Last week’s editorial referred to President Mubarak’s words that “ As Egyptian Muslims and Copts, we should allow nothing to come between us”. The words, intended to condemn discrimination between Muslims and Copts, actually served as a strong reminder of it. This discrimination is especially flagrant when it comes to the right of the members of each religion to build their respective places of worships. Whereas Muslims can build mosques unconditionally and at any time, the building of a church requires a presidential decree. Watani last week published on its front page a call by Dr Mustafa al Fiqi, head of the foreign relations committee at the People’s Assembly, in which he declared that “ citizenship rights are the basis of the relationship between the individual and the State. There should be no discrimination whatsoever between citizens on religious grounds. We hope to see a law that would stipulate a unified set of regulations for building all places of worship, and would thus put an end to the problems of building churches. We also hope to see a law that would abolish the declaration of the religious identity of citizens in their ID cards”.
It should be noted however that discrimination against Copts is not confined to building new churches, which, as mentioned, require presidential decrees, but extends to commonplace issues as the restoration and renovation of existing ones. Ironically, these repairs are treated by the State as sensitive issues, which require complicated, time- consuming approvals by the all- powerful security authorities. Thus, while Muslims may easily conduct any necessary repairs to a mosque, Copts are subjected to extreme humiliation and oppression in order to carry out similar works in their churches.
Until recently, the restoration or renovation of churches required a presidential decree. Among the most notorious of such cases was the presidential decree 157 of 1991, printedinto the “ Egyptian Official Paper” stipulating that: “ Orthodox Copts are authorized to restore the toilet and bakery of Mit Bera Church in Qouwisna, Menoufiya governorate, according to the attached drawing.” At that time, Antoun Sidhom wrote in Watani: “Must Copts undergo such extreme humiliation that they cannot restore a toilet without a presidential decree? I call upon President Mubarak to abolish such disgraceful legislation.”
President Mubarak did move to liberate the codes of restoration and renovation of churches. In 1998, presidential decree number 13 was issued entitling governors to the President’s rights in licensing restorations or renovations in churches. In February 1998, I commended the move in Watani, as a genuine national achievement that put an end to the deplorable state of affairs, which required a presidential seal of approval for such trivial matters as renovating a church’s toilet or fence.”
In December 1999, presidential decree number 453 was issued stipulating that – in accordance with law 106 of 1976- the restoration or renovation of all places of worships should be approved by the building authorities of each governorate. The decree achieved several general objectives. It considered, for the first time, churches and mosques on equal bases. The mere use of the term ‘ places of worships’ to indicate both churches and mosques alike, implied equality between them. The reference to law 106 of 1976 was vital, since this law stipulates that, should the building authorities have any reservation or objection regarding a given application for construction works, it should notify the applicant within 60 days. Otherwise, the application is considered automatically approved. For the first time, the restoration and renovation of churches were freed from the absolute, indefinitely- extended power of the security apparatus. It was a huge relief.
But we had laughed too soon. In May 2000, before the presidential decree in question was enforced, the governor of Assiut in Upper Egypt sent a “ secret and confidential” memorandum to the head of the local government of Assiut to the following effect. “Regarding presidential decree 453 of 1999, please refer all applications concerning churches (note the specification of churches alone) to the governorate for security approval prior to licensing restoration work, for the benefit of public interest, and the realization of the decreed objective.”
In July 2000, I wrote that Assiut governor’s memo emptied the presidential decree of its content, and returned the issue to the security authorities ’ control. The term “churches” instead of “ places of worship” stressed the differentiation between Muslims and Copts. I asked who could defend the presidential decree. Regrettably, nothing transpired and the contents of the memo were put into force from that time onwards. And worse still, a similar message was issued by Sohag governor in March 2001. The unhealthy ensuing climate of discrimination between Muslims and Copts has led to the persistence of wide spread feelings of oppression and humiliation by the Copts.
It may thus be argued that the President has done his bit and taken the initiative of issuing the required decisions to liberate the restoration and renovation churches. How can he be held responsible for the executive decisions decreed by governors- each in his own governorate- which hinder the execution of the presidential decrees? It should go without saying however that there are, within the presidential apparatus, departments in charge of following up the execution of presidential decrees in form and content. It, hence, stands to reason that such decrees can never be treated with indifference or negligence. Did not the president know what was going on? Did he know, but placed the issue on hold? Or did he know and condone it?
The discrimination between Muslims and Copts- regarding the renovation of their respective places of workshop – persists. In November 2004, presidential decree number 357 was issued stipulating that: “ Orthodox Copts are granted license to demolish and rebuild the main gate of St Dimiana Church in the city of Kafr al Sheikh.” This brought me to my wits end. Demolishing and rebuilding a gate are works of restoration and repair, which should not require a presidential decree. So how did the application to conduct them reach the President’s office, and how was the decree issued? Is it a negation of decree 453 pf 1999? And is there a similar retraction concerning mosques? Because if so, it would indeed be true that nothing comes between Egypt’s Muslims and Christians.
