities Monday for allowing repeated attacks on Christians with impunity as the death toll from a night of rioting rose to 26, most of them Christians who were trying to stage a peaceful protest in Cairo over an attack on a church.

Reuters: Egyptian Christians turned their fury against the army on Monday after at least 25 people were killed when troops crushed a protest using tactics that deepened public doubts about the military’s ability to steer Egypt peacefully toward democracy.

AFP: Hundreds of Christian Copts protested outside the state television building on Tuesday after a church was burned in the southern Aswan district and demanded that the governor be sacked, the channel reported.

AINA.org: On Monday, October 3, Muslims surrounded St. Mary’s Church in the Upper Egyptian village of Elmadmar, Tema district, Sohag province, in an effort to demolish it.

Compass Direct: Throng of 3,000, including Salafists, burn Christian-owned houses, businesses.

OneNewsNow.com: The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes the Obama administration’s release of the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, and the Commission is urging the U.S. government to increase action to promote freedom of religion or belief. Burma, Eritrea, China, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan are eight “countries of particular concern,” but USCIRF spokesperson Elizabeth Cassidy says her group thinks the list is incomplete . . .

Religion Clause: Under Egyptian personal status law, the Coptic Orthodox Church controls divorce of couples where both are members of the Church. Al-Ahram this week reports that hundreds of Copts who are seeking a divorce plan to gather in front of the Ministry of Justice to collectively resign membership in the Church.

Austin Bay at Townhall Conservative: The generals running Egypt’s military services need to decide what kind of future they want for their country, and they must decide quickly.