Egyptian human rights activists criticize the authorities' idleness

The "National Council for Human Rights" in Egypt accuses the Ministry of the Interior in Cairo of having contributed to the bout of violence between Muslims and Copts in early April, because the security forces failed to take action. This was reported by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) in Göttingen on Friday. The number of people killed in the violent clashes of April 5th to 7th, 2013, has now reached nine, after the death of a passerby. Seven people – including four Copts – got killed in the fighting that took place in the village of Khosous on April 5. Later on, two Copts got killed when a funeral procession in Cairo was attacked.

"The security forces must increase their presence in the villages and neighborhoods of the Copts and the Muslims urgently. Given the current tensions, even a false rumor can be enough to start off deadly clashes," said the STP's Africa-expert Ulrich Delius. According to the critical report which was published by the Egyptian Human Rights Council on Thursday, the pastor of the church in Khosous had claimed that all the other churches in the area had been burnt down by bearded Islamists.

Arrest warrants have now been issued against 32 alleged accomplices. Two children, who had started the dispute by painting graffiti on the wall of a centre for Islamic studies in Al-Azhar Khosous, have now been released. They will not be prosecuted, because they claimed that they had not really thought about their graffiti and had never wanted to harm anybody.

The deadly clashes also caused hot debates and recriminations within the Shura Council, the upper house of the Egyptian Parliament. Coptic members of parliament were furious when Islamist representatives had presented a video recording to the council, implying that the Copts were to blame for the increasing tensions. The video showed young Copts throwing stones at policemen from the roof St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo. The Coptic MPs accused the Islamists and the spokesmen of the Interior Ministry of trying to spread false accusations and of manipulating the public opinion. They also demanded another video recording to be presented – showing police snipers who were shooting at the protesters.