Coptic Solidarity Annual Analysis of the State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report on Egypt
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The US Department of State released its Report on International Religious Freedom on June 26, 2024. This annual report examines the state of religious freedom in every country except the US, in accordance with the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. Each year, Coptic Solidarity (CS) provides an analysis of the Egypt chapter including our areas of agreement, constructive criticism, and recommendations for future reports. References to analyses from previous years are located at the end of this analysis.

In 2023, CS urged that more attention be placed on the systemic forms of discrimination Copts and other religious minorities face in Egypt. This report demonstrates the stark contrast in treatment of non-Sunni-Muslim citizens by the Egyptian government, based in the Constitution and legislation, from President El-Sisi down to the local level. Some government officials and legislators cling to a narrative of the El-Sisi administration as being reform-oriented and improving the lives of religious minorities, while reality is very different, if not the opposite.

Positives:

  • Each point under the section of Constructive Criticism from Coptic Solidarity’s analysis last year was addressed in the 2023 report. We applaud these changes because they have created greater clarity regarding the situation of Copts and all religious minorities in Egypt.
  • The report includes an in-depth and insightful portrayal of unequal law for religious minorities in allowance, building, repairing, and funding houses of worship and religious sites. Some of the examples include:
    • Minister of Awqaf, Gomaa, announced the state had constructed, developed, or restored more than 11,200 (Sunni) mosques since Sisi became president in 2014 at a cost of more than 15 billion EGP ($485.4 million at current rates).
    • On March 2023, President Sisi inaugurated the Islamic Cultural Center in the New Administrative Capital…a component of the 19,100 square meter second largest mosque in the world and paid for by the government at 800 million EGP ($25.8 million).
    • The government pays the salaries of and monitors imams who lead prayers in licensed mosques.
    • Construction of new churches must obtain a legal permit to authorize its construction and must meet specific land registration procedures and building codes and is subject by law to greater government regulation than that applied to the construction of new mosques. Churches are required to apply for a permit to perform any maintenance or renovations, while it is not required for mosques.
    • Since 2016, only 2,973 out of 3,730pending church legalization requests have been granted. The report includes an explanation of preliminary permits and the costly and time-consuming hurdles the government imposes on churches.
    • Copts pay full cost to maintain and repair archaeological and historic sites and Jewish restoration and preservation has been funded by a mix of government ministries, private donations, and a Jewish NGO.
    • Mentions multiple churches closed for “security concerns” that the government refuses to re-open, churches destroyed and/or needing repairs that the government refuses to grant necessary permits; some of those mentioned are in Samalout, the Holy Virgin and St. Samuel Church in Beheira, and Aswan.
    • Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities assisted in cost of repairing and restoring the Ben Ezra Synagogue, the oldest in Egypt, yet failed to invite any of the Egyptian Jewish community to attend, much less participate.
    • Government has sole possession of Jewish community’s historical records and are not forthcoming on their progress of archiving and digitizing them.
    • The Minority Rights Group International reported that there are no Shi’a Muslimcongregational halls and they are unable to establish public places of worship.
    • The Egyptian governmenthas denied requests form Baha’is, Church of Jesus Christ, and Jehovah’s Witnesses for public religious gatherings.
    • The Supreme Administrative Court upheld decisions to deny land to Baha’is in Alexandria and Port Said for cemetery use despite the great need.
  • The report addresses many problematic issues in Egyptian education including:
    • More detailed information on Al-Azhar explaining how it operates a separate school system, receives government subsidies and publishes its own textbooks. According to the IMPACT-se report, the curricula is antisemitic, still rejects Ismailis, Ahmadis, and Baha’is as heretical, and teaches that all “unbelievers” will be “punished in hell.”
    • Public school textbooks are still problematic with antisemitic teachings.
    • Students must take a class on Islam or Christianity, based on the faith listed on their government documents; students may not opt out of this class; students who are neither Muslim nor Christian must choose one of the classes.
    • MRGI reported the continued marginalization in curricula of the history of Coptic civilization and prohibitions on teaching the Coptic language despite repeated requests by Coptic activists and official institutions.
  • Reported on the 2% glass ceiling Copts face in government-appointed positions including judiciary, academia, governance, and national security.
  • Reported on the abduction and forced conversion of Coptic women and girls; cited at least 8 known cases.
  • Included reporting on critical cases such as that of Soad Thabet, Patrick Zaki, Abdel-Baqi Saeed Abdo Ali, and Rania Raafat.
  • Cited numerous examples of antisemitism promoted by government officials and public figures including, (military expert) Major General Adel al-Omda; official in the Ministry of Awqaf, Hussein al-Samandoudi; Islamic scholar Ibrahim Rida, and by the institution of al-Azhar. This is critical in demonstrating the overlap of governmental and societal discrimination against religious minorities.
  • Included data on treatment of minorities on social media platforms.


Constructive Criticism:

  • The report indicates that Coptic leaders say they are satisfied with the pace of approvals for previously unlicensed churches. If possible, include the names of which leaders are satisfied and information on the control and pressure the government exerts on Coptic leaders to publicly agree with their policies. An insightful example is that the head of the Protestant Churches in Egypt, Rev. Zaki, was registered as a foreign agent, working for  the Egyptian government, while supposedly representing the interests of Copts during meetings with the State Department, other government officials, and Members of Congress.
  • The case of the child Shenouda appears as a success and resolved in that he was reunited with his “would-be adoptive parents.” Clarification should be made that this can be changed at the whim of government officials, and adoption is still illegal. Moreover, Shenouda was stripped of his Christian name, given a Muslim name while in government orphanage, and finally was given a new “neutral” name, selected by government officials who issued new papers. Shenouda  became a pawn in a powerplay by government officials. This traumatic situation demonstrates complete disregard for the well-being of an orphaned Coptic child, sealed with the indignity of receiving not one, but two government-issued names.
    • Original Name on Birth Certificate: Shenouda Farouk Fawzy
    • Islamic Name Given by Egyptian Government: Youssef Abd Allah Mohamed
    • “Neutral” Name Given by Egyptian Government: Youssef Samir Zakiria Ibrahim
  • A recurring theme for Copts in Egypt is the problem of impunity, for those who attack Coptic individuals and their properties, or are implicated in cases of luring or “disappearance” of Coptic girls. The report notes a number of high-profile cases in which perpetrators were sentenced, as well as includes a few cases in which reconciliation sessions were utilized and when perpetrators were released. In the vast majority of cases involving Copts, such as the abduction and forced conversion and marriage of Coptic women, no perpetrators are arrested, much less sentenced or held to account. In the case of Soad Thabet, the police refused to send help when she went to the station to report harassment and theft of property, yet there has been zero accountability for those government employees or the perpetrators of her attack. This impunity generates more discrimination and violence against Copts, including retaliation against family members, even of those Copts who flee the country in utter desperation.
  • Include information on transnational repression by the Egyptian government towards the Coptic diaspora. It impacts Coptic clergy in the diaspora, Coptic victims who will not speak out publicly for fear of retaliation against themselves or their family still in Egypt, and which particularly targets Coptic activists in an effort to intimidate, discredit, and invalidate their efforts.

Recommendations:

  • Add Egypt to the Special Watch List as recommended by USCIRF
  • Urge the government to provide land for and/or expediently approve building churches in existing communities where there are Christian inhabitants without a single church.
  • CS encourages follow-up on implementation of 2016 Church Law and include statistics on how many churches have moved from preliminary approval to final approval.
  • CS encourages further investigation of “disappeared” Coptic women, particularly the claim that government officials assist in locating the missing women. Interviewing family members of those disappeared then recovered women, and discovering if any services have been  made available to them would be helpful.  Numerous families have report disappearances to CS and claim that local police and government officials are often the major impediment to locating and recovering the women by refusing to accept missing persons reports, refusing to follow-up on leads, and failing to prosecute those invovled.
  • CS encourages the USG to urge Egypt to limit the use and existence of religiously based personal status laws which translates to inequality under the law. Laws created, adjudicated, and enforced by religious leaders create a dangerous environment in which religious leaders have authority in civil space without proper accountability or recourse for those governed by their decision. Recall that the community personal status laws for non-Muslims that were in effect until 1956 have been over-ridden by Shari’a, such as in the case of Baby Shenouda (adoption). Egypt ultimately needs a truly civic (non-religious) personal status governance that applies equally to all citizens.
  • Urge the Egyptian government to uphold international conventions which guarantee the ability to change one’s faith and to practice that faith in public. While Egypt does not prohibit the renunciation of Islam in the constitution and penal codes, it is nearly impossible to do so in reality. Government officials will not change religion on ID cards for those leaving Islam (unless they were born into a different faith), and converts, indeed all religious minorities, are at constant risk of societal and government retaliation for the  crime of blasphemy, created to control religious expression and free speech, such as “disdaining and disrespecting any of the heavenly religions, promoting “extremist ideology”, and “violating the family principles of Egyptian Society.” Most imprisoned Coptic activists have been charged under at least 1 of these so-called crimes.

Finally, Coptic Solidarity commends the combined effort of staff located at the US Embassy in Cairo and those in the Office of International Religious Freedom for their efforts to provide this essential public policy tool. We urge the USG to more rigorously advocate Coptic equality, based on this extensive reporting.

*****

Coptic Solidarity Analyses from Previous Years

Photo Credit: US Department of State

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