Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

The talk about foreign funding in Egypt for more than 10 years now had been inextricably linked to elections but what is being marketed on the mass media regarding Egypt's civil society most of the time involves inaccuracy, exaggeration and downplaying.

Lamīs Yahyá is an Egyptian student living in Germany who is supporting the Egyptian 
student movement for democratization in Egypt. She earlier wrote the investigative report
on the conflict around the building of a Coptic Orthodox Church in Marīnāb, September 30,
2011.

Lamīs Yahyá is an Egyptian student living in Germany who is supporting the Egyptian
student movement for democratization in Egypt. She earlier wrote the investigative report
on the conflict around the building of a Coptic Orthodox Church in Marīnāb, September 30,
2011.
 

An ultra-rightist member of the Dutch parliament plans to present parliamentary questioning of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands as soon as she returns from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where she put on a headscarf before entering a mosque there. ['Abd Allāh Mustafá from Brussels, al-Misrī al-Yawm, Jan. 12, p. 16] Read original text in Arabic

Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III led the Eastern Orthodox Christmas Mass at the Saint Mark Cathedral in the Cairo district of al-'Abbāssīyah, attended by members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

Grand Shaykh of the Azhar Dr. Ahmad al-Tayyīb said Western claims that Christians of the East are suffering persecution are “flagrant lies that clash with reality,” adding these allegations were only meant to feign panic from democracy that is now sweeping the Arab world. [Muhammad ‘Abd al-Khāliq, al-Ahrām, Jan. 6, p. 11] Read original text in Arabic 

In a flagrant inciting language, the U.S. think-tank RAND said the Copts now have a historic chance to prepare for declaring their state in light of the current incidents in Egypt. [Rose al-Yūsuf newspaper, December 20, p. 1] The article has no link online

A military court on Dec. 14 sentenced blogger Michael Nabīl to a two-year imprisonment term and a fine of LE200 (roughly $40) after he was found guilty of insulting the armed forces and publishing false new on his blog. (al-Ahrām, Dec. 15, p. 29) Read the original text in Arabic

I am writing this article in response to what Lex Runderkamp has broadcast on the Dutch TV on November 27th, 2011, concerning al-Mārīnāb incidents that took place in the beginning of last October. I have been stimulated too by what was published by al-Masrīyūn newspaper, a religious-oriented newspaper, based on the latter's report arguing that Copts have set their own Church on fire.

If so, why none of those people were in Marīnāb following the church burning when they could have heard the Egyptian police invalidating such claims.

The U.S. Ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson announced that the Embassy informed the Egyptian government of the names of Egyptian national societies that are receiving finance. In an interview with Al-Ahrām newspaper, Patterson denied that Washington encourages the emigration of Christians in Egypt, and that the U.S. supports Dr. Muhammad al-Barād'ī, the presidential candidate.

An advertisement of the Italian clothing company Benetton featuring Pope Benedict XVI kissing the Shaykh Al-Azhar has provoked a storm of angry reactions in Italy and the company was forced to remove it almost immediately.