Coptic Christians in Australia have been anxiously watching recent events unfolding in Egypt amid concerns over the future of communities there.
Speaking as protestors urged a million people to take to the streets of Cairo in a demonstration against the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak , Bishop Anba Suriel, who oversees a Coptic Christian diocese of 30,000 people covering the lower states of Australia as well as New Zealand and the South Pacific, says there are fears that if the Mubarak regime falls, extremist groups could take hold of the country.
“I think that would be detrimental not just for the Christians but I think for all of Egypt and for all the region and I think there would be consequences for the whole world…”
He says this could mean instability inside Egypt but also that Christians living in the country will “never see their human rights”. “So I really pray and hope that that will never take place.”
In constant contact with people in Egypt, Bishop Suriel says the situation for people living in Egypt – including Coptic Christian communities – has been worsening since protests broke out early last week.
“They tell me that the situation is very dire and it’s getting worse and worse day-by-day,” he says. “There are thousands of prisoners that were released from prison or escaped and they’ve taken weapons with them and are (rampaging) in Cairo, in Alexandria and many other cities. People have had to try to protect themselves, to protect their homes, to protect their families from looting and attacks. It’s not very pleasant.”
Noting that he’s not against people protesting for their rights, “so long as that’s done in a peaceful way without violence and without attacks”, Bishop Suriel says the problem is not with President Mubarak himself – describing the president as a moderate who has tried to assist the Coptic people – but with his government.
“(A)nd also the security forces who tortured people in prisons and burned down churches and things like this…” he says. “The government is a weak government that is not able to protect its people or care for the human rights of all Egyptian citizens. And this is the change that we want to see in Egypt.”
Coptic Christians – who make up about 10 per cent of Egypt’s population and are among the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East – have been the targets of extremists in the past with one of the worst attacks in recent times came on New Year’s Eve when a Coptic Church in Alexandria was bombed, killing 21 and injuring 80.
Bishop Suriel doesn’t believe the international community has taken the plight of Coptic Christians in Egypt seriously enough in the past.
“I mean, it changed a little bit after what happened on New Year’s Eve and maybe the international community began to realise that there is starting to be a real issue for the Christians,” he says.
“But we’ve been crying out for years saying Christians are being persecuted, they are being discriminated against, they are not getting their full human rights as Egyptian citizens. We’ve been calling for the international community to put pressure on the Egyptian government to take a serious stand to change the situation and the plight of the Christians in Egypt.”
He says this includes granting Christians freedom to build churches and the holding of fair elections, noting that no Copt has ever been elected to parliament or headed a university.
“There are many, many human rights violations – people that convert from Islam to Christianity are tortured and persecuted in Egyptian prisons, they cannot change their ID card to say that their religion is Christian, and a lot of ugly tortures take place against such people.”
Bishop Suriel is calling on Christians of all denominations to pray for the situation in Egypt. “I know that the bishops in the USA have called for three days of prayer and fasting and we will be doing the same here.”
