As Egypt’s president Mursi hands Salafist and Al Jamaa
Al Islamiya Islamists power over seven out of seventeen governorates,
boosting the power of Muslim fundamentalists in the country, the problem
of Coptic girls going missing remains. It is likely the girls are being
kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and forced to marry.
The Association of Victims of Abduction and Forced
Disappearance (AVAFD) gives these victims a voice. Since the fall of
Mubarak’s regime, disappearance cases seem to have become more serious.
The association’s founder, Ibraam Lewis, stated:
“The association has filed 45 complaints with the Prosecutor General and
a memorandum to the military junta during its rule of the transition
period, in addition to memorandums to most of the ministers of
interior.” It has also organised a series of meetings - notably “with
Hossam Ghiryani, president of the National Council for Human Rights, a
number of the council's members, and a number of members of the Shura
Council” - to raise awareness about the problem.
Lewis presented some shocking figures: the
association has registered about 500 cases of Coptic girls being
abducted after the revolution. "The Association has agreed to organize a
meeting with the girl returned after kidnapping in one of the provinces
of Upper Egypt and the French journalist talked with her about the
abduction period, which lasted for 60 days. He saw the removal of the
cross from her hand," Lewis added.
Although the phenomenon of young women being
kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam is quite widespread in Egypt,
particularly since the rise of political Islam to power, the case of a
14 year old girl named Sarah, has sparked an outrage. Sarah Ishaq
Abdelmalek was on her way to school with her cousin Miriam last 30
September in el-Dabaa, when they stopped by a book store. Miriam left
Sarah in the store and she has not been seen since. Her father reported
her disappearance to the police and received a phone call straight
afterwards, telling him he would never see his daughter again.
Bishop Anba Pachomius instructed Fr. Bigem, the
local church supervisor, to send an appeal to President Mursi, informing
him of the kidnapping and pointing the finger at Mahomoud Selim Abdel
Gawad, the owner of a book store near Sarah’s school. Abdel Gawad is a local Salafist leader. “The police know where the little girl is and have promised to solve the case, but this is just talk," said Fr. Bigem.
Human rights organisations and other organisations
are actively trying to find Sarah and ensure she is reunited with her
family as soon as possible. But the Salafist Front has issued a
communiqué urging human rights organisations, especially Egypt’s
National Council for Women, to desist from trying to bring Sarah back to
her family because she has converted and is now married to a Muslim.
The communiqué states that Sarah “has reached puberty and is therefore
in a position to accept the consequences and responsibilities of
marriage.”
The case is still being debated and human rights
organisations are saying that it may be necessary to appeal to the
International Criminal Court, given that Egypt’s Muslim authorities seem
unwilling to defend the law against Salafist threats.
