15 January 2010

Welcome to the fundraising page for the  Nag Hammadi Appeal at UK Copts Association

Bikya Masr
9 March 2010

CAIRO: The Egyptian government has denied all observations made by the United Nations Human Rights Council report, local NGOs have reported. The report by Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism Martin Scheinin says that Egypt’s use of the Emergency Law to justify arbitrary detention and the use of exceptional courts was examined today.

Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders provoked angry scenes outside Parliament yesterday after claiming that Islamism and democracy are 'incompatible'.

Mr Wilders was visiting London to show his anti-Islamic film Fitna at the House of Lords.

8 March 2010

 
WASHINGTON — Egyptian security forces have been accused of colluding in Islamic attacks on Copts
 
A leading human rights activist said Egyptian security forces have been facilitating the killing of Copts as well as attacks on their churches.

8 March 2010
 
An image of the Virgin Mary has been crying tears of oil, its owner has claimed, in a story that has drawn hundreds of visitors to the man's home in France.

An orthodox icon representing the Virgin
Mary is pictured weeping tears of oil at a
resident's home in Garges-les-Gonesse
, France Photo: AFP

Esat Altindagoglu has been inundated with more than 50 visitors a day hoping to see the "miracle" at his house near Paris.

The one-foot high painting was given to his wife Sevin by a Lebanese priest on her birthday in 2006, the Turkish-born salesman said.

Following the adoption of the UN Human Rights Council’s recommendations on Egypt, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) welcomed the fact that the government decided to accept the majority of the recommendations, including many that are related to the worst abuses committed by the government. The EIPR regretted that a number of other equally significant recommendations were rejected directly or because the government considered them “inaccurate and/or factually incorrect.”

Egypt’s human rights record was reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Council yesterday  (17 February 2010). Egyptian human rights NGOs welcomed the inclusion of serious rights concerns and substantive recommendations to curb systemic abuses, including many that were presented by an independent NGO Coalition, were presented to the government by a number of states. Unfortunate, however, the Egyptian government failed to engage constructively with the review and instead chose to justify or deny human rights abuses. The government presented false information to the Council on issues such as the State of Emergency, issues of due process, and discrimination based on religion or belief.