18. März 2014

 

Das US-Außenministerium (US Department of State, USDOS) berichtet in seinem im Februar 2014 veröffentlichten Jahresbericht zur Menschenrechtlage:

„Nongovernmental actors killed several hundred persons, including 146 security forces personnel, and attacked government buildings, police stations, and Coptic Christians and their property, including churches.” (USDOS; 27 February 2014, Executive Summary)

„Throughout the year there were credible reports that security forces failed to prevent or respond to societal violence against Coptic Christians and other religious minorities (see section 6).” (USDOS, 27 February 2014, section 1d)

„Attacks and intimidation by Islamic extremists and ‘thugs’ displaced several hundred Coptic families from their homes. For example, local Islamists and armed young men, apparently unaffiliated with any political or religious movement, took control of the Minya Governorate village of Delga following Morsy’s July 3 ouster, displacing approximately 100 Coptic families. On September 16, security forces regained control of Delga. On July 3-4 in the Luxor Governorate village of al-Dabaiya, sectarian clashes resulted in the displacement of approximately 100 additional Coptic families. There were reports that some of the displaced families had returned to these villages by year’s end.” (USDOS; 27 February 2014, section 2d)

„Societal violence against religious minorities, especially Coptic Christians and Shia Muslims, occurred periodically throughout the year and increased following July 3. […]

On June 29, Muslim extremists killed several Copts, destroyed a number of homes and businesses, and forced tens of Coptic families to flee the North Sinai town of al-Arish, according to domestic rights activists.

On July 3-4 in the Luxor Governorate village of al-Dabaiya, sectarian clashes resulted in the displacement of approximately 100 Coptic families.

Sectarian violence against Christians increased after the July 3 removal of the Morsy government and the August 14 dispersal of pro-Morsy demonstrators. The Egyptian Center for Public Policy Studies reported 30 churches, 122 shops, and 51 houses owned by Copts were destroyed or burned in Upper Egypt during August. HRW and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights reported at least 42 to 45 churches and other Christian religious institutions were destroyed or damaged.

On September 16, security forces regained control over the Minya town of Delga, which had been dominated by local Islamists and ‘thugs’ after local police abandoned their posts on August 14. On September 19, security forces reestablished government control over Kerdasa, a city in the Giza Governorate. Local Islamists and armed ‘thugs,’ young men apparently unaffiliated with any political or religious movement, had seized control of the city following an August 14 attack on a police station in which assailants killed 11 police officers and desecrated their bodies. Citizens in Kerdasa and Delga reported that before security forces re-established control, Islamist vigilantes imposed severe, heterodox interpretations of sharia and subjected Copts (including clergy) to verbal threats and physical abuse.” (USDOS, 27 February 2014, section 6)

Die Nachrichtenagentur Agence France-Presse (AFP) berichtet in einer Meldung vom 20. Oktober 2013 über folgenden Vorfall:

„Gunmen on a motorbike shot dead three people late Sunday, including an eight-year-old girl, as they fired on a group outside a Coptic Christian church in Cairo, Egypt's interior ministry said. The attack was the first such assault targeting Christians in the Egyptian capital since the military coup that ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on July 3. It targeted a group of people who had emerged from the church in north Cairo's Al-Warak neighbourhood after attending a wedding, the ministry said. It said an eight-year-old girl, a woman and a man were killed and nine others were wounded in the attack. ‘There were two men on a motorbike and one of them opened fire,’ said the interior ministry. A health ministry official confirmed three people had been killed but said 12 people had in fact been wounded. Ahmed al-Ansari from the health ministry told AFP that four of the 12 were in a critical condition, adding the number of wounded could rise. Egyptian Christians, the majority of whom are Copts, have been targeted since the ouster of Morsi and in particular since an August 14 crackdown by security forces on two Cairo camps of Morsi's Islamist supporters.” (AFP, 20. Oktober 2013)

Mehrere weitere Medienquellen schreiben ebenfalls zu diesem Ereignis (BBC News, 21. Oktober 2013; Die Presse, 21. Oktober 2013; taz, 21. Oktober 2013; CSW, 21. Oktober 2013).

 

Auch die in ihrer Anfrage erwähnte Anfragebeantwortung des Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) vom 17. Oktober 2013 thematisiert die Lage koptischer ChristInnen im Zeitraum Juli bis Oktober 2013:

 

In einem Bericht vom Oktober 2013 bietet Amnesty International (AI) folgenden Überblick zur Lage koptischer ChristInnen seit Juli 2013:

„Seit der Absetzung von Mohamed Mursi, insbesondere aber seit der gewaltsamen Auflösung der Protestlager seiner Anhänger, gab es aus mehreren Städten Berichte über zahlreiche Angriffe auf koptische Christen, ihre Kirchen, Geschäfte und Häuser. Dabei wurden mehrere Menschen getötet. Am 5. Juli 2013 griff eine bewaffnete Menschenmenge in der Nähe von Luxor innerhalb von 18 Stunden mehr als hundert Häuser und Geschäfte von Christen an. Trotz wiederholter Hilferufe griffen die lokalen Sicherheitskräfte nicht effektiv ein, um die Gewalt zu beenden. ‚Der Angriff dauerte 18 Stunden. Es gab nicht eine Tür, an die ich nicht geklopft habe: Polizei, Militär, lokale Funktionäre, die Bereitschaftspolizei, das Gouvernement. Nichts wurde unternommen‘, sagte Pater Barsilious, ein Priester aus Dab‘iya. Vier koptische Männer kamen bei dem Angriff ums Leben, weil Sicherheitskräfte lediglich Frauen und Kinder evakuierten, die Männer jedoch wissentlich der gewaltbereiten Menschenmenge überließen. Vier weitere Männer wurden schwer verletzt. Zwischen dem 14. und dem 20. August zählte die Organisation ‚Maspero Youth Union‘ landesweit 38 Kirchen, die niedergebrannt wurden und weitere 23 Kirchen, die teilweise zerstört wurden. Dutzende Häuser und Geschäfte wurden geplündert oder niedergebrannt. Die jüngsten Berichte über religiös motivierte Gewalt gegen koptische Christen sind auch deshalb sehr beunruhigend, da Anlass zu der Annahme besteht, sie könnten aufgrund einer unterstellten oder angenommenen Gegnerschaft zu Mohamed Mursi - und damit aus Vergeltung - ins Visier geraten sein. Die Gewalt gegen Angehörige der koptischen Minderheit hat bereits seit der ‚Revolution des 25. Januar‘ stark zugenommen. Während der fast dreißigjährigen Regentschaft von Hunsi Mubarak gab es insgesamt 15 gravierende Angriffe auf koptische Christen. Während der anschließenden 17-monatigen Herrschaft des Militärrates wurden mindestens sechs Angriffe auf Kopten bekannt. Während der einjährigen Amtszeit von Mursi wurden weitere sechs Angriffe dokumentiert. Die staatlichen Behörden müssen umgehend Maßnahmen ergreifen, um Christen und andere Minderheiten in Ägypten vor Angriffen zu schützen.“ (AI, Oktober 2013)

Am 22. August 2013 berichtet Human Rights Watch (HRW) über eine Reihe von Angriffen auf koptische ChristInnen seit 14. August 2013:

„Since August 14, 2013, attackers have torched and looted scores of churches and Christian property across the country, leaving at least four people dead. […] Immediately following the violent dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo on August 14, crowds of men attacked at least 42 churches, burning or damaging 37, as well as dozens of other Christian religious institutions in the governorates of Minya, Asyut, Fayum, Giza, Suez, Sohag, Bani Suef, and North Sinai. Human Rights Watch has verified with family members and a lawyer that at least three Coptic Christians and one Muslim were killed as a result of sectarian attacks in Dalga, Minya city, and Cairo. […] In the vast majority of the 42 cases Human Rights Watch documented, neither the police nor the military were present at the start or during the attack. In one case, in Dalga, a village in southern Minya governorate, residents said that men had attacked the local police station around the same time. In Kirdassa, Giza, west of Cairo, an activist said that mobs attacked the local police station, killing 15 officers according to the Associated Press, before attacking Al-Mallak church. A priest in Malawi, a town in Minya governorate south of Minya city, told Human Rights Watch that he called emergency services and police multiple times while mobs burned his church, but no one came. Another Dalga resident said that on August 16 the governor promised to send armored personnel carriers to protect Copts from ongoing violence, but that none came. […] Sectarian attacks against Christians had increased even before the August 14 action against the camps. On July 5, following Morsy’s ouster on July 3, four Copts were killed in Luxor governorate.” (HRW, 22. August 2013)

Die NGO Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) berichtet am 2. Oktober 2013:

„The General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Minya survived an attempted assassination on 30 September, when unknown gunmen opened fire on his entourage in the village of Al-Sarw (el Sario) in Abu Qurqas, Minya Province.” (CSW, 2. Oktober 2013)

Freedom House schreibt in seinem im Jänner 2014 veröffentlichten Jahresbericht zum Berichtsjahr 2013:

„Attacks on the Coptic Christian minority, a long-standing problem, increased dramatically after both the coup and related attacks on Islamist protesters, as many Islamists believed that the Coptic community was complicit in Morsi’s overthrow and the repression of the Islamist community. Islamist militants also increasingly mounted attacks on police and military targets. […] Sectarian bloodshed has increased in recent years, with Christians typically bearing the brunt of the violence, and religious divisions became increasingly politicized following Morsi’s fall from power. Many Morsi supporters believed that the Coptic community was in some way responsible for his overthrow, and attacked Copts and their property in retaliation. After the bloody August 14 dispersal of pro-Morsi sit-ins, Islamist mobs assaulted Christians and damaged or destroyed dozens of churches and businesses. Security forces reportedly failed to intervene.” (Freedom House, 23. Jänner 2014)

Das Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) der Vereinten Nationen berichtet am 11. Dezember 2013:

„Father Mina Abud Sharubiyin, a Coptic Orthodox priest in al-Arish, was killed in early July. Later that month, according to the New York Times, Magdy Lamie, a Christian shop owner in al-Sheikh Zuwaid, was also killed, ‘his head severed, his torso in chains’. Another Copt from al-Arish, Hani Samir Kamel, was killed on 1 September. Rights groups in Egypt attribute attacks on Copts - in Sinai and elsewhere in Egypt - to the common belief that the Christian community demonstrated almost entirely against the Muslim Brotherhood in the lead-up to the coup. ‘Militants used to not threaten civilians …Now there are random killings. People have started fearing them as much as the military’ No group has claimed responsibility for the murders of the three Copts in North Sinai, but according to Ishaq Ibrahim, a programme officer for freedom of religion with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), these are political and religiously motivated attacks.” (IRIN, 11. Dezember 2013)

Quellen: (Zugriff auf alle Quellen am 18. März 2014)