CISA NEWS REPORT:
CAIRO, October 5, 2012 (CISA) – The Egyptian Prosecutor General on October 4, ordered the release of two Coptic Orthodox children who had been taken to a juvenile detention in the southern province of Beni Suef accused of urinating on pages containing verses of the Koran.
According to lawyer Naguib Gebrail of the Coptic Orthodox community the rapid release of the two boys was facilitated by a direct intervention of President Mohamed Morsi at the urging of his Coptic Orthodox assistant Samir Marcos.
Formally, the detention of the two children did not comply with the international convention on children’s rights signed by Egypt. In fact, the children Nabil Nagui Rizq (10 years old) and Mina Nadi Farag (9 years old) were placed in detention by security forces also to be withdrawn from the anger of the mob who, incited also by a sheikh of the village, had surrounded the local police station to the news of their custody.
“The release of the two boys is good news, but the Egyptian media have not put a strong emphasis on the case,” said to Fides Botros Fahim Awad Hanna, Auxiliary Bishop of Alexandria of the Catholic Copts.
Charges of insulting Islam addressed in particular to the Copts in Egypt have increased since a movie against Mohammed aired on YouTube in recent weeks sparking riots and violence in many Muslim majority Countries. A story that according to Bishop Fahim is full of mystery. “Behind that movie,” said the Bishop to Fides, “there was a political game. We have yet to understand who did it, who financed it, who put it online, and what purpose one wanted to obtain with that operation.”
SHARED FROM CISA NEWS
According to lawyer Naguib Gebrail of the Coptic Orthodox community the rapid release of the two boys was facilitated by a direct intervention of President Mohamed Morsi at the urging of his Coptic Orthodox assistant Samir Marcos.
Formally, the detention of the two children did not comply with the international convention on children’s rights signed by Egypt. In fact, the children Nabil Nagui Rizq (10 years old) and Mina Nadi Farag (9 years old) were placed in detention by security forces also to be withdrawn from the anger of the mob who, incited also by a sheikh of the village, had surrounded the local police station to the news of their custody.
“The release of the two boys is good news, but the Egyptian media have not put a strong emphasis on the case,” said to Fides Botros Fahim Awad Hanna, Auxiliary Bishop of Alexandria of the Catholic Copts.
Charges of insulting Islam addressed in particular to the Copts in Egypt have increased since a movie against Mohammed aired on YouTube in recent weeks sparking riots and violence in many Muslim majority Countries. A story that according to Bishop Fahim is full of mystery. “Behind that movie,” said the Bishop to Fides, “there was a political game. We have yet to understand who did it, who financed it, who put it online, and what purpose one wanted to obtain with that operation.”
SHARED FROM CISA NEWS
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