By Attorney Saeed Fayyaz –
His Excellency the President,
With sincere greetings, respect, and appreciation worthy of your esteemed office,
I am honored to present this letter to Your Excellency — as a lawyer who was raised to respect and defend the law, as a legal researcher, and as Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Free Egyptians Party, defending the rights and human dignity of every citizen on the soil of this nation.
In the village of Gelf – Beni Mazar, Minya Governorate – a sectarian crisis erupted following a romantic relationship between a 17-year-old Christian boy and a 16-year-old Muslim girl. According to Egyptian Child Law No. 12 of 1996 (amended by Law No. 126 of 2008), both are minors and legally fall under the protection of juvenile law.
However, the crisis was taken out of its human and legal context. Some social media users publicly incited hatred and violence against the Christians of the village, calling for the burning of their homes and churches and for their forced displacement — in blatant violation of Articles 171, 176, 177, and 178 of the Egyptian Penal Code, which criminalize incitement to sectarian hatred and violence.
This incitement led to actual attacks by angry mobs targeting the homes and property of Coptic villagers.
We had full faith that state institutions would intervene decisively and firmly to hold the instigators and attackers accountable, especially since the evidence and publicly available videos are clear and indisputable.
But instead, we were shocked by an appalling and unjust action: a customary reconciliation session organized by the village mayor and local officials, during which the “solution” imposed on the victims — not the aggressors — was to pay financial compensation and leave the village by force.
This session is a disgrace to the rule of law, a direct insult to the judiciary, and an assault on the principle of citizenshipenshrined in Article 1 of the Egyptian Constitution. It also clearly violates:
- Article 53 of the Constitution:
“Citizens are equal before the law… without discrimination on grounds of religion, belief, gender, origin…” - Article 94 of the Constitution:
“The rule of law is the basis of governance in the State… the State is subject to the law, and the independence and immunity of the judiciary are guarantees of rights and freedoms.”
Internationally, what occurred is a violation of Egypt’s obligations under:
- The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) — Articles 2, 19, and 20, which prohibit incitement to religious hatred and oblige states to protect all citizens without discrimination.
- The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) — Articles 2 and 4, which require immediate action against racial or religious incitement.
Your Excellency,
As a citizen who believes in the State of law and institutions, and out of concern for national unity and social peace, I respectfully request that you, in accordance with:
- Article 139 of the Constitution — your responsibility to safeguard the unity of the nation;
- Article 150 — your authority in overseeing the implementation of state policy,
take the following actions:
- Instruct the Public Prosecution to open a formal and public investigation into the incidents of incitement and violence in the village of Gelf, and issue an official statement clarifying the facts to the public.
- Direct the Ministry of Interior to pursue and hold accountable all instigators and promoters of hate speech and forced displacement, inside or outside Egypt, under Articles 171 and 176 of the Penal Code.
- Issue a presidential decree or urgent legislation criminalizing customary reconciliation sessions in cases involving sectarian or discriminatory violence, and consider them a violation of public order and the rule of law.
- Activate the National Council for Human Rights to conduct a field investigation and issue an independent report to ensure transparency and accountability.
- Instruct official media institutions to promote the values of citizenship and equality, and to counter extremist ideologies that misuse religion to justify violence or exclusion.
Your Excellency,
The State’s silence about such customary sessions and online incitement is not “social tolerance”; it is a relinquishment of the authority of law and the dignity of the Egyptian citizen.
I am confident that your decisive intervention in this matter will defend national unity and the integrity of state institutions, sending a clear message that dignity does not distinguish between one Egyptian and another.
With utmost respect and appreciation,
_______________________
Saeed Fayyaz
Attorney at Cassation
Chairman of the Human Rights Committee, Free Egyptians Party
Translated from: https://www.facebook.com/said.fayaz.7
