Lawyer says judge's verdict “could be very bad”
By Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (jeremyreynalds@gmail.com)
CAIRO, EGYPT (ANS. JUNE 19)
The last of four Egyptian boys accused of having “offended” Islam has
been released on bail while trial is expected to continue after the
Muslim month of Ramadan.
According to a story by World Watch Monitor (WWM), the 17-year-old
student from Upper Egypt was released after 62 days in prison, subject
to the payment of 10,000 Egyptian pounds, equivalent to several months'
wages by local rural standards.
The boy is following a complicated, often hard-to-predict legal
path together with three fellow Christian students and their teacher,
who have slipped into a maze of events for having “mimicked” Islam.
As a result, a series of riots and death threats have dogged the
boys and their families as well as other Christians in Al-Nasriyah
village.
In April, WWM said, the attacks came after a 32-second video
apparently showing them deriding the atrocities against Christians,
under a cover of piety, became public knowledge.
The boys had to be delivered by their parents to the police station
earlier in April, following violent protests by angry Muslims in which
homes were attacked and demands were made that Christians be banished
from the area.
On April 17, a “Customary Reconciliation Meeting” condemned the
actions deemed insulting to Islam and formally banned the teacher, Gad
Younan, from the village, WWM reported.
In concept, WWM said, Customary Reconciliation Sessions are
community-based conflict resolution, long established in Egyptian
tradition. If two residents have a dispute, solving it through the
judicial system is long and costly. Instead, "wise men" of the village
will hear both sides and issue a binding ruling. Religious leaders are
often involved.
However, in the cases of sectarian attacks against Copts, they have
often been used to deprive them of recourse to Egypt's justice system,
which itself has been subject to criticism by international human-rights
organizations.
To date, no rioters have been arrested. The charges against the five Christians have not been dropped.
The Coptic students and their teacher were part of a group on a church trip when their teacher recorded the video.
Younan and the boys’ troubles started after his personal memory
card was found by a Muslim villager who spread the footage among
locals.
The ongoing turmoil saw the five arrested, with the public prosecution intent on following on with more serious charges.
The teacher's lawyer, Maher Naguib, told Mideast Christian News
that keeping the students in prison for so long did not serve the
investigation - which had already completed with no more witnesses to
question. It was intended to humiliate them, he said.
On what to expect in this case, Naguib said, “It's unknown. The
verdict will be up to the opinion of the judge, depending on how far a
Muslim judge is likely to take the case against the Christians.”
He added, “If he then considers it a case of ‘insulting and defaming Islam,’ the verdict will be very bad.”
WWM said the footage references the beheading of Christians,
including 21 Copts, on a beach in Libya, depicted in a video released by
the Islamic State. Videos deliberately produced and distributed by IS
often contain extended theologically based diatribe against Christianity
and Christians.
Weeks in hiding
For weeks, Younan has lived in hiding with his wife and children. A
close relative contacted by WWM said the teacher was suspended from his
work, while his wife also is jobless. Their children have been unable
to go to school.
Accusations of “blasphemy” continue arise in Egypt nearly two years
after Abdel Fattah el-Sisi rose to power, first driving the Muslim
Brotherhood out of office, and then outlawing it.
The official religious establishment in the country, topped by the
Islam's leading religious institution, Al-Azhar, is pressing for an
“international law to criminalize contempt of religion,” which would
spread the application of anti-blasphemy laws around the world.
As in other Muslim-majority countries, minorities and free-thinkers tend to be the most frequent target of blasphemy charges.
A 2014 report by
the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said “blasphemy
laws … empower officials to enforce particular religious views against
individuals, minorities, and dissenters.
“In practice, they have proven to be ripe for abuse and easily manipulated,” WWM said the report added.
Photo captions: 1) Coptic Christians take part in a midnight
service, at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt. 2) Jeremy Reynalds.
About the writer: Jeremy
Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a
freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New
Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, www.joyjunction.org.
He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New
Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in
Los Angeles. His newest book is "From Destitute to Ph.D." Additional
details on "From Destitute to Ph.D." are available at www.myhomelessjourney.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife, Elma. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@gmail.com.
Note: If you would like to help support the ASSIST News Service, please go to www.assistnews.net
and click on the DONATE button to make you tax-deductible gift (in the
US), which will help us continue to bring you these important stories.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar