Friday, March 15, 2013

#Libya and #Egypt : The Silent Crisis

The famous silent man from Tahrir spoke about it
We are facing hard times when it comes to the Egyptian Libyan relations unlike what we have imagined especially in the past two weeks.
The Egyptians especially the Egyptian Christians are extremely angry from Libyans for the murder of Ezzat Attallah in Libya. Upper Egyptian Attallah was arrested in Libya for the suspicion of spreading Christianity. After couple of days of his detention along with other Egyptian Christians , he died."The image on the right : The famous silent man from Tahrir square received the body of Ezzat in Cairo airport with this message 'Ezzat do not be sad , Mohamed will bring back your rights' "
According to the family of late Attallah , he was tortured till death. His wife claims that she took photos for his body with signs of torture.His family is saying that he was not promoting Christianity and that he was his only relation to those Christians arrested there that the authorities there found his contact number in one of the detainees’ mobile phone if I understand correctly. Attallah used to own mobile repair shop in Libya. 
Egyptian Christians protested angrily for two days in a row at Libyan embassy in Zamalek area in Cairo last week. Some of them burned the Libyan flag in anger. Then Libyans became angry too after knowing that their flag  was burned in Cairo torched an Egyptian Church in Benghazi on Thursday.
There are still Egyptian Christians detained in Libya and those who were released from them and return back home are speaking about horrors they witnessed during custody.
Of course you will wonder where the Egyptian government is from all this , well unfortunately the Presidency is not keen to send the president’s aide for  foreign affairs Essam El Hadad nor the head of the intelligence as it had done with the MB detainees in UAE. The ministry of foreign affairs in Egypt issued couple of very small statements about the incidents claiming that it was following the matter with its Libyan counterpart..etc.
Now you can feel that there is a crisis between Egypt and Libya , people are witnessing its signs and I think the case of Attallah will inflame the crisis more and more.
The original crisis has to do with the fact that Egypt hosts some of the former Qaddafi regime members including Qaddaf El Dam. The new rulers of Libya do not buy that he defected and so on. Now the government of Libya does not want Qaddaf El Dam and other Qaddafi’s regime members and supporters from big families in Egypt alone but rather want to restore back their assets and investments in Egypt.
The Libyan assets and investments in Egypt are big , not small to the level that they can affect the Egyptian economy now especially in our current disastrous status as I have been told by trusted sources.
Another part of the crisis is the fact Libya has been the main source of arms that are flooding the country .
I do not know if the Egyptian intelligence is still holding the Libyan file like in the days of Omar Suleiman or not but I know that the Presidency is not doing its part as it should whether to seek the rights of those citizens allegedly tortured or to solve that dilemma of Qaddafi supporters or even.
I once heard a real strategic analyst saying that the real challenge for Egypt will not come from the East this time but rather from the West.
As usual Morsi’s administration fails to stand up for this challenge as it should and yes it is the responsibility of Morsi whether you like or not.
I know it is ironic as people believed that with the Islamists in charge in both in Egypt and Libya things will be great and our borders will be opened but what you know !!

15 comments:

  1. What makes you think this bothers Morsi or anyone else in the Muslim Brotherhood in any way? The salafists, whether in Egypt or Libya or any other Arab country, are the partners of the Muslim Brotherhood. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they quietly approved of mistreatment of Egyptian Christians in Libya. They certainly don't seem to have much problem with mistreatment of Egyptian Christians in Egypt, do they?

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  2. 'Ezzat do not be sad , Mohamed will bring back your rights'

    That's kind of offensive, considering the man was a Christian, murdered by Muslims for his Christian faith. Is it deliberately so?

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  3. Why say offensive? Surely the statement means that Mohamed considers himself as one with Ezzat.

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    1. Because it's like a rapist who wants to care for (own) his victim. Doesn't seem that difficult a concept. Maybe if Egyptians understood things like this a little better there wouldn't be such a massive problem with persecution of religious minorities in Egypt.

      Anyway, a more fitting show of solidarity would be to bring the perpetrators to justice and ensure they get the punishment they deserve. But that won't happen. It doesn't even happen in Egypt, when Egyptian Muslims victimize Christians.

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    2. If you're a Muslim it's not offensive, but to a Christian like Ezzam -- murdered by Muslims for being a Christian -- it might have been very offensive.

      Do you really need that explained to you? Maybe you're just trolling; that is to say, adding insult to injury.

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    3. Actually for Egyptian Christians it is not offensive because it is a sign of co-existence in Egypt the crescent with the cross.
      Already realistically speaking Ezzat's rights were not be restored expect when Muslims in Egypt stand for these lost rights.

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    4. Zeinobia
      I very much agree with you. It is sad enough that Egypt has its share of bigots and criminals and hate mongers the like of the so called sheikh abu-Islam (the agent of the despicable wahhabis and who should do some real work for a change than spread hate!) but Egyptians at the end are all Copts some are Muslims and some are Christians (even the prophet called Egypt Bilad al-Qibt) but at the end they are the same people and we should teach our children such fact and that hate is unaccepted

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    5. I didn't realize you were Christian, Zeinobia, but I guess you must be to explain how Christians feel about this.

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    6. I am not Christian dear anonymous but my friends and neighbors are, the Christian activists I know actually were the one who spread the photo online

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    7. Yeah, Muslims ought not presume to give authoritative opinions on what offends Christians in Egypt, even when citing Egyptian Christian "friends and neighbors" as Z did. Egyptian Christians are not free to say what they think. Lest they be, for example, murdered.

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    8. Even the Christian-Muslim solidarity symbol often seen in Egypt is offensive. A large crescent protectively surrounding a small cross? WTF? You cannot be serious. Imagine the Muslim butthurt if the image were a huge cross shining holy protective rays down onto a feeble little crescent.

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    9. Zeinobia said "I am not Christian dear anonymous"

      By the way I am not a Christian either.

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    10. Dear Jason, are you even Egyptian or understand anything about Egyptian culture? I will be really surprised if so...

      Usually my foreign friends are unable to understand that the concept of co-existence has really flourish among Egyptian Muslim\Christian relationships - it only soured in the recent 40 years when power players (eg: Al-Sadat and others) found out how useful can be in controlling people...

      But for an average Egyptians, you must have enough friends and encounters with Muslims/Christians to be able to speak for their name, especially in poor districts where personal relations among neighborhoods are very strong..Egyptian from the rich districts might not relate, due to lack for proper neighbor relationships

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    11. Actually, I think you have it backwards. I think it's probably easier for a foreigner, especially a foreign Christian, to relate to the plight of the oppressed and the persecuted in a country like Egypt where such transgressions are common and considered socially acceptable, than it is for somebody living within the country whose mind has been poisoned by that disgusting cultural dynamic.

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  4. Why offensive? Mohamed, Ezzat, we are all one, all interconnected, all Egyptians., Right?

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