(AINA) -- The Egyptian administrative court of the State Council dismissed today the lawsuit filed by Muslim lawyers, demanding the disclosure of the whereabouts of Camilia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic priest, who was alleged to have converted to Islam and held against her will by the Coptic Church. In reaching its decision, the court said the Muslim lawyers failed to provide proof to support their claim of the detention of Camilia by the church.

Egypt's school curriculum, laden with anti-Semitic and anti-Christian sentiment, must undergo drastic reform to comply with international standards, according to a new report to be presented this week at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Some Muslims set the houses of their Coptic neighbors ablaze on Saturday after a dispute over building a church in Awlad Khalaf village in the Sohag Governorate, southern Egypt. A police official said this happened after a Christian man opened fire on Muslims protesting against the church and injured two. He added that the fire destroyed a number of houses but did not hurt anyone, and military reinforcements were sent to the village in case the situation deteriorates.

The head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III, wished former Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa luck with his presidential campaign when the two met at Shenouda's office Thursday, MENA reported. Moussa adopted admirable positions as foreign minister and Arab League secretary, Shenouda said. "I hope Egyptians' choice of presidential candidates will be governed by logic," the Pope added, expressing hope for democracy and development.

EGYPT -- A recent spate of violence in Egypt, mostly incited by conservative Salafi Muslims after President Hosni Mubarak's downfall, has left over 24 killed, more than 200 wounded and three churches destroyed. According to a report by the World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty Commission (WEA-RLC), the perception of threat to Christians is so severe that many of them are reportedly seeking to move out of the country.

Large numbers of Copts supported the Egyptian revolution, but they now fear that a recent escalation in violence and discrimination is only likely to worsen following likely Islamist victories at the polls this autumn. A mass Christian exodus from Egypt, similar to the one that took place in Iraq, seems almost inevitable. This February saw separate brutal attacks against two Coptic monasteries -- the Anba Bishoy Monastery in Wadi Al-Natroun, 110 kilometres north of Cairo, and the Anba Makarious Al Sakandarie Monastery in Al Fayoum, 130 kilometres south west of the capital.

Days after the cabinet's draft law on places of worship was issued, Christians are saying it is far from satisfactory and would reproduce the issues that have long caused sectarian tension. “Under the former regime of President Hosni Mubarak the building of a church was a security issue, where the [now] dissolved State Security apparatus was the body responsible for giving church building permission,” said Sameh Fawzy, a political expert who specializes in citizenship issues. “The new draft law is very ambiguous and may not differ from the former regime’s tactics in dealing with the Coptic issue.”

QENA, Egypt -- Five weeks after the fall of the Egyptian regime, Ayman Anwar Mitri's apartment was torched. When he showed up to investigate, he was bundled inside by bearded Islamists. Mr. Mitri is a member of the Christian Coptic minority that accounts for one-tenth of the country's 83 million people. The Islamists accused him of having rented the apartment--by then unoccupied--to loose Muslim women.

A memorandum proposing nine amendments to legislation of unifying regulations on places of worship was submitted to the cabinet and ruling military council by Bishop Moussa, the Orthodox Church’s bishop for youth, on Saturday.

CAIRO: Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church denied media reports about Pope Shenouda's alleged retreat to the US being a form of protests against what was called "hardships faced by Copts in Egypt post January 25 Revolution."

Scores of the protestors at Tahrir Square on Friday 3 June attacked the crew and correspondent of the Coptic TV Channel CTV as they covered the demonstrations in Tahrir. Marianna Abdou, who is also a Watani reporter in her early thirties, was beaten up and jostled, as a rumour spread among the crowds that she was a Jew working for an Israeli channel. A policeman who fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd that was attacking her succeeded in doing so, but was himself attacked, his gun grabbed, and he had to be hospitalized for injuries. The CTV crew whisked Abdou into a cab that took her home, bruised and severely shaken. The vice president of the board of directors of CTV, Illiya Bassili, condemned the attack, describing it as nothing but an act of thuggery. Watani editor-in-chief Youssef Sidhom launched a campaign calling for the media to boycott demonstrations and sit-ins which, he said, have already achieved their objective. A national project is underway, he said, and any demands should be placed with the authorities concerned. The first priority of Egyptians today, he said, should be to get the wheels of production rolling and to set the stage for a democratic, stable State.

CAIRO: Military prosecutors questioned a newspaper editor and a journalist on Friday over a report alleging Egypt's military would back an Islamist group in elections, a source said. The editor of Al-Wafd party's newspaper and the journalist who wrote the story may be punished for publishing false news if they are unable to back the report, the military source said.

Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud referred 48 suspects connected with the sectarian violence that occurred in Imbaba in early May to the State Security Supreme Court. They are charged with murder, attempted murder, endangering public security, causing sectarian strife, and deliberately setting a church on fire, in addition to possessing firearms and ammunition without a license.

CAIRO: Five political parties and movements under foundation announced Tuesday their integration with the Democratic Front Party (DFP) to form a strong liberal coalition that promotes a civil state. "These parties and movements share the same principles of the Democratic Front Party and the integration will help the party expand, as well as unite liberal forces," said Osama Al-Ghazaly Harb, chairman of the DFP.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Last January, Nazih Moussa Gerges locked up his downtown Cairo law office and joined hundreds of thousands of fellow Egyptians to demand that President Hosni Mubarak step down. The 33-year-old Christian lawyer was back on the streets this month to press military rulers who took over after Mubarak stepped down to end a spate of sectarian attacks that have killed at least 28 people and left many afraid.

Beirut -- Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai said Sunday that Christians in the Middle East were at all times the victims of conflicts and disputes which others provoke. Addressing believers at the seat of the patriarchate in Bkirki, Rai prayed for God to safeguard people in the Middle East and help Christians in particular to overcome difficulties. "Christians have always been the victims of conflicts and disputes just because [of their religious identity] despite the fact that they are innocent. We ask God to help them and give a meaning to their difficult life," Rai said addressing members of the "Christ is my Joy" foundation.

CAIRO: Outspoken Coptic lawyer Morris Sadek described an Administrative Court decision stripping him of Egyptian citizenship as being legally null and void. “A court cannot strip a citizen of his nationality. It can only recommend this procedure to the Cabinet which is the only entity authorized to take the final decision…based on the citizenship law,” Sadek told Daily News Egypt Sunday evening in an email exchange, a few hours after the ruling was issued.

On Saturday 21 May 2011, the Coptic Community held a protest in Martin Place, Sydney, from 11.00am to 3.00pm, with a significant difference. This protest was supported, for the first time, by five associated groups: The Australian Coptic Movement (ACM)

CAIRO - Coptic Christians end their 12-day protest outside the official TV building, a leading protester said Friday evening. "The decision to end the sit-in was taken after the release of Copts arrested in a dispute over a church in (the northern Cairo district of ) Ain Shams," Bishop Mtees Nasr said

NSW police have asked the organisers to relocate the event to Martin Place due to larger than expected turnout and the fact that Commonwealth St, Surry Hills is too narrow.

Copts will end their almost two-week protest at the Egyptian State TV building, said Metias Nasr, priest at the Virgin Mary Church in Ezbet al-Nakhl and a leader of the protest. Nasr called on Coptic youth to respond to his call to stop protesting, but dozens of remained, chanting, “We will stay, we won’t go!”