CAIRO: An Egyptian court has postponed a trial of three Muslim men accused of murdering 6 Coptic Christians and one Muslim security guard in Nag Hammadi on January 6. The attack on a church in the southern Egyptian village has left the country on edge, with Christians crying foul and arguing the government does not do enough to ensure their rights are maintained.

On Saturday, lawyers from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) reported they and a number of journalists were barred from the courtroom as proceedings began.

According to lawyers and reports from the court, the accused men have pleaded not guilty, despite having initially confessed to the shooting. Authorities have repeatedly said the shooting was in revenge for the alleged rape of a 12-year-old Muslim girl by a Coptic man.

The rape was reported in November and led to widespread anger and protests. Coptic shops in the village of Farshout, near Nag Hammadi, were set ablaze and riot police were called into the village to maintain order.

Christian leaders have repeatedly said the government’s inaction in creating a society based on equality has led to widespread violence and tension in the country. Naguib Gobrail, a leading Coptic lawyer and outspoken critic of the government, said that the government “wants to push Copts back and away from being citizens of this country.”

He argued that the postponing of the trial is “yet another attempt to show Copts that they are not worth anything in this Muslim dominated country.”

Gobrail pointed to alleged cases of Coptic girls being kidnapped by Muslims in the country. “Our girls are being kidnapped and forced to convert. We can’t build our houses of worship because the government won’t let us and then these terrorists who killed Copts are not being given the full hand of the law? It doesn’t make sense.”

Egyptian authorities have repeatedly said the attack on the church was not sectarian related, but simply a “criminal act” carried out by deranged individuals. It has done little to appease the Coptic community, which counts for some 10 percent of Egypt’s 80 million people.

“What are we supposed to do, go and hide?” asked Mary Fahim, a 38-year-old mother of two. “I fear for my children’s safety and now the government doesn’t want to do anything to make us feel as though we are regular citizens in this country.”

Despite the anger fomenting among the Coptic community, one Coptic journalist told Bikya Masr, speaking on condition of anonymity, that a number of the Coptic grievances in the country are unfounded.

“They charge their daughters are being kidnapped, but when anyone truly investigates, the stories don’t hold up. Most of the girls simply ran away,” he said, highlighting what he said is a tendency to want to separate the two leading communities in the country. “We all need to live together and be united in the struggle against the government and stop lying about things that happen.”

The next trial date is scheduled for March 20.

BM

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