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FREEDOM HOUSE PROTESTS LACK OF JUSTICE IN EGYPT MASSACRE CASE Court Fails to Punish Perpetrators of Millennial Murder of 21 Coptic Christians

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 5, 2001 -- Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom protested an Egyptian court decision today that failed to announce a
single murder conviction in the January 2000 massacre of 21 Coptic Christians in the village of Al-Kosheh.

The Sohag criminal court in southern Egypt convicted only 4 of  96 defendants charged with crimes connected to the massacre, and only on lesser charges. The other 92 were acquitted of all charges.

In the largest massacre of Egypt's Coptic Christians in several decades, Muslim mobs murdered 21 Christians in Al-Kosheh, located in the Governorate of Sohag in Upper Egypt and about 300 miles south of Cairo.  The massacre took place over the weekend of December 31, 1999 - January 2, 2000.

All four men convicted in today's court verdict are Muslims, though not one was convicted for murder.  According to the Associated Press, the harshest
penalty imposed was against Mayez Amin Abdel-Rahim, sentenced to 10 years in prison for "accidental homicide and illegal possession of a weapon." Mohammed Fawzi Shabib received two years in prison, also for "accidental homicide," and two men, Abu Ella Ahmed and El Fangery Abu Shakir, were each sentenced to one year in prison for damaging a private car.  Since time served is generally credited towards the final sentence, the latter two have theoretically already served all but one month of their sentences.

Center for Religious Freedom director Nina Shea stated, "There has been strong evidence from the outset of this case that the government of Egypt pursued a political strategy to cover up the gravity of the religious tensions in Al-Kosheh and to avoid the politically sensitive issue of punishing Muslims for the murder of Christians.  This policy, evidenced by the complicity of local security officials, the spreading of misleading information by government officials who shifted the blame to unnamed 'foreigners', the cracking down on human rights reporting, and efforts by the courts to use mass trials to create an image of harmony rather than convict the guilty, culminated in today's denial of justice. After today's verdict, Egypt's Christians may well have cause to fear for their lives, " she concluded.

The Center for Religious Freedom is due to release later this month a detailed report on the millennial massacre and its aftermath.  The report is based on three fact-finding missions to Egypt and interviews conducted in four ountries.