of Christians, by amending the 1994 Arab Charter on Human Rights at a summit in Tunisia, BosNewsLife learned Wednesday, March 17.
The developments come shortly after Iraq adopted an interim constitution under U.S. pressure, and is part of what some Arab commentators have dubbed a "democracy frenzy" in the Middle East, a region with at least hundreds of political and religious prisoners.
The March 29-30 summit was expected to be also closely monitored by Christian human rights watchdogs, including the influential U.S. Copts Association, which has expressed especially concern about the persecution of Egyptian Christians, also known as Copts.
INFLUENTIAL COUNTRY
Egypt is one of the most influential country’s within the Arab League, and any changes there are believed to impact the whole region. The U.S, Copts Association said it is currently especially concerned that "vulnerable Coptic young women have repeatedly been the targets of Muslim extremists, intent on converting them to Islam."
It said one of them, 18 year-old Ingy Helmy Georgy Labibe, was abducted while shopping in her hometown, Mahala el Kobra, in January, the organization said. "Shortly thereafter, the family was notified that Ingy was in the custody of Fahmy Taha Mahmoud and would officially convert to Islam," the US Copts Association added.
Egyptian police have refused the family’s requests to have their daughter retired and physically examined to assess whether she had been sexually violated amid reports that her abductor is a civilian advisor to a local Police Chief and his unit.
"COMPLETE VIOLATION"
"This conduct is a complete violation of the law, which prohibits the conversion of minors, and reveals the complicity of the local police in masking the offense as a conversion to Islam," said Michael Meunier, president of the U.S. Copts Association.
His organization also said that four young men have been arrested by Naweeba district police as they were carrying Christian materials while vacationed at a local hotel. Copts Peter Nady Kamel, Ishak Dawood Yessa, John Adel Fokha, and Andrew Saeed have been imprisoned at the Tor Sinai police station since January, the well informed organization said.
"They have been charged with the creation of a group that poses a threat to national unity and threatening the social peace. After an initial extension to their detention on February 9, their imprisonment was once again extended to March 20th, with no court date in sight. The young men’s indefinite detention has caused their families grave concern," the U.S. Copts Association said in a statement send to BosNewsLife.
Meunier added that "the arbitrary arrest of Coptic men and women" reveals " the discriminatory attitudes permeating throughout the nations local police forces."
SECURITY FORCES
Egypt’s security forces have repeatedly come under international scrutiny for reported misdeeds in the arrest and detention of Egyptian citizens, including Copts.
The country, the most populous among the Arab states, has been under emergency law since Mubarak came to power in the wake of predecessor Anwar Sadat’s assassination by Islamic extremists. Authorities still have wide powers to arrest civilians, hold them indefinitely and try them in military courts with limited right of appeal, analyst say.
The amendments of 1994 Arab Charter on Human Rights to be discussed this month in Tunisia are specifically affirming every individual’s right to life; the right to fair trial; the legal status of crime and punishment; the right to political asylum without extradition; and prohibitions on torture, deportation and revoking citizenship.
WOMEN RIGHTS
They also strengthen workers’ rights and refer more explicitly to the equal rights of men and women.
But "one of the problems facing these modest amendments is that no Arab state has yet ratified the 1994 charter. Another is that if the amendments are approved, the legislatures of seven member states will have to ratify the revised charter for it to come into force," said The Jordan Times news paper this week.
"Despite the virtually incessant talk of "reform" in the region, there is little optimism that this will happen any time soon," it commented. There has been concern about rise of Muslim militants opposing Christians and other minorities, who they view as allies of the Western World and the United States at a time of Washington’s declared war on terror.
