Articles

Egypt

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Cairo’s religious status
Al Jazeera
23 April 2013
Has the January 25 Revolution failed Egypt’s Christians? Sectarian violence has claimed the lives of nearly 60 Coptic Christians over the last two years. According to some estimates, an average of two Copts are killed and 18 are injured each month. With renewed clashes and rising tension between Egyptian Muslims and Christians, we examine the roots of sectarianism in post-Mubarak Egypt and what some activists are doing to fight religious discrimination.

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Egypt’s Coptic Christians must be protected from sectarian violence
Amnesty International
27 March 2013
A rise in tensions between religious communities in the town of Wasta, about one hundred kilometres south of Cairo, in recent weeks highlights the failure of the Egyptian authorities to protect Egypt’s Coptic Christians, the largest religious minority in the country.
Tensions were sparked in February when a local Muslim young woman was reported “missing” and members of her family and local Salafis – Sunni Muslims who advocate a return to what they consider to be Islam’s fundamental principles as practiced by the first Muslims – blamed the Mar- Girgis Church, claiming they had influenced the woman to convert to Christianity – an allegation the Church denies. (read more)

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In Egypt, Five Face Charges of Urging Violence in Postings
By David D. Kirkpatrick
26 March 2013
CAIRO — Supporters of President Mohamed Morsi on Tuesday defended an arrest warrant for five activists on charges of using social media to incite attacks against Mr. Morsi’s allies in the Muslim Brotherhood that took place last Friday.
One of the five surrendered Tuesday and was released without bail. The others are still at large.
In a Twitter message sent during Friday’s battle that was cited by Morsi supporters, one of the accused, Hazem Abdel Azeem, called Brotherhood members “sheep” because of their pledged obedience to the group and said he would pay “an old shoe” at an auction for Mr. Morsi’s “scalp.” (read more)

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Egypt vigilantes hang 2 thieves by feet in public
By Aya Batrawy, Associated Press
17 March 2013
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw on Sunday and then hung them by their feet while some in a watching crowd chanted “kill them!” Both men died, security officials said.
The killings come a week after the attorney general’s office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police. They are emblematic of the chaos sweeping Egypt and a security breakdown of frightening proportions.
It was one of the most extreme cases of vigilantism in two years of sharply deteriorating security following the 2011 uprising. Gruesome photos circulated quickly on Facebook and other social media outlets, showing images taken by people in the crowd of thousands who watched and recorded the lynchings on cell phone cameras. (read more)

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An injured security official is carried from a police officers club in an upscale Cairo neighborhood, after fires were set by protesters angry about death sentences imposed on soccer fans over a deadly riot. (Mohammed Asad/AP)

 

1 dead as Egypt soccer-riot death sentences spark violence
By Yousri Mohamed and Marwa Awad, Reuters
March 2013
Egyptian protesters torched buildings in Cairo and tried unsuccessfully to disrupt international shipping on the Suez Canal, as a court ruling on a deadly soccer riot stoked rage in a country beset by worsening security.
The ruling enraged residents of Port Said, at the northern entrance of the Suez Canal, by confirming death sentences imposed on 21 local soccer fans for their role in the riot last year when more than 70 people were killed.
But the court also angered rival fans in Cairo by acquitting a further 28 defendants that they wanted punished, including seven members of the police force which is reviled across society for its brutality under deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak. (read more)

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A protester, opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, throws a tear gas canister, earlier thrown by the riot police, during clashes in front of Security Directorate in Port Said city, 170 km (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

 

Fifty wounded in Egypt port city as police battle protesters
By Yusri Mohamed, Reuters
5 March 2013
Egyptian security forces battled stone-throwing youths in the Suez Canal city of Port Said on Tuesday while in Cairo police took to the streets to protest, reflecting a country beset by discontent over a host of grievances.
By far the most serious trouble was in Port Said, at the canal’s northern entrance, where fifty people were wounded in clashes between police and hundreds of protesters in a third day of unrest.
Security forces shot into the air and fired teargas at the protesters gathered in front of a local government building in the city. (read more)

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A protester, wreathed in dense smokes of teargas, trying to pick up a canister thrown by security forces during clashes with anti-government protests in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura (Tarek UWK – Mansoura)

 

Injured protesters trapped in building by police: Egyptian Popular Current
By Ayat Al-Tawy, Ahram Online
28 February 2013
The Egyptian Popular Current stated on Thursday that security forces have surrounded the group’s office in Mansoura, where many injured protesters are sheltering, and are refusing to allow medical aid into the building.
According to a Thursday statement by the opposition group, there are dozens of people inside the office suffering from asphyxiation, due to the numerous volleys of teargas fired Wednesday night during clashes at the building.
Clashes erupted after the Central Security Forces attempted to disperse protesters who had been staging marches across the city to muster support for a planned civil disobedience campaign. (read more)

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Carsten Koall/Getty Images

Egypt to Join the ICC but also Guarantee Bashir Immunity 
By Mark Kersten, Justice in Conflict
20 February 2013
Many, many months ago, I wrote that Egypt had declared it was set to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). That was back in early April 2011, when the country was in the midst of the ‘Arab Spring’. Nearly two years later, Egypt’s Minister of Justice, Ahmed Mekki has announced that the the country will soon join the Court. But that wasn’t all. Mekki also announced that Egypt will sign an Article 98 Bilateral Immunity Agreement with Sudan in order to prevent Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from being arrested and surrendered to the ICC. Bashir, as readers will know, has been charged by the ICC with crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide for his role in the Darfur conflict. (read more)

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Egypt Rights Groups Allege Rising Police Brutality
By Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press, ABC News
20 February 2013
Egyptian rights groups alleged Wednesday that police abuse and brutality are on the rise in detention centers and at demonstrations, which have intensified since the second anniversary of the uprising that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.More than a dozen groups charged in a statement that police were reverting back to the systematic torture that prevailed under Mubarak’s autocratic regime. “Some of the crimes have even gone beyond that,” the statement said.
The groups hold President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected leader after Mubarak’s ouster, responsible for failing to stop or condemn such practices. They called on him to sack his interior minister, who oversees the police, and try him in connection with the deaths of nearly 60 protesters since last month across Egypt. (read more)

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For earlier articles, please see the “Archived Updates” section on Egypt’s page.

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