The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights issued an analytical report today titled “Restricted Diversity in State Religion: The Case of Religious Freedom of Shia Egyptians.” The report documents and analyzes developments of the status of Shia Egyptians as a case study of the crisis of Muslim citizens adhering to sects other than the dominant state-sanctioned one. It looks at official religious policies that restrict religious diversity in Islam, incitement to hatred, discrimination, violence against Shia, and violations of other human rights from January 2011 to May 2016.
the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights released a study on the use of customary reconciliation to resolve sectarian disputes and the state’s responsibility for the violation of citizenship rights and its support for discriminatory procedures against Coptic citizens.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights monitored with growing concern the sectarian attacks and security abuses seen in the Minya governorate
In an end-of-year statement, EIPR lamented that despite its shortcomings, the new constitution had established important new protections for citizens against oppression and injustice.
In the aftermath of the January 2011 Revolution, the controversy concerning the need for a law governing constructing places of worship in Egypt was renewed.
The incident in Deir Gabal Al Tair village took place after the disappearance of Iman Morqos Sarufim amid allegations from her family that she was kidnapped by a Muslim resident of a nearby village.
In a study titled “The Democracy of the Clergy,” a commentary on the proposed bylaws that criticizes the church’s drafting of the statute in closed, non-transparent consultations based on a narrow interpretation of Article 3.
A report that chronicles and analyzes cases of defamation of religion between 2011 and 2013 is now available in English under the title of “Besieging Freedom of Thought: Defamation of Religion Cases in Two Years of the Revolution.”
The report documents and analyzes defamation of religion cases that took place in various Egyptian provinces and the types of social and legal intimidation facing the accused. It finds increasing prosecution and intimidation aimed at curbing freedom of opinion, belief and expression by unofficial social actors. In most of these cases, the victims were ordinary citizens and not necessarily well-known commentators or public figures, as it used to be in the past two decades. Moreover, prosecutions were not limited to members of religious or communal minorities.
