Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Sectarian sedition threatened the Buhayrah governorate over the intended take over of a church belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church. A Muslim chancellor [Muhammad Luṭfī Muṣṭafá Kāmil] promoted a lawsuit against the Greek Orthodox Church in the Egyptian Delta town of Rashīd, claiming that the church served as a stable that he bought from the patriarch of the Greek Church through an initial contract dated March 5, 1990.

Another lawsuit number 579 was filed in 2006 by a dentist, Alfonse Mīkhā’īl Sa‘d, in the name of 600 Coptic villagers against chancellor Muhammad Lutfī Muṣṭafá Kāmil who works in Cairo and resides in Rashīd.

The chancellor claims that he purchased the church. Consequently, he is persecuting the shop owners on the same estate as the church [Reviewer: The church owns a large area of land, but the building itself takes up a minimal portion of the estate. The remaining land on the estate has been invested in by shop owners]. The chancellor broke the church’s door and hung notices on the walls saying that the church was his.

The lawsuit filed by the Coptic dentist noted that the aforementioned chancellor, who worked in the Court of Appeals, abused the judicial authorization of the former patriarch of Greek Orthodox who was killed in an airplane crash in 2004. According to this authorization afforded to him, he sold the church to himself with a primitive sale contract that he could not legally certify as his unauthorized acts would thus have been revealed.

On the other hand, the land survey map of the village drawn up in 1946 proves that the estate is indeed a church. Sa‘d’s lawsuit refers to article 87 of the civil law which asserts that the estate on which the church and the shops are built is public property, meaning that that they belong to the state or the Greek Orthodox Church. Moreover, a Fatwá issued by the State Council prohibits selling or buying houses of worship. As a result of this, the chancellor’s allegations are annulled.

Coptic villagers were furious about the matter, and declared that they were ready to sacrifice their lives on the door of the church before letting anyone assume control of it. It is noteworthy to mention that the chancellor is employing vandals and former convicts to take over the church.