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Int’l Human Rights Day Tues. Dec 10

Lives of Coptic Christians, Moderate Muslims at Risk: Human Rights Leaders to Testify on Human Rights Abuses in War-Torn Egypt

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Washington, Dec 9, 2013 | Jeff Sagnip ((202) 225-3765) | comments

The threats to stability and peace in Egypt will be the topic of a congressional hearing Tuesday chaired by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees global human rights issues.

    “Human Rights Abuses in Egypt,” is the title of a joint hearing to be held before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations and the Subcommittee Middle East and North Africa. Witnesses will focus on role of moderate Muslims, the plight of the Coptic minority and the need to protect religious freedoms.

Who:   Chairman Smith, and other members of the House subcommittees, and witnesses: 

  • Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., Vice Chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
  • Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom 
  • Samuel Tadros, Research Fellow, Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute
  • Dr. Morad Abou-Sabe, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University (Former President of Misr University for Science & Technology)
  • Tad Stahnke, Director of Policy and Programs, Human Rights First

 When:             Tues., Dec. 10 at 9 a.m.

 Where:           

Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2172 (first floor)

​    The significance of Human Rights Day and the planned hearing being held on the day proclaimed in 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly as "Human Rights Day" was not unnoticed by Bishop Angaelos, who is Washington to testify.

    “This day was chosen to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the tenets of which are at the core of this testimonial statement, and are the entitlement of every Egyptian and every member of our shared humanity,” Bishop Angselos said. “Christians in Egypt have been suffering persecution and marginalisation, even before the uprising. In its aftermath however, this suffering has intensified significantly. The frequency in attacks on Christians and other religious minority groups, their communities and places of worship is increasingly disturbing. Carried out by radical elements in society, these attacks are not merely on individuals but on the Christian and minority presence in its entirety. Those intolerant to religious minorities are partly enabled by the breakdown in law and order and the growing culture of impunity that Egypt has witnessed in previous years. Moreover, the persecution of religious minorities over the past decades has not manifest itself solely in physical attacks, but has frequently been embedded in process and policy, then translated into dealings with citizens on unequal grounds, inevitably having resulted in greater division and marginalisation. It is not only Christians who suffer marginalisation, persecution and attacks, but other religious minorities such as Bahá’is, Jews and Muslim minorities such as Sufi’s and Shiites.” Click here to read the Bishop’s opening remarks (EMARGOED UNTIL 9 a.m. Dec. 10), for the hearing.

    “Tragically, the promise and hope of Egypt’s ‘Arab Spring’ have not yet brought about basic human rights to the Egyptian people, such as religious freedom, freedom of expression and association, and due process of law,” said Smith (NJ-04). “This hearing will examine human rights violations in Egypt today, and how Christians and other religious minorities, as well as moderate Muslims, continue to be victimized. It is appropriate to hold this hearing on International Human Rights Day.”
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