MCN
Cairo, February 28, 2016
The Maspero Youth Union condemned the recent verdict against four Christian students who are sentenced to five years in prison on charges of contempt of Islam.
“The state claims that it has restored the state and the Egyptian president embraced the head of the Egyptian church, promising the Copts of Egypt it would enforce the principle of citizenship and eliminate sectarianism and extremism. However, the state represented in its institutions failed to fulfill its promises,” the organization stated.
Terrorists and founders of international organizations are released, while the Egyptian judiciary condemned children on charges of disdaining the Islamic State (IS), it said. It added that the judgment came at the time of the first anniversary of the slaughter of 22 Copts in Libya, as if the Egyptian judiciary wanted to apologize to IS militants.
The statement stressed that respect for citizenship has recently declined in Egypt, contrary to public promises. The statement pointed to the death of Coptic soldiers during recruitment, refusal to appoint a school principal due to her religion and the judgment issued against children on charges of disdaining IS.
The Maspero Youth Union called on the presidency and parliament to intervene to end crisis of the condemned children and to accelerate formation of a national council against discrimination as stipulated by the constitution along with giving it all needed powers to combat discrimination. It called also for formation of a citizenship ministry to review all procedures that include types of discrimination and to build a new nation based on citizenship.
_________________________________
http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=66041#.VtdChvkrLIU