Sub-titles: Congressmen sponsored the celebration and members of the Freedom House do not have anything else but the Koshh incident. Some attendants claimed that there is a campaign to get rid of Coptic priests. Any incident was considered part of criminal plans
At the time when the Freedom House chose to celebrate the International Day for Human Rights in its special way, some Muslims and Christians were invited by one Copt living abroad for Iftar [a meal at sunset which breaks the fasting of a day during Ramadan].
The celebration of the Freedom House was an indirect invitation to deepen separation and destroy national unity. The simple invitation for the Iftar spreads the atmosphere of confidence that Egyptians are still united.
At the Congress building, in one hall of the Senate, the celebration of the Freedom House was sponsored by a number of the Congress’ representatives and senators. During the celebration six Egyptians were honored for their activities in defending Coptic rights, religious freedom and certainly human rights. The role of those six Egyptians in the Koshh incident was highlighted.
The celebration, attended by one hundred Copts from Washington, Virginia, New Jersey and New York, began with a prayer performed by Father Andrawus, from the Coptic church of Saint Mark in Virginia. This led many attendants to believe that there was an official representation of the Coptic Church in the celebration as [the church of] Saint Mark is affiliated to the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The celebration was attended by Paul Marshall, the senior researcher at the Center of Religious Freedom, and Nina Shea the director of the center affiliated to the Freedom House. In her speech, Nina Shea mentioned proudly that she worked as a lawyer for twenty years until she worked with Joseph Asad, 28, who opened her eyes to what happens to Copts in Egypt.
Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim spoke about his experience in the Ibn Khaldoun Center for the study of human rights and the issues of minorities. He mentioned that the center concentrates on women rights and religious freedom for Copts and Muslims. Dr. Ibrahim reminded the attendants how the work of Egyptian women was linked to the participation of Copts in politics since 1919 revolution.
"There is what we can call a pressure to push these movements back. Human rights is an inseparable part of one’s dignity. This applies to Copts, Egyptians and man in general," Dr. Ibrahim mentioned... Dr. Ibrahim called upon everyone to take part in public life. "There is much we can do. The day will come when Egypt will be among the countries that enjoy complete freedom. This is achievable and we will achieve it," he added.
Representative Joseph Pitts delivered a speech during the celebration in which he expressed his admiration of Egyptian civilization. Pitts visited Egypt recently with other Congressmen and the representative of the Freedom House. During the visit, Pitts met with the Grand Sheikh of the Azhar and President Mubarak. In his speech Pitts mentioned that the Grand Sheikh of the Azhar told him that man has the right to choose his religion. He also mentioned that his impression about his meeting with President Mubarak was very positive. He added that the meeting took more time than what was [originally] planned and that he discussed with President Mubarak projects of mutual cooperation between Egypt and United States.
Pitts concluded his speech saying that he hopes that his children know how Egyptian children learn how to love and respect themselves, love God and love their country.
Youssef Sidhom, the editor-in-chief of Watani, was among the six honored Egyptians. Sidhom tried to speak about national unity but contradictorily he called for solving the problems of Copts who, as he mentioned, suffer from many forms of persecution, inequality, rejection, in addition to deprivation of their constitutional rights and the attacks of Muslim fundamentalists. Sidhom called upon Copts to solve their problems domestically. Sidhom mentioned that he does not believe that Copts will enjoy their freedom if they live in an isolated oasis [Egypt is meant] under the protection of a foreign power [the USA is meant] while they are surrounded by hatred [either Muslims or Muslim extremists is meant here].
Contradiction was clear in Sidhom’s speech as he praised the work of the Freedom House in the international arena for the respect of human rights in Egypt.
Father Bishoi Andrawus read the letters of Bishop Wissa of Al-Balyana and Bishop Thomas of Al-Qussia. In these letters Bishop Wissa and Bishop Thomas thanked the Freedom House for honoring them and expressed their disappointment for not being able to attend the celebration. Bishop Wissa, the provoker [translator: the Arabic text uses the word ’batal’ which can be translated as ’hero’ or ’provoker’ but in this context it is understood as ’provoker’] of the Koshh incident, mentioned in his letter that if there are laws that discriminate between citizens, this is real injustice. He called upon the Freedom House to continue its work until equality is achieved.
I was told by Joseph Asad that colleague Nabil Abdel Fatah, the responsible [researcher] for the file on the status of religion in the Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies, accepted the honoring but he apologized for not being able to attend the celebration for reasons related to his health. He asked Bishop Wissa to receive the prize on behalf of him.
As Bishop Wissa did not attend the celebration also, the Freedom House chose a religiously- strict journalist called David Aikman to receive the prize. David Aikman worked as a diplomatic correspondent for The Times in Beijing and Moscow, before working as a freelance journalist. Aikman is now writing for the "American Viewer" magazine which is affiliated to the Christian-Jewish Alliance. He has written many articles against Egypt. One of these articles was published in March 1999 entitled " Man’s dangers in Egypt". It is known that the "American Viewer" magazine is financed by a millionaire called Richard Skef [Correct spelling? Name as it is transliterated from the Arabic text] who is also one of the financiers of the Freedom House. Aikman is also working in the Center for Public Policies and Ethics. This center makes studies about the level of conformity between Jewish and Christian ethics and public policies. This center is financed by a billionaire called Irving Moscow Wets [Correct spelling? Name as it is transliterated from the Arabic text] who buys the lands and houses of Arabs in Jerusalem and transfers them to Jews.
In his speech, David Aikman spoke about himself and made a link between the freedom of press and religious freedom.
Members of the Freedom House had invited many well-known personalities, whether from Egypt or outside Egypt. Some of those invited are trading with the issue of Coptic persecution. They distributed publications speaking about the raping of Coptic women, persecution, suppressing religious freedom, the Hamayouni law,..., etc. A young man was selling his book about Copts abroad for $20 and calling for printing a free, international edition of Watani newspaper in New York.
Maurice Sadeq was warmly welcomed during the celebration. Maurice Sadeq distributed similar publications with the addresses of the human rights centers in Shubra and Vernakes [Correct spelling? Name as it is transliterated from the Arabic text] where he lives now. Maurice Sadeq told me later that he intends to return to Egypt after the Coptic Christmas (which is on January 7).
Freedom House also invited Selim Naguib, a lawyer and the representative of the International Coptic Federation, and Shawky Karas, the head of the American Coptic Association. Both Selim Naguib and Shawky Karas delivered speeches during the celebration in which they concentrated on the conditions of the "Christian minority in Egypt".
In his speech, Selim Naguib called for stopping what he called procedures that prevent building and restoring churches in Egypt. He asked everyone to struggle to stop the torturing of Copts by the Egyptian police. He called for a fair representation of Copts in the parliament and all governmental authorities. Naguib concluded his speech saying "long live America, long live Egypt".
Shawky Karas said that the "New York Times" described the Coptic Church on September 9, 1981 as deep rooted and isolated. Today, the Egyptian Church is still deep-rooted but no longer isolated thanks to the efforts of the Freedom House, other Christian and Jewish organizations and members of the Congress.
"About one million Copts, who descend from a pharaonic origin, emigrated to the United States where they found freedom, security and justice," Shawky Karas mentioned.
The speech of Revd. Menes Abdel Nour, the head of Qasr Al-Doubara Protestant church, was more like a prayer. After the celebration I asked Revd. Menes Abdel Nour about an article published in Washington Times a few weeks ago in which he criticized what he called "the filthy activities of the Egyptian police".
"I did not say what the American journalist mentioned. I met the journalist this morning as she attended this celebration and she told me that she did not write these words but they were added by the newspaper. I am sorry but the disaster already took place and the article was published with this mistake," Revd. Menes Abdel Nour said. [Sources who do know Revd. Menes Abdel Nour will confirm Revd. Abdel Nour cannot have spoken about the ’filthy activities of the Egyptian police’. This is not the language he uses.]
Some people here tried to raise and make use of issues related to the conditions of Copts in Egypt. They tried to use the International Day for Human Rights to spread their claims about the persecution of Copts in Egypt. They even claimed that there is a campaign aiming at getting rid of Coptic priests especially in Upper Egypt. For them any incident is considered part of criminal plans that are not combated by the Egyptian government.
The Freedom House pretends to defend Copts, using Egyptians who work in the Freedom House, who belong to the Protestant Church, to provoke Copts abroad. There are also attempts to create a new crisis concerning the conditions of Protestants in Egypt who face Egyptian attempts to stop preaching the Protestant faith. There are also claims that Egyptian Muslims and Orthodox Copts are joining the Protestant faith!!
Comment: The RNSAW has asked Mr. David Aikman on December 22 to comment on this article in order to know if the statements made about him are correct or incorrect.
