[This text has been seen and approved prior to publication by H.G. Bishop Marcos]
Bishop Marcos of Shoubra el-Kheima reported that President Mubarak granted him a permit on March 1 to build a church at the expense of the Egyptian government. The bishop explained that he received a letter on March 1 from the Engineering Department of the Municipal Office [in Arabic: hay] of the district of West Shoubra al-Kheima asking him for the drawings for a building, to go the same site as the demolished building, in order "to meet the necessary requirements." The letter does not mention why these requirements needed to be met but, said Bishop Marcos, Salah Salama, Director of the Central Security (Mabahes Amm el-Dawla) in the Ministry of Interior, told the bishop orally this was needed for the permission to obtain a permit to build a church. The Bishop sent the president, the same day, (March 1) a letter thanking him for the permit. H.H. Pope Shenouda followed with a letter on March 2. "On that day we announced to all churches in Shubra el-Kheima that a church would be built at the expense of the government."
The reported permission came after the US Copts Association organized an international protest against the demolition of a building belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church on February 24.
On February 26, the bishop reported that on February 24 five groups of policemen, each accompanied by an officer, destroyed a building belonging to the bishopric of Shoubra el-Kheima with the help of three bulldozers. The bishop prepared a report for H.H. Pope Shenouda which, however, was discovered the US Copts Association who prepared the same day a press release and distributed this worldwide. The report of the bishop was also placed on their website (www.copts.com). Bishop Marcos says he does not know how the Association got a copy of his report but once it was public knowledge he was willing to respond to questions.
The news release of the U.S. Copts Association carried the title "Egyptian Police destroys a Coptic Church and hospitalizes its priest, after local bishop asks for permission to hold prayers."
The three story building with a beginning of a fourth floor was, however, not known in the area to be a church. A Christian belonging to Bishop Marcos’ diocese, Naguib Gabriel, had bought the land, with a one floor building, in his own name in 1998 and continued completing it with the intention to use this building later for prayers and charitable work of the church.
Bishop Marcos pointed out that the contract of Naguib Gabriel not only mentioned the land but also the building. It is a common practice that individual Christians buy property which is later used for the church. This is especially done in situations where the church knows it will be difficult to obtain a permit. It is hoped that if an individual buys property there will not be immediate suspicions it later will be used for the church.
It was no wonder this procedure was used for this building because it was located in a shanty town which was built in violation with the existing laws upon agricultural land. Some lawyers had told the bishop that the government had made a decision in 1996 that any buildings built after this year in this area would be demolished. He thus made sure he bought an existing building through Naguib Gabriel.
Many of the shanty towns of greater Cairo are built in unlicensed locations. Individuals build and often receive, after many houses have been built in a specific area, the necessary electricity, water and sanitary connections from government agencies which is seen as a de facto license. The building belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church was connected to the electricity circuit on October 1 2000, which was registered on the name of Bishop Marcos. These are all common steps in the process to obtain a legal status for a building. The bishop used this way but so did tens of thousands of house owners before him.
A day after the press release was distributed bishop Marcos met with the responsible governor Adli Hussein of Qalyubiya. The bishop reported on February 27 to the RNSAW "I discussed the destruction of the church building today with the governor. He gave the instructions for the destruction. He said the building was without a license. I responded that all buildings are without a license in this area. "Then I’ll remove those buildings as well" the governor said. I responded that these are 30.000 buildings. None of them have a license, I said."
Father Bola was in the building when the police started to destroy the building. He refused to leave the building and was later hospitalized for treatment of "emotional shock and distress." Bishop Marcos did not mention anything of serious physical wounds.
The bishop had started building without a permit because he knew in advance he would not be able to get a permit in an area where all building activities were illegal. He therefore decided to do the same as thousands of others did in the same area: building without a permit. He found it necessary to take this risk because there are 14.000 poor Christian families living in this area who needed a center to serve their needs.
Bishop Marcos was, on February 19, informed by people working in the municipal office [hay] that a decision had been made to remove the building. He responded immediately by sending a letter to the Ministry of Interior requesting a permit to open the building to be used for Sunday school classes, daycare, medical facility as well as a church. Five days after the bishop sent his letter requesting permission for the building, the police demolished the building while other equally illegally built buildings in the area were not or hardly touched.
The press release stated that "this aggression by the Egyptian police is an example of what takes place from church to church in Egypt during the application of the Hamayouni Decree, which prohibits Christians from building a church without getting permission from President Mubarak himself."
But tens of churches have been built in the past years without government permission and without problems. Other church have obtained a permit for either building or repair. The Egypt Country Report on Human Rights Practices -2000, released by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in February 2001 states that "the Government issued 29 permits for church-related construction in the year 2000, including 4 permits for the construction of new churches, 19 permits for churches previously constructed without authorization, and 6 permits for the demolition and reconstruction of existing churches. In addition, the Government reported that local authorities issued more than 350 permits for church-related repairs during the year."
Permits are given but obtaining a permit is certainly not easy. It is a road full of bureaucratic obstacles but it is also not impossible as bishop Marcos experienced when he applied for a permit and obtained a permit for another church service center in Shoubra al-Kheima.
It is also not possible to suspect the governor, Adli Hussein, of anti-Christian sympathies. I was in March 2000 present when the governor opened a new building of the Christian conference center Bethel Emmanuel in Qalyub. The governor praised this Christian work and spoke about the important role Christians played in the history of Egypt. He also said Egypt can be proud on what Christians have done for their country [Reformatorisch Dagblad, March 1, 2000, p.2].
Yet, Michael Meunier, president of the US Copts Association, reported on February 28 that the incident is "a very good and clear message to ALL of our Coptic Bishops" that being politically correct won’t help. "Bishop Marcos told me that he was outside of Egypt when this incident took place, visiting Palestine. In fact, he was representing Egypt in a convention held to show the support for the rights of the Palestinians. In addition, bishop Marcos had just made a press statement on Thursday to the Middle East Newspaper during which he stated that the Coptic church refuses any outside intervention in the Coptic issue. I believe the Bishop Marcos I talked to yesterday on the phone did not sound like the bishop Marcos of last week.
The message from the Egyptian government is very clear; they are not going to care or honor any positions the church, or our bishops take. The government will use and abuse all the good intentions our church has. They are not going to care which bishop this church belongs to and what his position on the issues is. They are going to destroy our churches one by one until there is none standing.
The key here is for our bishops and our church to UNITE and stand up and say enough is enough and before we look for human rights for the Palestinians abroad, let us get them at home first."
Michael Meunier connects bishop Marcos’ stand on the Palestinian issue, which is made clear through a photo in his bishopric on which the bishop poses with Yassir Arrafat, with the destruction of the building. Bishop Marcos, however, says that his advocacy for Palestinian rights and obtaining permits are not related. Bishop Marcos obtained a permit in one case and lost an unlicensed building on February 24.
The press release and statement of Meunier did not miss its effect on the Copts abroad. Dr. Ramsis Salama, Perth, Australia, wrote on February 26 in the Copts Daily Digest "The destruction of the church and Coptic property by the Egyptian Police in Shubra Elkheyma is the best evidence of the Egyptian Government policy of discrimination. This is very clearly a well-planned conspiracy by the Egyptian Government first to destroy the Coptic Church, and second to inflame the Muslim population in one of the most sensitive areas in Egypt against the Copts by keeping the residents from approaching their homes."
Rev. Fr. Demetrios Serfes from Boise, Idaho, USA, wrote on February 26 "Those who created this destruction of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and the wounding of the priest Father Bola, must realize the word would of had reached us sooner of later." And "Let us spiritually during these Holy Great Lenten days pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, and pray for those who are currently going through a most difficult time and in pain through the acts of unjustified actions towards those who love God, and love all!"
A day later the Word Center for Human Rights of Mamdouh Nahla published a statement calling the police acts "barbaric" and wrote that the building was not properly licensed an "excuse."
On February 28 the State Information Service issued the following release in response to the press release of the US Copts Association:
To the international Coptic Association site,
We have read, on your Internet site, a press release which referred wrongly to "a demolition of a church in Shubra Al-Kheima district". For the sake of accuracy, we believe it is of great importance to convey the facts as they emerged and to avoid relying on information sources which may be shadowy or bent on just spreading rumors that intentionally twist the facts.
Competent informed sources have assured us that the governor of Qalyubia has recently issued decrees to demolish 18 illegal buildings in Begam area, Shubra al-Kheima which were constructed randomly and without licenses stipulated by the law.
On February 24 - 25, 2001 , concerned authorities executed 12 of those issued decrees, while the other remaining 6 are to be carried out soon.
Let us emphasize, once again, that those buildings were constructed without acquired necessary permits. All those buildings are owned by Muslims, except for one that is owned by Mr. Naguib Gabrael, a Christian Copt.
However, acolytes of Coptic Orthodox Virgin Mary Church, in collaboration with the Bishopric of Shubra Al-Kheima, have intentionally escalated the matter. They alleged that the concerned building is annexed to the mentioned Church and is owned by Bishop Morkous of Shubra Al-Kheima. In fact, this is a sheer false allegation that is groundless and completely void of any truth. Again, no documents could substantiate this claim.
Egypt State Information Service
Meunier wrote in response to the members of the Copts Daily Digest:
"Dear Members, I received the following response to the press release issued by US Copts
and listed on our web site (Copts.com) from the Egyptian State Information Service. Normally, I would not care to read or even publish such a response, however, I wanted all of you to notice the twisting of facts in their response. This is the kind of response they always give to any foreign governments inquiring about the Coptic issue.
It is also clear that they are trying to say that Bishop Marcos was not telling the truth and tried to escalate the matters. This is the same thing they said about H.G. Bishop Wissa. Anyone who stands up to them, is not truthful and have hidden agenda, etc..."
Naturally the Coptic protests continued. S.I. Wrote on February 28 "Copts are persecuted, people are murdered, killers released, churches destroyed, and you [in a statement directed to the Egyptian government] say we are living in peace and we are equal!!!!"
Father Abdel Massih Abul Kheir, priest of the church of the Holy Virgin in Mostorod in the diocese of bishop Marcos, wrote on March 1 that the president decided that day to rebuild the Anba Bola building on the account of the government. Michael Meunier responded it marks "the FIRST time president Mubarak acted so fast regarding ANYTHING that has to do with the Copts."
Meunier also writes "While it seems that the government listened this time to the voice of reasoning, we hope that this will be the norm and the president will issue a new decree relinquishing the need for his own signature to build new churches. There is a long list of things needs for the Copts of Egypt that the Egyptian government can and should act on as promptly as they did yesterday."
Many Copts believe the international pressure which Meunier euphemistically called ’the voice of reasoning’ has resulted in the sudden decision of President Mubarak who is planning to visit the US in April and who, of course, does not want to be questioned about this issue at a time when he needs US support for Egypt’s economy.
One often hears Coptic voices in Egypt and abroad saying that the aftermath of the international attention for Al-Kosheh is a suitable time to press the Egyptian government on concessions for the church. On top of this comes the president’s planned visit, on April 2, to the US and the visit of a delegation of the Congress to Egypt on March 19, which made the government extra vulnerable to this pressure. The question is however what effect this pressure will have for long term relations with the government. It certainly will not make them cooperative on other issues which may be important for the church. Bishop Marcos responded: "that is why we continuously stress that we don’t want foreign interference in Egypt. We Egyptians can solve our own issues without outside interference."
العربية