Attack against the copts in Ezabit Wassaf,Egypt

My Christian Blood has the Story. It is all a bit hazy right now (link). I'll keep following it, but my work schedule is different this week so I'm not sure how fast I'll be able to have updates.

As of 10:40pm. I still have not been able to find independant verification of this story. But sometimes the news takes awhile in these cases.

House of Lords Debates Coptic Situation in Egypt

Free Copts has the story (link)

House of Lords

Monday, 8 May 2006.

The House met at half-past two of the clock: the LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.

Prayers—Read by the Lord Bishop of Chester

Egypt: Coptic Christians

Baroness Cox asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will make representations to the Government of Egypt about the recent attacks on Coptic Christians.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): My Lords, the Government share the noble Baroness's concern about recent incidents in Egypt. Following the events in Alexandria between 14 and 16 April, our embassy in Cairo discussed the matter with the Egyptian Government on 22 April. The Egyptian Government have confirmed that an investigation into the events is being conducted. Some arrests have been made.

Coptic Christians form a large minority in Egypt. Since the events in Alexandria, the Egyptian Government have publicly reaffirmed the importance that they attach to promoting tolerance and understanding between the Coptic and Muslim communities.

Baroness Cox: My Lords, I thank the Minister for that encouraging and sympathetic response. Is he aware that the attacks on the churches in Alexandria to which he referred were not isolated incidents but part of a trajectory of increasing violence and discrimination against Christian and other religious minorities in Egypt? Will Her Majesty's Government urge the Egyptian Government to ensure freedom of religious practice for all their citizens in accordance with their obligations as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Lord Triesman: My Lords, I can confirm the facts that the noble Baroness has mentioned. There were also attacks on 19 and 21 October last year. The Egyptian constitution states that all Egyptian citizens should be treated equally, regardless of religion. It is therefore important that provision is made for all Egyptian citizens to receive exactly equal treatment in all social and political respects, and we will of course urge that.

Lord Renton: My Lords, will the Government explain to the Egyptian Government that in this country we pride ourselves on being open-minded towards people of other religions and that we tolerate their existence here?

8 May 2006 : Column 682


Lord Triesman: My Lords, I hope that this country sets a good example for religious tolerance without any of us having to go round wagging our finger at others. However, in areas where the traditions and the history are different, we try to bring about the fullest engagement in human rights in religious matters, as in others, because we believe that there should be full equality of citizenship in that respect.

The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, is the Minister aware that Egyptian identity cards have a section on religion that is often used as a basis for discrimination? Not just Christians but the Baha'is and converts from Islam either find it difficult to register or, having done so, find that they are subject to discrimination as a result of that declaration. Will the Government urge the Egyptian Government to remove that section from their ID card, always assuming that the Government do not intend to introduce such a novelty here?

Lord Triesman: My Lords, the right reverend Prelate is right to point out that one impact of the new Egyptian identity card system is that citizens who are not Muslim, Christian or Jewish will not be entitled to an identity card and may therefore suffer from a lack of access to public services. For that reason, it is important that provision is made for all Egyptian citizens to receive an identity card. We urge that on the Egyptian Government. We have no plans for such a designation in the United Kingdom, and I take it that the point was made in jest.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: My Lords, although the attacks are deplorable, does my noble friend agree that the Egyptian Government have made some efforts with regard to the position of Coptic Christians? In the past two years, we have seen the elevation of Coptic Christians to positions of real influence in the Egyptian Government. I am thinking in particular of the finance minister—the counterpart of our own Chancellor of the Exchequer—who is a Coptic Christian.

Lord Triesman: My Lords, I confirm that, and I confirm that the Government of Egypt and the police have intervened when attacks have taken place. To add to the information that my noble friend has just provided, the president has the right to appoint 10 additional Members to Parliament and has recently used that power to appoint five more Coptic Christians, thus improving the overall ratio of Coptic Christians in the Egyptian Parliament.

Lord Howell of Guildford: My Lords, does the Minister agree that attacks on Christians for being Christians are deplorable anywhere—not only in Egypt but in any country where intolerance towards religious beliefs is shown? As my noble friend Lord Renton reminded us, we would take the same view about attacks on Muslims here for being followers of Islam. Will the Minister convey to the Egyptian Government, and, indeed, other Islamic

8 May 2006 : Column 683

governments, that if we are to see the treasured, co-operative and valued side of Islam—many people want to see the gentler side of it—their governments and the religious leaders of Islam should pay much more attention to preventing attacks on Christian people for being Christians anywhere in the world?

Lord Triesman: My Lords, I know that not just the Government but all opposition parties in your Lordships' House deplore attacks on people because of their religious beliefs; I take that as a given. The point is made widely, and it must concentrate our attention and resources on the outreach work between different religious communities that we can promote as a department and a government. That is very important. Mutual understanding comes as a result of a dialogue in which I suspect no religion should claim that it makes no attacks on members of other religions. Were that to be the case, we would be in a much better world.

Baroness Williams of Crosby: My Lords, the drift of the questioning suggests that there may be non-recognised forces that are making life hard for the Coptic Christians, who are a crucial part of Egypt's heritage. Given the extraordinary control that President Mubarak exercises over his country, is the Minister persuaded that the Government of Egypt are doing everything that they can not only to stop the attacks but to ensure that no private group of militia or other people mount attacks that are not then immediately stopped by the highly trained, very effective and tough Egyptian police?

Lord Triesman: My Lords, we have encouraged the Egyptian Government to ensure that they take every step to arrest the perpetrators of attacks and bring them to proper justice. There is some evidence that a big effort is being made to do that. For my part, I do not accept that it is wholly convincing that the most recent attacks were the acts of "one psychologically deranged individual". For those reasons, we must carry on pressing the point.

UN Peacekeepers Trade sex for food in Liberia

Here is a link to the story (link)

Some quotes:

Young girls in Liberia are still being sexually exploited by aid workers and peacekeepers despite pledges to stamp out such abuse, Save the Children says.

Girls as young as eight are being forced to have sex in exchange for food by workers for local and international agencies, according to its report.

The agency says such abuse is continuing as people displaced by the civil war return to their villages.

The UN in Liberia said it would investigate specific allegations.

The United Nations promised to put safeguards in place after sexual abuse in the refugee camps of West Africa was first revealed four years ago.

Four years. I remember this story and how the world was assured that the UN was going to take control of the situation. For the Save The Children report, it seems that this has not happened.


But a study by Save the Children, which involved speaking to more than 300 people in camps for people displaced by the war, found that abuse was still widespread.

The report said that all of the respondents clearly stated that more than half of the girls in their locations were affected.

Girls from the age of eight to 18 years were being sold for sex, "commonly referred to as 'man business'," the report noted.

So, Girls as young as eight are being forced to do these things for the basic human need of food. Human dignity is being abused by the people sent to Liberia to provide the world's support during a horrible crisis.

One 20-year-old woman told the BBC that she had been forced to have sex with a worker for the World Food Programme (WFP).

"This young man had been doing it to most of my friends. And the children too don't have strong minds. They will have sex with him to get the food," Konah Brown said.

But government officials and teachers are also contributing to the abuse, Save the Children says.

Teachers have demanded sex in lieu of school fees, or even just to give good grades, the report found.

From the story, and others, it is obvious that this is not just a problem with the UN. This has been a practice in the area for a long time. Those in power taking advantage of the poor and suffering.

Gateway Pundit has a post (link)

Andrea Clark Passes Away

This happened over the weekend. Here is a letter from Andrea's Sister that is posted at Pro-Life Blogs (link).

Andrea passed away peacefully a little before 3pm today, with her family and her friends at her bedside. We love her so very much and we are going to miss her terribly. We hope that the battle that we fought for our sister will bring to light and bear witness to the horrible acts committed in the name of ethics in hospitals across the state of Texas.

The fact that we had to fight this battle is both frightening and a sad commentary on the so-called "ethics" now being practiced in medical facilities in this state. The battle for life is a difficult one, in the best of situations, but when a family is put through what we had to go through at such a time, it is especially agonizing.

We wish so much that we could have spent more time at our sister's side, when she was living and fighting for her life, rather than having to visit our attorney's office, give interviews to radio and television stations to let the public know of the atrocity about to befall Andrea, and literally stand outside the hospital and beg them not to kill our sister. In attempting to deprive Andrea of the most basic of her human rights--life--St. Luke's Hospital managed to deprive her family and her of that which is most dear to us all, when we are faced with the death of a loved one: a proper goodbye.

How, in the name of God, anyone can call putting someone to death when they are at their most helpless and begging for their lives "ethical," we cannot imagine.

Melanie Childers

Because people cared a family was given the time to be together and be with each other. A family knows that they did all they could for the life of one they love. May they be in our prayers.

And for Andrea:

Eternal rest grant unto Andrea Clark O' Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed rest with You forever.

Blogger Alaa and others arrested in Egypt: How we can help

Freedom for Egyptians (link) has the story and many links to the Egyptian Blogsphere in her site.

All involved are in my prayers

5/8/06

Sandmonkey has an update and info on how to help (link)

Freedom for Egyptians has an update: "Reporters without Borders" Promises to Help Alaa (link)

She also has Human Rights Watch Responds to Egypt's Regime Mass Detentions (link)

Sandmonkey also has the latest on protests to free Alaa and the others taking place in the US. (link)


5/9/06

Sandmonkey has upadates:

A Really Good Suggestion (link)

Alaa Banners (link)

Arab Bloggers Join the Fight (link)

Help Us Free Alaa (link)

5/10/06

Sandmonkey has the link for an online petition (link)

Also the Free Alaa Bloglink)

Also the (link)


5/11/06

Sandmonkey has the story about Alaa getting a blog post out from prison (link)

Here is the post itself (link)

5/12/06

Freedom for Egyptians has an excellent roundup of news (link)

5/15/06

Sandmonkey has a post on peaceful demonstrations in England (link)

5/21/05

Free Alaa Blog (link) is a source of updates. Please go there for the latest news and ways to help.

U.S senate cuts aid to Egypt over democracy

I'll repost the whole article:


Senate slashes Egypt aid
The U.S. Senate slashed 10 percent of domestic assistance to Egypt.

The $47 million cut was passed Wednesday in a little-noticed voice vote on an amendment to a foreign operations appropriation that allocated $35 million to famine assistance in Africa and $12 million for disaster relief in the United States, Guatemala and Pakistan. The total was drawn from the domestic aid package to Egypt.

A number of legislators want to cut assistance to Egypt because of its failure to introduce promised democratic reforms. The Bush administration opposes the cuts, noting Egypt’s role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and a Bush ally in the U.S. House of Representatives said he would restore the assistance when the foreign operations bill goes to conference.

“Egypt is a strategic ally. We shouldn’t be doing something like this right now,” Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz), chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee, told National Journal. Egypt gets $1.3 billion in military aid and just under $500 million in domestic assistance stemming from its 1978 peace accord with Israel.

I have to think that the recent preaceful protests in the United States are having an effect. This is the first real recognition international recognition that there are problems in Egypt. Rep. Kolbe's comment shows the desire to put political positioning over human rights. But obviously enough Republican and Democrats joined together to make the cut. There is still opposition and Rep. Kolbe wants to put the aid back.

Cutting aid generally impacts the poorest people, so we'll see how this goes. But the message is starting to be sent that this Status Quo of limited freedom is not acceptable.

A photo for a bit of Beauty today

Toady is the main due date (a mountain of books come back) for the library here at Penn State. It is the busiest day of the year for a few of our departments (mine being one). I thought a nice photo with a bit of beauty and a hint fo God's promise of enduring love would be nice.

By prayers and love to all students at all colleges taking exams and finishing their undergraduate studies.

The photo came from Sandmonkeys blog and the original photos are here (link).

Actions of the US The Congressional Commission on International Religious Freedom

I'll repost the article from Asianews:


Washington (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Congressional Commission on International Religious Freedom urged the US government to take “aggressive action” against Saudi Arabia for alleged violations to religious freedom. The congressional body urged Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to keep Saudi Arabia, as well as China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan and Vietnam, on the annual government blacklist of “severe religious freedom violators” six of which are in Asia. In addition, it also proposed that Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan be added to the list.

Commission chairman Michael Cromartie indicated that conditions for religious freedom in Saudi Arabia had not substantially improved since it was blacklisted two years ago.

Washington had granted a “temporary 180-day waiver of further action” against Saudi Arabia to allow for continued talks with the ally over religious reforms, which expired in late March.

Freedom of religion “does not exist” in the oil-rich kingdom, Mr Cromartie said. And the US government “must not hesitate in taking aggressive action” against the country, he said, suggesting travel restrictions on Saudi officials as well as export curbs.

Afghanistan, which under the Talibans was a particularly gross violator of religious freedom, was added to the commission’s “watch list” along with Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria, despite the fact that a court last month demanded that a Muslim who converted to Christianity be sentenced to death under Sharia law.


Here is a link to the website of the Commission (link)

From what I can tell there are three levels:

Watchlist-Just watching

Particular Concern-Possible Sanctions

Blacklist-Sanctions that may include travel restrictions officials as well as export curbs on items that could be used to perpetrate rights violations.

In unusal hard offical language they said:

On Saudi Arabia, the commission said "freedom of religion does not exist" and that the Saudis financed "extreme religious intolerance and hatred."

When the full annual report is released to the public it will contain:

recommendations on U.S. policy for the President, Secretary of State, and Congress for CPCs and countries where the United States can help to promote freedom of religion or belief.


The Peaceful protests for Coptic rights came as this report was being prepared. And it does contain the phrase:

In Egypt, ''discrimination, intolerance and other human rights violations affect a broad spectrum of religious groups,'' including Coptic Christians, Bahais, Jews and members of minority Muslim communities. (link)

May the peaceful search for love and tolerance bear fruit.