SECURITY FORCES PREVENT COPTIC CEREMONY,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 001307

SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ELA AND DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2029
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KIRF EG
SUBJECT: SECURITY FORCES PREVENT COPTIC CEREMONY,
PRECIPITATE CLASHES

REF: A. CAIRO 477

B. 08 CAIRO 2515

Classified By: Ambassador Margaret Scobey for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. KEY POINTS

-- (C) The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR),a
credible NGO, briefed us July 7 on its fact-finding mission
to the village of Ezbet Boushra where sectarian clashes broke
out June 21.

-- (C) EIPR said the clashes began when security forces
prevented village Copts from conducting a religious ceremony
in a building where they had been holding prayers since 2006.

-- (C) According to EIPR, Muslims were injured in the ensuing
clashes with Copts, and security forces injured Copts as they
made arrests. Coptic villagers believe security forces were
responsible for destroying crops in 12 Coptic-owned farms the
night of June 21.

-- (C) Starting June 29, security forces have prevented Copts
from holding prayers in the building they had used since

2006. A June 30 reconciliation session presided over by the
governor was unproductive. We raised the case July 9 with
the MFA.


2. (C) EIPR Executive Director Hossam Bahgat told us that an
EIPR fact-finding team visited the village of Ezbet Boushra
outside Bene Sweif (approximately 80 miles south of Cairo) in
late June and early July to investigate the June 21 sectarian
clashes. The village of about 2,500 people has approximately
300 Coptic residents. Bahgat said that despite some
conflicting accounts, a baseline narrative has emerged. On
July 7, EIPR Deputy Director Soha Abdelatty briefed us on the
fact-finding team's conclusions following extensive
interviews with Copts and Muslims in the village. She said
EIPR would release its conclusions publicly in the coming
days.


3. (C) According to Abdelatty, "This was not a typical
Coptic-Muslim clash, but was led by GOE security forces."
She said that in 2006 the Coptic Church bought a factory
building in the village and transformed it into a church.
The village Copts never applied for a permit for a church,
because "they understood" their application would have been
rejected. She said that for the past three years, the priest
lived in the building and held prayers there, but not more
formal "services" or "ceremonies." The village Muslims were
aware of this, and the two religious communities coexisted
without any tensions.


4. (C) Abdelatty said the situation changed on June 21 when
the village's Coptic community decided to hold a religious
"ceremony" for the first time. GOE security forces,
supported by village Muslims, prevented Copts from entering
the building to participate in the ceremony. In the physical
fighting that ensued between Coptic and Muslim villagers,
eight Muslims sustained light injuries. No Copts were
initially injured in this fighting, but security forces
subsequently began "random arrests" of Coptic villagers and
injured them in the process. Abdelatty said the number of
Copts injured during the arrests is unclear, but the injuries
were light, and the Copts were questioned and quickly
released.


5. (C) Abdelatty said the EIPR fact-finding team determined
that security forces imposed a curfew the night of June 21 on
the entire village. During the night of the curfew, crops at
12 Coptic-owned farms were destroyed. Copts interviewed by
EIPR believe that because the curfew was imposed on the
entire village, security forces must have been responsible
for the damage, with the support of some Muslim villagers.
On June 29, security forces asked the priest to vacate the
factory building where he has lived since 2006, and
subsequently prevented Copts from conducting any prayers in
the building.


6. (C) EIPR staff attended a June 30 "reconciliation session"
that the Bene Sweif Governor convened. The staff reported
that the governor did not mention the clashes, and asked all
attendees not to discuss the June 21 events. Copts and
Muslims who attended the session told EIPR that it was an
unproductive "farce." Abdelatty characterized the Governor's
June 22 statements to local satellite television that he
would provide land for the village Copts to build a new
church as disingenuous. Abdelatty noted that the Copts are
now left without a church in the village, and will need to

CAIRO 00001307 002 OF 002


travel to the closest church, which is approximately 15 miles
away. She said that the village remains calm, but tensions
persist.


7. (C) On July 9, we raised the incident and the reported
role of the security forces with MFA Deputy Director for
Human Rights Amgad Rezk. He promised to consult with the
Interior Ministry to determine whether the GOE is pursuing
any prosecutions. Rezk committed to getting back to us with
what he learns from the MOI. Separately, human rights
contacts have told us that they blame the incident on
discriminatory GOE policies against Copts.

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Account from Christian Contacts
--------------


8. (C) Lawyer for the Coptic community Nabil Ghobrial and
journalist for the "Al-Watani" Coptic newspaper Emad Khalil
offered a slightly different account of the June 21 events.
They told us that the incident began after a group of Coptic
visitors from Cairo tried to enter the apartment of the
village priest, which is a floor above the apartment used by
the village's Copts for church services. According to these
contacts, security forces prevented the group from entering
the building, and then spread rumors that the group was
trying to pray in the apartment used as a church.
Subsequently, about 75 Muslim villagers gathered outside the
building, and physical fighting broke out between Copts and
Muslims after a Coptic woman slapped a Muslim.


9. (C) Ghobrial and Khalil said that the fighting resulted in
only light injuries to 18 Copts and Muslims, and that during
the clashes Muslims stoned the homes of Copts and uprooted
some of their crops. They said police arrested 8 Muslims and
19 Copts, and released them all quickly. A large GOE
security presence restored order by June 23. These two
contacts reported unconfirmed rumors of GOE security forces
looting Coptic homes.

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Comment
--------------


10. (C) We believe that EIPR's account of events, gleaned
from extensive interviews over several days in Ezbet Boushra,
is probably the most accurate version we have heard. The
fact that it took EIPR weeks to gather the information
illustrates the difficulty of establishing a narrative of
events in a small, relatively remote village such as Ezbet
Boushra. The accounts of security forces' role in the
clashes are troubling, as is the lack of a resolution to
Coptic villagers' need for a place of worship, and we will
continue to press the GOE to conduct a credible investigation.
SCOBEY