Egypt’s state security prosecutor’s office has ordered the release of nine Copts detained for three months for demanding the reconstruction of a burned down church, the country’s largest human rights NGO said on Sunday.
Read alsoWheat: beleaguered Egypt calls for international aid
On January 30, nine residents of Ezbet Faragallah, 220 km south of Cairo, were imprisoned for “terrorism” and “threat to public orderaccording to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
They had participated a week earlier in a demonstration to denounce the refusal of the authorities to rebuild the only church in this village in the province of Minya, burnt down in 2016.
Sunday, the same day that Coptic Christians celebrate Easter, they were able to reunite with their families, the priest of their village told AFP.
In this villageabout 800 Coptic Christians (live) without a place of worshipsince the fire, denounced Amnesty International. This fire wasdeliberateaccording to unidentified sources cited by EIPR.
In 2021, the church had been demolished and the inhabitants filed a request for reconstruction, but the authorities did not follow up even though the law obliges to give a response within four months, according to Amnesty.
Since the entry into force in 2016 of a law regulating the construction and restoration of churches, the authorities have only given their preliminary agreement to less than 40% of the requests and only 20% have obtained a final agreement, according to the EIRP.
Copts represent 10 to 15 million of the 103 million Egyptians
The largest Christian community in the Middle East, the Copts represent 10 to 15 million of the 103 million Egyptians but consider themselves kept away from many positions in the justice system, universities and even the police.
The subject is sensitive and Coptic human rights activist Patrick Zaki recently spent 22 months in detention for “spreading false informationbecause of an article denouncing violations of the rights of Christians in Egypt.
Copts have suffered reprisals from radical Islamists, particularly after the military overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 with churches, schools and homes set on fire.
Read alsoCoptic human rights activist freed after two years in detention in Egypt
His successor Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is the first president of Egypt to attend the Coptic Christmas Mass every year, while his predecessors were content to send representatives there.