In the wake of the recent court ruling obliging the Coptic Church to issue remarriage permits for divorced couples—the Church currently issues such permits to the wronged party alone; the other party is given a permit only conditionally—and the church’s refusal to abide by the ruling, it was open season on the

We are approaching the Thanawiya Amma examinations, the final examinations for the secondary school stage, which qualify students for enrolment in universities. The event calls for huge administrative preparations nationwide. Adequate staff must be found to invigilate and supervise the exams, and to mark

Whenever an opportunity comes up to shed light on a positive incident, I hasten to seize it to inform the reader. Since our daily lives are more often than not dominated by negative incidents, I fear that I often end up conveying a bleak, despairing picture of matters on the ground. This, I fear, might dissuade us from working to find solutions to our problems, a stance which goes absolutely against my belief of the essentiality of striving to understand and overcome the difficulties and injustices we encounter.

Some two months ago, MP Mustafa al-Fiqi made a declaration to the effect that the era of President Mubarak had seen no discrimination against Copts, with many of them reaching senior positions in various fields. Dr Fiqi categorically denied that Copts were deprived of holding specific positions. I

Talks about the upcoming elections dominate the major part of local news. As in sports, a ‘warming up’ process is in session, in anticipation of the real game. Next month should see the mid-term elections of the Shura (Consultative) Council, the upper house of Egypt’s Parliament; next October the elections for

I am not about to tackle court rulings or to criticise them. The judicial authority warrants all due respect and reverence; and there are legal, well established routes to follow if one is to question or contest a ruling. I am just about to comment on a few rulings which appear revolutionary in concept but, even

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights’ recently-issued study on “Sectarian violence throughout two years” has been the subject of a thorough review which I presented to Watani readers in the last two editorials. I reviewed the various patterns of sectarian violence cited in the study, as well as the typical

“Sectarian violence throughout two years” is the title of an eminently significant and serious study published this month by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). The EIPR is an Egyptian NGO that monitors the situation of freedoms—especially religious freedoms—in Egypt, and issues quarterly

In the space of a single week one fortnight ago, the Shubra Misdemeanours Court of Appeals issued two successive rulings acquitting two priests of the charge of carrying out unlicensed

Today is Easter Sunday. Today we honour the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and His triumph over death. Humankind has been forever liberated from subjugation to death and a new covenant of Grace has

I have made it a rule never to get dragged into futile arguments or wars of words. But I hope it is obvious that the right-of-reply rule stipulated by the journalist code of honour includes the right of comment by the editor.

Today I go back to tackling the Shubral-Kheima conference on citizenship rights, which I began last Sunday by commenting on the viewpoints voiced by Qalyubiya governor Adly Hussein regarding Coptic

Last February the bishopric of Shubral-Kheima, Qalyubiya, held a conference to discuss citizenship rights. The conference, which was sponsored by the bishop of Shubral-Kheima Anba Morqos, hosted

The last two months have seen significant action on the Egyptian scene. Following the Nag Hammadi Christmas Eve crime which left six Copts and one Muslim dead, what may be described as healthy

It is no overstatement to say that this month has been quite eventful. Given that a few of these events go contrary to all reason and to normal states of affairs, however, they definitely qualify as bombshells. Three incidents in specific warrant comment.

More than one month has passed since the Nag Hammadi crime. The culprits are being tried in court. The numerous studies, analyses, and expert opinions published on the crime have been unanimous in

In his recent meeting with the delegation of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Minister of Religious Endowments Hamdi Zaqzouq said that the bill for a unified law for building places

My worst fear is that, following the Christmas Eve crime against the Copts in Nag Hammadi, we would get carried away by the tone of chivalrous rhetoric growing shriller by the day. This is bound to throw us

This is not the first time I write about Watani Braille, our monthly publication of material selected from Watani and printed in Braille for the benefit of the visually impaired. I wrote before of the dilemma we

The shootout which targeted the Copts as they left church following Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, is still reverberating shock waves inside and outside Egypt.

I had intended to use the last editorial in 2009 to review the past year and cite hopes for the New Year. I changed my mind, however, in the wake of the recent visit of President Hosni Mubarak to the Court of Cassation