Sheikh, told MCN, “Egypt’s Foreign Ministry should be in contact with its Libyan counterpart to release the detained Copts. If these charges have been confirmed, the Egyptian authorities should appoint a member of the defense staff to defend them, as they are Egyptians.”
He added the proselytizing accusation is weak, and that it is difficult to find evidence proving involvement in such actions. He stressed that proselytizing is viewed as a crime in Arab countries only, not in countries that believe in freedom.
The Libyan authorities arrested over 100 Copts on Wednesday over accusations of proselytizing, because they found Christian pictures and books in their houses and places of work.
The Libyan authorities tortured the detainees in the places of imprisonment.
Egyptian political activist Aboul Ezz el-Hariri said, “The ignorance of the Egyptian government regarding the arrest of 100 Copts in Libya over accusations of proselytizing is a crime against Copts.”
He signaled that the current government is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and that the Egyptian president is working under the supreme guide of the ruling group.
A former presidential candidate, Hariri criticized the non-interference of Egypt’s Foreign Ministry to help release the Coptic detainees when it previously stepped up to help release 12 detainees in the UAE affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Hariri told MCN it is not strange the Egyptian authorities have not interfered to help release the Egyptian Christians detained in Libya as they did for the Muslim detainees in the Emirates. “It is the state of the Muslim Brotherhood,” he added.
Hariri noted the Egyptian authorities should take actions to understand why the Egyptian Christians were arrested and the accusations attributed to them.
He said they should not be left without defense and described such as a role as a national duty.
He criticized the Egyptian government for abandoning Christian citizens because of its discriminatory approach towards Copts.
“Egypt’s entry into a sectarian tunnel can be attributed to the Muslim Brotherhood,” he concluded.
Lawyer Dalia Zakhari, a human rights activist, criticized the silence of the Egyptian presidency regarding the unlawful detention of Egyptian Copts in Libya on charges of proselytizing.
When Brotherhood members were arrested and detained in the UAE, the presidency sent a high level delegation, headed by Essam el-Haddad, assistant to the president, to negotiate their release.
In remarks to MCN, Zakhari expressed surprise that the arrested Christians were accused of proselytizing, as Libyan law does not criminalize proselytizing. She stressed those arrested are ordinary people who own the Bible for blessing, not for preaching.
“Even if their charge is illegal immigration, they should be handed over to Egypt and should not be kept in humiliating detention this way,” Zakhari said.
Commenting on the seriousness of the situation in Libya, Zakhari said, “There is no coherent security apparatus as security militias have separated from the official security agency. They have weapons and make decisions themselves. They contract with people to protect them for money. The regular government security forces negotiate with these militias to hand over their weapons to the government and return to work in the regular government forces. They hear the militias because they possess large quantities of arms.”
Zakhari expressed fear for the lives of the Egyptian Christians detained by these militias since Libyans are all Muslims and believe people from other religions are foreigners or infidels, or both, and thus killing them is permissible.
Zakhari noted she was in Libya last January on a mission and noticed widespread Salafi movements in society linked to the idea of morality. They targeted cafes visited by women and prevented Christmas and New Year festivals. These Salafist currents also targeted the Sufi celebration of the Prophet’s birthday.
According to Zakhari, all these observations shed light on how they may deal with the Egyptian Christian laborers.
“Egyptian workers are widespread in Libya, which indicates the poor economic and security situation in Egypt. That is why Egyptians prefer to travel to a place like Libya, even though it has become worse, in terms of security, since the revolution,” Zakhari added.
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Edited from MCN dispatches