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Cairo (csmonitor.com) – Egypt's interim government said Wednesday it will draft a new law to ease restrictions on building churches, potentially rectifying one of the most apparent forms of discrimination against Christians in Egypt. As with Turkey, one should believe it when one sees it and not until then. Egypt has a rather bleak record on the treatment and protection of Coptic Christians and of ensuring their freedom of worship. Oppression and exclusion via ID cards, interference with marital statuses, refusing to allow for the building of churches, impenetrable red tape in constructing those churches that are granted an initial license, a refusal to allow Muslims to convert, unchecked violence and intimidation by radical Islamists and police. There is a reason they tattoo crosses on their arms, and it's not to make a fashion statement.
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The new law would also make it illegal to protest outside places of worship, or to use religious slogans in elections. It comes in the wake of Muslim-Christian clashes Saturday that killed 15 people after an ultraconservative group of Muslims attacked churches in Imbaba, a poor district of Cairo.
The time is long overdue to give Christians equal rights in building places of worship, says Bahey el-din Hassan, head of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. But he is reserving judgment on the measure until the details are announced.
"It is a good step forward, despite that it is too late," he says, adding that revising the law was first proposed 39 years ago. "But you know, late is better than never. … This doesn't mean that we are sure that this will meet the essential need to secure equal rights to build and repair worship places. This will depend at the end of the day on what this proposed law will say."
The government-controlled National Human Rights Council proposed a draft law five years ago that did not fully address the problem, he says, partly because it gave the state security apparatus final say over the decision on whether to build a church. He says he hopes the new proposal, which the government has asked a committee to draft within a month, will be better.
Under current law, Christians must seek approval from the president to build new churches or even make small renovations to existing buildings. The decision is usually left to governors, who often consult police or state security. Christians say plans to build or renovate are often delayed or denied. There are no similar restrictions for building mosques.
