Call To Save Young Egyptian Christian Women

We write to you on behalf of the Copts residing in USA. We represent Egyptian Christians who have migrated from Egypt as a result of the discriminatory conditions within the country. Presently, Christian Copts (16\% of the Egyptian population) are subject to human rights violations perpetrated through discriminatory state policies, unofficial government sanction, and the often unchecked violent attacks of Islamic fundamentalists within the country. We urge that during upcoming visit with President Mubarak, the mistreatment of Egypts Christians be addressed.
Despite rhetoric of equality, the Copts continue to suffer from political and civil under-representation.
The religious intolerance that pervades society is found on all levels of the Egyptian political and governmental structures. As such the Coptic community has been the target of unchecked violence and is left destitute of appropriate recourse measures within the country.
We respectfully request that the deteriorating conditions facing the persecuted Christians of Egypt be forcefully addressed during President Mubaraks visit. In the midst of the characteristic elusiveness of the Mubarak regime, we ask that specific reforms be addressed.
We, the undersigned, urge you to exercise your legislative or governmental capacity to have US immgration to ease some of the restriction to allow Egyptian Christians to escape the intolerable relegious presecution.
Listed below is Statement of H.H. Pope Shenouda regarding the Systematic Ensnaring of Coptic Girls in Egypts Supermarkets.
I have received numerous reports about girls who go to supermarkets and then are told you have gifts and you have won a contest so please come upstairs to receive themwe do not know what happens to them when they go upstairs. There is much talk being circulated, and I perceive that this issue will create a sectarian partition in the country. I urge that police officials take a decisive position because I am getting countless letters in regards to this issue.
And we should not say bring us names or otherwise we know that they could have taken them to any place we dont know where they are. The issue should not be taken with this triviality and carelessness. I say this, and I am aware of the gravity of the situation. We dont want any more catastrophes to happen to us, what happened in the past is enough.
This should not be taken lightly.
We find also a number of youngsters who traveled to a certain region with them some Bibles and were arrested. They were imprisoned for 15 days by the district officials for mere reason of their possession of the Bibles
And these girls that are taken upstairs, we do not know what happen to them.
We are not going to keep silent about this at all!
This statement was made by His Holiness Pope Shenouda during a lecture on Wednesday, March 16, 2004.
Listed below is the latest press release by US copts association regarding young Egyption Christian women sbduction and rape.
Washington DC (3/25/2004) U.S. Copts Association received numerous disturbing reports of the cooperation of various Egyptian supermarkets in the systematic forced conversion and abduction of Coptic girls. Reports reveal that Christian Coptic girls who resist conversion have been physically abused and raped at the time of their abduction.
These deeply troubling reports indicate that supermarkets publicizing shopping contests are in fact singling out Coptic girls for conversion to Islam. Once alerted to the girls religion, store employees notify the young Christian woman that she has won a contest. To claim her prize, she is asked to proceed to the upper levels of the store where her reward awaits. Once upstairs, the girl is asked to sign documentation confirming receipt of her reward. However, the paperwork is documentation for the conversion of an individual to Islam; and the young girl is unaware that her signature is in fact official confirmation of her conversion to Islam.
Coptic women who resist are accused with theft and strip-searched. There are several reports of the rape of these young Christian women. Despite their families desperate attempts to rescue their daughters, the girls are not returned to their families.
Police intervention has been minimal. In fact, in a recent statement, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III drew attention to the gravity of the situation. I urge that police officials take a decisive position because I am getting countless letters in regards to this issue, stated the Pope, spiritual leader of the approximately 11 million Copts of Egypt. In his March 16th, statement, the Pope pointed out the danger posed by these repugnant events and indicated a determination to bring this barbaric practice to a halt. We dont want any more catastrophes to happen to us, what has happened in the past is enough, the Pope continued.
In his speech, the Pope also alluded to the recent arrest of the young Coptic Christian college students in Sinai. The four students, ages 19-20, had in their possession a number of Bibles and Christian material. They were arrested on January 26th for disturbing the national unity and have just received another 49-day extension to their imprisonment with no court date in sight.
These disturbing conditions in Egypt reveal a growing culture of intolerance in the midst of the governments lofty rhetoric of socio-political reform. President of the U.S. Copts Association, Michael Meunier has repeatedly condemned the inaction of the Egyptian police in matters pertaining to violence against the Coptic community. The absence of governmental intervention in the rape, abduction, and forced conversion of these girls is completely unacceptable, stated Meunier. What is equally alarming is the systematic nature of these assaults the widespread cooperation of the various supermarkets reveals a methodical and organized effort aimed at the Coptic community, he continued. Coptic girls, the most vulnerable targets of Islamist violence, have been victims of other various forms of violence and forced conversion.