Hamayouni Repealed? Hosny Mubarak Passes the Buck to Egyptian Governers
On the off-chance that you don't know who the Copts (my people) are, may I have the pleasure of informing you that we're the Christians of Egypt. The descendents of the pharaohs. The people who, until recently, have had to get the signature of Egypt's president, Hosny Mubarak, every time they needed to fix a church toilet that was on the fritz.
I'm not kidding. A relic of more Ottoman times, the mangled law stated that a presidential decree was required for any modification--including repairs--done to a Christian church. (At press time, no such law restricted mosques in Egypt.)
Now, however, the magnanimous leader Mubarak has delegated this job to his Governers.
(Have a read: from Copts.com.)
This isn't the great news that it would seem to be at first blush, however. And not just because it's a silly, outdated, MANGLED law to begin with.
Rather, the problem lies elsewhere; despite Mubarak's admonishment to the Governers that they should wrap up each request within a month, some Copts fear that things will only worsen for them, as Governers (especially in the villages of Upper Egypt, where Copts have frequently been killed as they walked down a road, or in their churches) aren't famous for being Copt-friendly.
All in all, only time will tell whether this is a victory--or whether this is just another chapter in the book called "Being Coptic Ain't as Easy as it Looks, and It Sho' Don't Look Easy."
I'm not kidding. A relic of more Ottoman times, the mangled law stated that a presidential decree was required for any modification--including repairs--done to a Christian church. (At press time, no such law restricted mosques in Egypt.)
Now, however, the magnanimous leader Mubarak has delegated this job to his Governers.
(Have a read: from Copts.com.)
This isn't the great news that it would seem to be at first blush, however. And not just because it's a silly, outdated, MANGLED law to begin with.
Rather, the problem lies elsewhere; despite Mubarak's admonishment to the Governers that they should wrap up each request within a month, some Copts fear that things will only worsen for them, as Governers (especially in the villages of Upper Egypt, where Copts have frequently been killed as they walked down a road, or in their churches) aren't famous for being Copt-friendly.
All in all, only time will tell whether this is a victory--or whether this is just another chapter in the book called "Being Coptic Ain't as Easy as it Looks, and It Sho' Don't Look Easy."
Comments
What should have happened is for him to either; lift all restrictions on church building and restorations. Or put the same restrictions on mosques. I know that the latter would have been useless as any request to build a mosque would be signed in minutes anyway. But at least he would have conveyed a message that the government looks at all Egyptians as equals