Human rights activists were shocked to discover that imans at some of Cairo’s leading mosques were preaching against two of their most prominent colleagues’ and that the driving force behind these organised sermons of hate appeared to be an Egyptian government ministry. Leading human rights campaigners say imans? attacks incite murder. Index on Censorship?s Rohan Jayasekera reports (25-MAR-05)
Imans at the el Fath and el Nour mosques and others across Cairo have accused Negad el Borai, chairman of the Group for Democratic Development (GDD) and Dr Saad el din Ibrahim, chairman of Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies by name as ?traitors? for their work for rights reform in Egypt.
One of the imams described their calls for amendments to the constitution to limit the powers of the country?s president, among other reforms, as an American ?infidel? idea, and he asked the congregation to fight such traitors and ideas, reported the independent liberal daily al-Masry al-Youm.
The 18 March sermons were condemned by the GDD as direct incitement to murder the government?s political opponents, and a new form of harassment. The secularist writer Farag Fawda was assassinated in June 1992 after a similar campaign in the mosques falsely accused him of apostasy and treason.
The el Nour mosque is one of Cairo?s newest and largest; the el Fath mosque, in the working class Cairo suburb of Manshiet Nasser, is historically a focus of political extremism.
The two targets have condemned the threats. A professor of political sociology at the American University in Cairo, Ibrahim was the focus of international attention when, in 2000, he was arrested, detained and convicted of charges that included treason and defamation of Egypt?s image abroad. He was eventually acquitted after an 18-month legal battle and intense lobbying by the international community.
El Borai has been at the forefront of legal challenges to rights abuses in Egypt for several years; he is currently defending the MP Ayman Nour, the first independent challenger for the presidency to so far step forward, since arrested on forgery charges widely dismissed as politically motivated.
But human rights activists are most concerned at the apparent role of the Egyptian government in the incident. All mosques in Egypt are under the direct control of the state Ministry of Islamic Endowments, the government body that supervises mosques, appoints imans and approves the sermons.
The GDD?s el Borai has called on Egyptian attorney general Maher Abdul Wahid to investigate the Ministry?s campaign against human rights activists.
The group insists that the Egyptian government is responsible for the safety of the two named men and their families. It has also called for the resignation of Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq, the urbane European trained philosophy professor ? hitherto regarded as a moderate ? who has headed the Ministry of Islamic Endowments for ten years.
Throughout his years in charge the ministry has been gradually taking over the direct management of Egypt?s mosques in order to flush out extremist imans and clamp down on fundamentalist agitation.
In 2002 the ministry made their rule over the country?s estimated 90,000 mosques and private zawaya prayer halls absolute. All mosques must now be licensed. Zaqzouq?s officials appoint and pay the salaries of the imans, propose themes for their sermons and monitor their delivery.
Egypt?s human rights situation has become increasingly tense as presidential elections draw near. President Hosni Mubarak has proposed changes in the constitution to open up the vote to new political parties and allow an open election for the presidency, but rights groups dispute both the motive and the claimed objectives of the plan. Mubarak?s government controls the elected bodies that endorse candidates and virtually all the media.
Mubarak, age 76 and in power since 1981, has not said whether he will seek a fifth six-year term, although he is widely expected to do so. The only challenger so far, Ayman Nour, leader of the new al-Ghad party, was arrested in January. That same month journalist Ibrahim al-Sahar, lawyer Marwa Faruq, and student Baho Baksh were jailed for 14 days for ?incitement against public order? for distributing leaflets at the Cairo International Book Fair calling for protests against Mubarak?s standing unopposed for a fifth term.
El Borai said that he was surprised by such a negative development as to see the government use the mosques against democracy advocates.
He has won support from other rights groups. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) warned of the danger of allowing politics to impose on religion. The attorney general should ensure that the incident was properly investigated and legal action taken to prevent their reoccurrence, said the EOHR in a statement.
?Their sermons should seek to allow them ?to better understand their religion and world, rather than being used as a means of defaming human rights activists and defenders of freedom of expression and opinion?.
