Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Copts’ concerns about the growing power of Islamists brought them to back candidates from the former regime like Ahmad Shafīq, the last prime minister in the Husnī Mubārak tenure, and ‘Amr Mūsá, the former minister of foreign affairs and former secretary-general of the Arab League, according to a report by the U.S. newspaper The Washington Post. [Shaymā’ ‘Amr, al-Misryūn, May 14, p. 4] Read text in Arabic

Ten days before Egyptians go to ballot stations to elect the first post-revolution president, eyes are set on voting blocs whose trends are going to be a decisive factor in the results. [Ahmad Rahīm, al-Hayāt, May 13, p. 5] Read original text in Arabic

The Maspero Youth Union (MYU) held the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and police "entirely responsible" for any loss of life, property or that Copts besieged inside a church in the village of Mīt Bashār in al-Zaqāzīq, al-Sharqia governorate, or the Muslims trying to protect the church to any harm on the grounds that they are in charge of security in the country. [Muhammad Imām, al-Jumhūrīyah, Feb. 16, p. 5] Read original text in Arabic

Media dialogue have become an important tool that can damage the relationships among the Egyptian people due to their sectarian nature.

Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III will lead the Christmas mass, said Bishop Marqus of Shubrā al-Khaymah, denying rumors that the church was going to cancel this year’s celebrations of the Eastern Christmas on January 7, 2012. [Ashraf Sādiq, al-Ahrām, December 23, 2011, p.10] Read the original text in Arabic 

Arab West Report obtained the original text of the fact-finding commission report of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR).

The report is about the Maspero incidents that erupted on October 9, 2011 in front of the Egyptian Radio and Television Building at the Maspero area and how it turned violent between the peaceful protesters and the security forces of the military police. The main recommendations of the report were announced in a press conference on Wednesday, November 2, 2011.

For full text translation click here.

Read AWR's "Analyzing Video Evidence from Maspiro: Bloody Confrontations following the Coptic Protest of October 9, 2011" by Jayson Casper [Jayson Casper also blogs regularly at A Sense of Belonging. Follow him on Twitter at @jnjcasper.]

Read AWR's "Appendis to the Maspero Video Report" by Jayson Casper.

The Iftā' House announced that Shaykh 'Imād 'Ifat, the Fatwá Secretary there, was killed in clashes and acts of violence off the cabinet office on Friday 16 after he was shot in the heart. ['Umar 'Abd al-Jawād, Al-Jumhūrīyah, Dec. 17, p. 2] Read original text in Arabic

Al-Wafd published the story on Runderkamp's film on its website on December 5. This was strange since it was not in their printed publication. The Wafd text was mailed by imām Fādil Sulaymān to Cornelis Hulsman, Jayson Casper with the question "Dear brothers, what do you think about this Dutch report??"

Lex Runderkamp’s video on the incident of the village of al-Mārīnāb in Idfū city, Aswan governorate was used by al-Mukhalis TV website on December 7, 2011 [Read al-Mukhalis TV website comment on the video], a Salafī outlet, and before this  by articles in al-Distūr, December 4, 2011 and al-Misriyūn, page 3, December 5, 2011, as so-called proof that Christians set fire in their own church under construction. Al-Wafd followed with similar news on December 5, 2011. I translated here the Arabic text of the video on YouTube with the title "Dutch TV gripping conspiracy of al-Marīnāb" for Arab-West Report.

Al-Mukhalis TV is supervised by a Salafī Shaykh Muhammad al-Zugbhī who, in turn, has links to the Salafī al-Nūr 'light' party. He earlier claimed that Copts kept Muslim women detained in Coptic monasteries which is a reference to the story Wafā' Costantine and other women who supposedly converted to Islam but were prevented by the church to complete the conversion procedures. Al-Zughbī is known for being opposed to Pope Shenouda III and has led demonstrations close to the Coptic Orthodox cathedral to “liberate” these women, according to him “sisters in Islam.” Of course this is very intimidating for Copts.

Lex Runderkamp, the journalist responsible for the “news report” of NOS-TV on the tensions surrounding a church under construction in Mārīnāb, responded to the commentary about his film in Arab-West Report in a text I promptly translated for Arab-West Report and gave to Lamīs Yahyá, author of our first report on Mārīnāb, for a response: