As Egypt closes 2012 with the approval of a new constitution, Ashraf Khalil reflects on a tumultuous year, and looks ahead to an uncertain future (more…)
A 27 year-old Egyptian blogger has been released on bail pending an appeal of his 12 December conviction for blasphemy and contempt of religion. He was sentenced to three years in jail.
A Coptic Christian turned atheist, Alber Saber was arrested at his home three months ago after neighbours accused him of circulating the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims on his Facebook page. Although Saber denied the charge — and the prosecutor did not produce any evidence to support that claim — he was convicted and kept behind bars in a tiny cell at Cairo’s Tora prison until his release on Monday.
Center for Inquiry Campaign for Free Expression
Saber ran an atheist group on Facebook and the prosecution is based on comparative religion material found on his bookshelf and statements critical of Islam found on his computer. Atheists do not get an easy ride in Egypt.
Looking haggard after his ordeal, in an interview with Index on Sunday he remained defiant saying “no price is too high for freedom.” We talked while Saber was in the Fifth Settlement Court signing papers to appeal his case. He was handcuffed but was in high spirits after learning that he would be released the following day. He was accompanied by his mother, Kariman Messiah and his lawyer Ahmed Ezzat from the Association for Free Thought and Expression.
Saber unzipped his high collar white track suit to show me a brown scar on his throat. “Inmates at El Marg prison where I was first taken after my arrest stabbed me in the throat after the prison guard told them I had insulted Islam,” he recounted, “I’m lucky I’m still alive.”
Ezzat said the case does not auger well for free expression in Egypt under President Mohamed Morsi’s Islamist rule. A draft constitution being put to a popular vote limits religious freedom to followers of the three Abrahamic faiths: Muslims, Christians and Jews. “[R]eligious practices are allowed as long as they do not disturb public order” and the document bans “insulting prophets” — a prohibition that analysts say “will open the door to arrests of bloggers and activists.” Islamists say that a majority yes-vote would usher in stability while opposition groups believe that it will plunge the country into a deeper political crisis.
Saber’s biggest regret is that he was not be able to vote “No” on the consitution he suspects will consolidate power for the Muslim Brotherhood. The first round of the referendum on the draft constitution was held on Saturday while Saber was still behind bars. He says:
I was jailed because we live in a theocracy. The ‘Islamist’ constitution will limit creativity and freedom of expression further
Saber and other sceptics fear that Egypt’s minority Christians — who make up 10 to 12 per cent of the population — will become more of a target as Egypt grows more conservative post-revolution. On 9 October last year, Coptic Christians peacefully demonstrating against the destruction of churches outside of Egypt’s state television complex, Maspero, were brutally attacked by security forces, resulting in the deaths of 27 protesters. In July this year, the Coptic community of Dahshur, a village south of Cairo, were forced to flee after a rise in sectarian tensions.
“Why is Abu Islam a free man? He has not been imprisoned but my son has,” argues Kariman Messiah, Alber’s mother wearing a black “Free Alber Saber” T-shirt. Abu Islam, a radical Muslim cleric is currently on trial for burning the Bible during a 14 September rally protesting the Innocence of Muslims.
Messiah also raised the cases of Bishoy Kamel, a Coptic Christian school teacher from the southern city of Sohag who was sentenced to six years in prison last September for posting cartoons online deemed offensive to Islam and for insulting President Morsi and that of two Coptic children aged 9 and 10 who have been detained on blasphemy charges.
Messiah believes her son was jailed on what she called “trumped-up charges” as a result of his political activism. “In January 2012, state security officers paid us a dawn visit and ransacked our home,” she said, tearing up.
While mother and son were unable to return to their home in Marg for fear that Saber would face further intimidation, Messiah said that “all that matters now is that he is free and will be able to pursue his studies at the Academy.”
For Saber, a Computer Science student now in his final year, the future is uncertain but he vows to continue his free speech activism, no matter how high the stakes.
Shahira Amin is an Egyptian journalist and broadcaster
The ideological battle for Egypt’s soul has intensified in recent weeks. Rising tensions threaten to polarise a country wracked by deep divisions over the role Islam will play in the “new” Egypt. Many of the revolutionary activists who participated in the January 2011 mass uprising envisioned the new Egypt as a secular, civil state. These hopes were dashed by Islamist victories in the post-revolution parliamentary and presidential elections. Islamists won about two-thirds of 508 seats in the parliamentary election at the end of last year — the Muslim Brotherhood won 38 per cent of seats, and the Salafist Al Nour party secured 29 per cent. As an Islamist-dominated assembly debates the country’s new constitution — a charter that will shape Egypt’s future — liberals fear that Egypt may evolve into an Iranian-style theocracy.
— Egyptian Salafists filled Tahrir Square earlier this month to demand that Sharia law be enshrined in the country’s constitution (Demotix)
Thousands of protesters filled Tahrir Square on 8 November to demand that Islamic Sharia law be enshrined in Egypt’s new constitution. Sharia has been the subject of heated debate among members of the panel engaged in drafting the constitution. Liberals favour preserving the wording of the 1971 Constitution which states that “the principles of Sharia are the basis of all legislation”. Hardline Islamists are demanding the wording be changed to declare that “the rulings of Sharia” law serve as the source of legislation. This more stringent interpretation of Islamic law would include implementing Hudood laws — a set of punishments under Islam’s Penal Law that include punishing theft by cutting off a hand, stonings for adultery, and death for apostates (former Muslims who reject the faith).
The inflexibility of Islamist members on the Constituent Assembly over this issue led liberal rights activist Manal El Tibi to resign from the assembly in September.
As the 12 December deadline for the document approaches, thirty liberal members of the 100-member assembly have quit in protest, complaining that their voices were being ignored by Islamist members determined to use the constitution to turn Egypt into an Islamic state. Representatives from Egypt’s churches also withdrew from the panel on Saturday, rejecting the idea of a “religious state”.
Salafists have wrangled with liberal assembly members over other articles of the draft charter, namely those on the role of Islamic institution Al Azhar (Liberals want to establish the 1,000-year-old Sunni institution as the only authority allowed to interpret Sharia), on women’s rights, and civil and religious freedoms. Liberals are concerned that a strict interpretation of Sharia may usher in restrictive policies for women, such as the imposition of an Islamic dress code, and forced segregation between men and women in public.
— Egyptian woman in Tahrir Square carries sign saying “our rights, now” during marches for women’s rights in Cairo’s Tahrir Square last year (Demotix)
Liberals hoped to eliminate all forms of gender-based discrimination in the new charter, but activist Ziad Ali says that the new charter “is a dismal compromise, which is no better than the previous (1971) constitution.” The draft constitution makes a patronising promise to “help women strike a balance between their family duties and their work in society”, — a pledge slammed by rights activists as “discriminatory” as it would make women second-class citizens.
While women’s rights have been the bone of contention in the constitutional debate, religious freedom too has been at the centre of the controversy. Article 8 on freedom of belief has been revised to read: “Freedom of belief is absolute and religious rights are to be practised if they do not disturb public order”. The added provision, “if they do not disturb public order”, has worried secularists who describe it as “restrictive”. The previous constitution simply stipulated that “the state shall guarantee the freedom of belief and the freedom of practice of religious rites”.
The draft constitution only recognises three religions — Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. According to Article 8, “The state shall ensure freedom to establish places of worship for adherents of Abrahamic religions in accordance with the law.” Adherents to non-Abrahamic faiths will be denied the right to build places of worship.
— Egyptian secularists rallied in Tahrir Square in October to protest against Islamist control of the country’s new constitution (Demotix)
Especially worrying are anti-blasphemy laws outlined in draft articles 40 and 38, which prohibit the “defamation of messengers and prophets”, without specifying what could be classed as “defamation”. The vague definition leaves room for wide interpretation of the law. The draft charter also does not outline what counts as “blasphemous”, making it unclear what would be punishable by law. “With no clear definitions, such laws may potentially threaten and restrict free speech”, complains Mona Makram Obeid, a liberal former MP.
While the draft constitution falls short in the realms of religious freedoms and women’s rights, it makes sizeable progress when it comes to press freedom. The draft includes draft articles safeguarding freedom of thought and expression — and if it is endorsed by a popular referendum next month — it would also protect the right of journalists to work freely through a ban on jail terms for publication offences. It would also allow for new media organisations to launch without restrictions.
While allowing more room for press freedom, the draft charter severely restricts freedoms in many realms, and its vague and ambiguous language opens the door to potentially harmful interpretations — making it a disappointment for some of the pro-reform activists who led last year’s protests in Tahrir Square.
“The Islamists have stolen the revolution. The new constitution is a far cry from the progressive, tolerant state that we had aspired to create”, says revolutionary activist Hazem Mahmoud, who works for the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
Whether or not the new Egypt with fit Mahmoud’s description, or become an Islamic state depends on who emerges as the stronger force in the constitutional battle: the ultra-conservative Islamists, or secular, liberal and pluralistic forces.
Journalist Shahira Amin resigned from her post as deputy head of state-run Nile TV in February 2011. Read why she resigned from the “propaganda machine” here.
Maher El Gohary is a broken and defeated man who has grown tired of life on the run. After a four-year battle to have the Egyptian state recognise his Christian faith, he is seriously contemplating reverting to Islam.
“I am seen as an outcast and have lost everything: my family, my home, my dignity and my inheritance,” he laments.
Maher El-Gohary and daughter Dina in hiding during 2010 (Photo: Compass)
For Maher and his daughter Dina, life has become “practically intolerable”. A former Muslim who converted to Christianity 30 years ago, Maher publicly announced their change of faith in 2008 when he filed a lawsuit against the Mubarak government hoping to gain the right to change the religious status on his national identification card from Islam to Christianity. He was only the second citizen to attempt to get the state to recognise his changed faith.
The change would have allowed Dina to receive a Christian religious education. But public declaration of faith-change from Islam — apostasy — is taboo in conservative Muslim-majority Egypt and Maher and Dina (who was 14 at the time) were forced to go into hiding after receiving death threats from extremists.
To this day, Maher has not won the right to officially convert. He and Dina have faced violence, humiliation and hostility for his effort. In Alexandria on Friday, Maher told Index:
We’ve been spat at, cursed and assaulted on the street many times and have been snubbed by all our relatives, neighbours and friends
In a 2009 hearing of his case, opposing lawyers urged the judge to convict him of apostasy and sentence him to death. They argued that Islam was “the highest ranking religion so followers of the faith could not convert to a lesser or inferior religion”. One lawyer claimed that cases like Maher’s were part of a Zionist conspiracy against Islam, warning that Copts (Egypt’s Christians) who protect and defend converts from Islam were doing so “at their own risk”. Maher got little support from within the Coptic community who fear retaliation. In order to get a baptismal certificate —required for official proof of conversion — Maher had to travel to Cyprus.
When I first met Maher and Dina in Abu Kir (a village on the Mediterranean Coast of Egypt) in 2010, they were living as fugitives. They’d spent the previous two years moving into a different apartment at least once a month to throw extremists and police off their trail. Then their goal was to flee the country to settle in “a more tolerant society” where they would be allowed to practise their religion freely and without fear.
Maher felt he had no choice but to seek political asylum abroad. It wasn’t an easy decision but he feared for their safety. “A man threw acid at Dina and she miraculously escaped physical harm. We also faced systemic prejudice on a daily basis and spent several days in detention after being arrested in Port Saeed,” Maher recalled.
Maher’s two brothers, who both worked for Egypt’s notorious State Security Service, also made sure he remained unemployed by threatening and intimidating anyone who hired him. In 2009, Maher and Dina attempted to leave Egypt for China, but Egyptian authorities prevented them from travelling. An hour before their scheduled departure, airport security officers confiscated their passports and notified the pair that they were “barred from travelling on orders from a higher authority”.
When Egypt’s January 2011 uprising broke out, Maher and Dina joined the protesters in Tahrir Square, hoping that the revolt would usher in greater freedoms and justice for all Egyptians.
Dina and I had long suffered state persecution for our beliefs. It was only natural that we would be among those revolting against the brutal regime.
Maher’s eyes swelled with tears as he spoke of the hope and promise the revolution had brought. Their hopes have been dashed.
Less than two weeks after Mubarak was toppled, Maher and Dina boarded a Damascus-bound plane and left Egypt. They chose to go to Syria as Egyptians require no visa to enter the country. After spending two-and-a-half years in hiding, they were finally free and wept with joy as the plane took off. “The revolution was nothing short of a miracle,” said Maher, adding, “for us in particular, it was a blessing.”
He and Dina were soon to discover that life as refugees in a foreign land was no easier than their lives as fugitives. With the help of United Nations, after two months in Syria, they were granted political asylum in Sweden. But unable to speak the language and unaccustomed to the cold, Maher and his daughter felt as alienated as they had felt in Egypt — albeit without the fear. They began to feel terribly homesick.
“Orthodox clerics we encountered were neither hospitable nor accommodating,” Maher lamented. “Their antagonism added to our feelings of estrangement.” After failing to adapt to the new environment, Maher and Dina took the bold decision to return to Egypt to face an uncertain fate.
Nearly two years after the revolution, Egypt’s Christians fear things may be worse for them in the “new Egypt” than they were under the Mubarak regime. The Islamists’ rise to power — and a new constitution currently being written by an Islamist-dominated constituent panel — has fuelled Christians’ concerns that their safety may be compromised and their freedom restricted under Islamist rule.
Under Mubarak, Egypt’s constitution ostensibly provided for freedom of belief and the practice of religious rites. But the regime placed heavy restrictions on these rights. Christians (who make up an estimated 12 to 15 per cent of the population) and members of the Bahá’í Faith (not recognised by the state ) complained of discrimination, especially in government employment. Christians were unable to build or renovate churches without a presidential decree and, according to the 2011 US State Department’s International Report on Religious Freedoms, the government arrested, detained and harassed converts to Christianity, alleging they jeopardised communal harmony.
9 October 2011. A funeral for one of the 27 Coptic protesters killed in the Maspero massacre (Demotix)
Despite promises by Islamist President Mohamed Morsi for a new “inclusive Egypt” where all citizens enjoy equal rights, Egyptian Christians or Copts have suffered a wave of sectarian violence. This has included the torching of churches and a brutal military assault on Coptic protesters at Maspero in October 2011, resulting in the deaths of 27 civilians. This year threats from Islamic extremists that have caused mass evacuations from several Egyptian villages and towns (the latest being the North Sinai border town of Rafah in September). According to a report by the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights, 93,000 Copts fled Egypt fearing for their safety in the six months after March 2011. The new draft constitution does not bode well for religious freedom and minority beliefs.
The ultra-conservative Salafis are calling for the new constitution to make the “rulings of Sharia Law” the foundation of Egypt’s legislative framework. This stricter interpretation of Sharia Law will further alienate Egypt’s minority Christians, who have long suffered marginalisation and exclusion. Furthermore, the new draft only recognises “the three Abrahamic faiths”. Adherents to non-Abrahamic faiths, such as the estimated 2,000 followers of the Bahai’i faith, are not mentioned and therefore may be denied the right to practise or build places of worship. Moreover, anti-blasphemy laws stipulated in articles 38 and 40 of the draft prohibit “the defamation of messengers and prophets”, failing to specifically define what is meant by “defamation”.
This is the Egypt that Maher and Dina have returned to after spending nearly two years as refugees outside their country.
Traumatised and confused by the experiences of the last four years, father and daughter say they are resigning themselves to what may come. They realise that the tide of conservatism sweeping Egypt may result in an even more antagonistic environment for Christians, particularly for converts from Islam. Dina has already reconverted to Islam and Maher has lost his fighting spirit.
“I’m utterly exhausted and drained,” Maher said, his voice choked with emotion. “I have no more energy to fight.”
Shahira Amin is an Egyptian journalist and broadcaster