- Emad Abu Ghazi: Attacks on cathedral a crime by the regime 
-          Priest of Khosos to MCN: Nearly 2000 bullets shot at Copts during attacks

- HR organization calls on UN to send fact-finding committee for cathedral attacks

- U.S. State Department urges President Morsi to honor promises made
- Coptic Solidarity: Morsi culpable in unprecedented attack on Coptic pope’s seat
- Coptic Congregational Council: Egypt’s president should bear responsibility of aggressions against Copts
- Coptic members withdraw from Shura session in protest of accusations against Coptic youth
- National powers march to president palace demanding fall of the regime after cathedral attacks
- Patriarch Sako I stresses coexistence between Muslims and Christians in Iraq
- Pope Tawadros II: Regime took no positive action towards the aggressions, Morsi promised to protect Church but so far no evidence
- Pope Tawadros II cancels Wednesday sermon to mourn Coptic victims 
- Epsicopal Church condemns attacks on Copts, warns of Egypt’s docility towards sedition
- Khosos victim’s sister to MCN: Retribution before condolences


Available at: http://www.mcndirect.com/category.aspx?id=55

Egyptian Rights Defenders at UN: “Human rights crises in Egypt must be addressed”

Egyptian human rights defenders representing the Egyptian NGO Forum, a group of 23 independent Egyptian human rights organizations, have been present at the 22nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva throughout the last week with an urgent appeal.
“The human rights crises in Egypt must be urgently addressed by the United Nations,” stated Ziad Abdel Tawab, deputy director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. “Just because we ousted Mubarak does not mean that the democratization process is finished – in reality, progress towards true democracy has stalled. Serious human rights violations continue to be committed with impunity, and civil society and the media are under unprecedented threat by the government. The country has merely traded one form of authoritarianism for another, albeit with some new features.”
Over the last eight months there have been serious concerns about the extent to which the state of human rights in Egypt has rapidly deteriorated under the leadership of President Mohamed Morsi. Some Egyptian human rights organizations have argued that in many ways, the state of human rights in the country currently appears even direr than it did prior to the revolution and the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak.
According to members of the NGO Forum, serious human rights violations have become routine in post-revolutionary Egypt, with all segments of the population being affected. Violations of women’s rights and the right to freedom of assembly, association, and expression, as well as practices of arbitrary detention and torture continue to be carried out with impunity.
These representatives of the Egyptian NGO Forum and Egyptian civil society spoke at a UN side event on 11 March. The event included a discussion of the recent attacks against peaceful protestors in Egypt, which some have described as “circles of hell.”
“Women were forcibly removed from the crowds of demonstrators by circles of men who then attacked them with knives and blades, beat them, ripped their clothes off, and raped them. Extreme brutality was used in all cases, leaving at least two women in need of intensive medical care. In two instances, women were raped with a blade,” stated Massa Amir, a researcher at Nazra for Feminist Studies, referring to recent demonstrations in Egypt that were intended to highlight the anniversary of the uprising for democracy in the country.
“The total lack of political will demonstrated by the government to investigate these violations and prosecute perpetrators represents a serious breach to Egypt’s human rights obligations and constitutes a worrying trend for the future of women’s political participation and their involvement in shaping the new Egypt,” said Masa Amir.
While in Geneva, the delegation also addressed the proposed legislation on non-govermental organizations (NGOs) that is currently being discussed by the upper house of parliament. Such laws, if passed, would threaten the viability of independent civil society in Egypt by introducing a slew of unprecedented restrictions, including cutting off access to funding by human rights and development NGOs. “This legislation would constitute a flagrant violation to the right to freedom of association by forcing the majority of independent NGOs in Egypt to either severely cut their activities or to shut down altogether,”said Mohamed Zaree, Program Manager at the CIHRS and member of the NGO Forum’s delegation to Geneva.
Already, civil society organizations are being targeted by the government. In a letter sent to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs referred to instructions issued by the Prime Minister that no “local entity” shall be permitted to engage with “international entities” in any way without the permission of the “security bodies”. These restrictions violate the numerous resolutions passed by the UN calling on states to allow for unhindered access of local civil society organizations to international human rights mechanisms.
The NGO Forum’s delegation further discussed how the right to peaceful protest and assembly is similarly threatened by a draft law currently being discussed in Egypt that employs overly vague language, including banning protests that would ‘block roads’ or ‘prevent people from going to work’. Such broad provisions have been easily manipulated by authorities to restrict assemblies that they do not want to see take place. In practice, Egyptians face major threats when exercising their right to free assembly. Lethal clashes have broken out following the organization of peaceful protests, as such as during the sit-in at the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace, when supporters of the ruling party clashed with demonstrators, leaving at least 11 people from both sides dead and hundreds injured.
Finally, the NGO Forum’s delegation addressed violations to freedom of expression in general, and media in particular, that are committed in Egypt. As Nihad Aboud, who joins the delegation on behalf of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, points out, “The safety of reporters is nowadays in danger, more that it has ever been. Documented violations include detention, kidnapping, and even death, as with El Hosseiny Abou Deif in December 2012. Various complaints were submitted to the investigative authorities against journalists and other media professionals accusing them with insulting the president, publishing false news, and slander, due to their criticism of the policies of the ruling party. Other violations to media freedom have been committed under the false pretext of defamation of religion. The ruling party seems to be hoping that this will lead to a self-censorship of the media, as was the case under Mubarak.”
Mr. Tawab of CIHRS explains, “We came to Geneva to draw attention to the worsening situation in Egypt and to urge the United Nations Human Rights Council to call upon Egypt to uphold international rights standards and to respect and promote the human rights of Egyptians. Many citizens have and continue to struggle and even give their lives for freedom and democracy. They deserve recognition and protection from the UN Human Rights Council.”
Available at :
http://www.cihrs.org/?p=6172&lang=en

Egypt’s Christians in fear after attack on cathedral

Hundreds of Egyptian Christians were besieged inside Cairo’s Coptic cathedral last night after a mob, reportedly with the help of security forces, launched an attack on worshippers. One person died and 84 were injured during the attack, which began after a funeral mass for five Copts who were killed in sectarian violence on Saturday, in which a Muslim man also died. Wael Eskandar, an Egyptian blogger at the funeral, said he saw people being showered with broken bottles from the roof of a block of flats. After being attacked, he said, the people “started racing out of the side street and destroying the nearby cars”. Last night Egypt’s President Morsi issued a statement, saying he had spoken to Coptic leader Pope Tawadros II and given “I consider any attack on the cathedral as an attack on me, personally.” In a statement following the attack General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom said: “While the Arab Spring and uprising in Tahrir Square were expected to bring about a fresh start for Egypt, the only true difference is that the situation seems to have become progressively worse for many millions of Egyptian citizens. “Today, Egypt saw an unprecedented attack on the See of the Pope of Alexandria, the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Cairo, by mobs, with the police arriving far too late and doing very little, if anything at all, to prevent them.” A reported 100,000 Christians left Egypt last year following the overthrow of President Mubarak in the January 25 Revolution. Available at: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/04/08/egypts-christians-in-fear-after-attack-on-cathedral/

URGENT: Clashes break out at funeral of Al Khosous victims in front of St Mark's Cathedral, Al Abassiya

CAIRO — Clashes broke out on Sunday outside the Egyptian capital's Coptic cathedral after funeral prayers were held for four Christians killed in sectarian clashes, witnesses said. They said the mourners who were chanting against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood were pelted with stones as they came out of the cathedral. In a statement, the interior ministry said "a number of mourners began to damage cars in the area which led to confrontations with residents of the area." Television footage showed scenes of chaos outside the cathedral in the central Cairo neighbourhood of Abbassiya where Coptic bishops had been calling for peace and calm after the killing of the Christians on Friday. Loud bangs could be heard, as clouds of smoke rose up into the sky and people ran in several directions. At the service, the congregation chanted against the Muslim Brotherhood of President Mohamed Morsi. "Leave!" they told Morsi as they held up wooden crosses, television footage showed. One Muslim was also killed in the clashes which flared on Friday night in Al-Khusus, a poor area in Qalyubia governorate, after a Muslim in his 50s objected to children drawing a swastika on a religious institute. The man insulted Christians and the cross, and an argument broke out with a young Christian man who was passing by, which escalated into a gunbattle between Muslims and Christians in which assault rifles were used. A priest in Al-Khusus, Suryal Yunan, said attackers torched "parts" of an Anglican church. Muslims also set a Christian home ablaze and ransacked a pharmacy owned by a Copt, a police official said. A number of angry Muslim residents tried to surround the town's Mar Girgis church, but the security presence in the area prevented them from doing so. Both sides then set fire to tyres in the narrow streets where residents live in crowded slum housing. Christians form between six and 10 percent of Egypt's population of nearly 83 million people. The country's Coptic Christians and Muslims have clashed on several occasions since the revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. Around 50 Christians and several Muslims have been killed in the clashes. http://www.copticworld.org/articles/1899/

The American Coptic Union (ACU) Submits a Complaint to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
On August 17, 2010, the ACU issued a complaint on behalf of the oppressed Coptic Christians of Egypt to the OHCHR. This complaint was filed against President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt; Interior Minister Muhammed Habib AlAdley; Chairman of Committee of Policies of the NDP (ruling party) Gamal Mubarak; Speaker of Parliament Fat’hey Suror; and Speaker of Shura Council Safwat ElSherif.


Click to Read English:

http://www.prlog.org/10886181-the-american-coptic-union-acu-submits-complaint-to-un-commissioner-for-human-rig.html


http://www.free-press-release.com/news-the-american-coptic-union-acu-submits-a-complaint-to-united-nations-high-commissioner-for-human-rights-1282798572.html

ACU Media Center
Sherif Shukry,ESQ.

Concluding observations adopted by CEDAW at its 46th session

herewith the Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women at its recently concluded 46th session, held in New York, from 12 to 30 July 2010, through the listserve administered by the Human RightsTreaties Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

For your information, the Concluding Observations are provided in the original language of adoption and unedited version. Final version and translations into additional languages to be found in due course on the Treaty Body Database of the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/cedaws46.

Signature campaign for allowing ElBaradei to achieve change escalates in Ramadan

From: Shorouk newspaper
door-knocking campaign in Assiut managed to collect 300 signatures on statement of change "Together we will change", which includes demands to amend the constitution and end the emergency . For more details you can visit. http://www.shorouknews.com/ContentData.aspx?ID=283564