Religious Freedom Report Is Biased Because It Ignored Suppressing Muslim Brotherhood: Rights Group

In his statements to Ikhwanweb, Gamal Eid (chief of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information) commented on the U.S. State Department report on religious freedom saying that Egypt still witnesses violations of religious freedom, but that the report is biased and reflects double-standards. 

Eid said that external entities should by no means interfere in the internal affairs of another country, especially with the US double standard policy. But we shouldn’t ignore religious discrimination in Egypt, he said.

Eid stated that the government insists on oppressing religious groups as well as discrimination against Copts.

However, Eid said the U.S. Department of State report completely ignored the oppression committed against the Muslim Brotherhood, which reflects clear bias.

In the same regard, he refuted that Egyptian organizations disregarded the issue of keeping Wafa Qustantine in custody saying it is important to distinguish between collusion and persistent absorption in ongoing human rights violations in the country.

U.S. Department of State has criticized religious freedoms allover the world in its report on Friday September 19, 2008. The report said that certain governmental procedures and practices led to lower respect of religious freedoms and hinted at the decision passed by the court of first instance confining the freedom of converting from one’s original religion to non-Muslims only and said this ruling legitimized previous restrictions on converting from Islam to another religion.

 

The report discussed the government reaction with those advocating religious freedoms and others converting from Islam to Christianity. It stressed that the government failed to reform social discrimination- reinforcing laws and practices against non- Muslim groups who still face personal and social difficulties since they are unacknowledged by the government.

 

The report stressed the continuation of social arbitrariness and discrimination that were clear in attacks against Christian minorities including abduction, torture of priests, threats of murder for those converting from Islam, harassments against clerks, devastating Christian symbols, burning and usurping a church, according to the US religious freedoms report.