CAIRO: Lawyer and Head of Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization Naguib Gobrael filed a request to Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud urging him to appeal a 15-year sentence meted out to Girguis Baroumy Girguis who was accused of raping a 12-year-old Muslim girl. Qena Criminal Court sentenced Girguis, 23, to 15 years in prison after …

CAIRO: The prosecutor’s office at Qasr El-Nil on Saturday began investigating a complaint filed by political dissident Gamila Ismail accusing the chief editors of seven newspapers and websites of libel and defamation. The publications in question ran stories accusing Ismail’s son Shady of cheating at his exams at the Cinema Institute. Ismail filed the complaint …

CAIRO: After being fined LE 200 for not showing for his scheduled testimony at court on Sunday, the Nagaa Hammadi Bishop Kirollos will be present at Tuesday’s hearing, according to Ramsis El-Naggar, lawyer associated with the Coptic Orthodox church El-Naggar declared on Monday that the bishop of Nagaa Hammadi, Bishop Kirollos, will testify in the …

CAIRO: A coalition of 140 rights groups and NGOs in Egypt said on Monday they will be monitoring the November parliamentary elections in 26 governorates utilizing user interactive technologies. The Egyptian Coalition for Monitoring Elections (ECME) also threatened to file a lawsuit against the Supreme Electoral Commission if it was denied access to polling stations …

CAIRO: Pope Shenouda and Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayeb issued a statement on Wednesday calling for national unity and citizenship. In the statement, Shenouda and El-Tayeb condemned “inciting sectarian tensions, either by insulting sacred religious values or by depriving citizens of rights that are granted for everybody without discrimination.” They also confirmed in the …

CAIRO: Thirty-two human rights organizations called on President Hosni Mubarak to form a committee to look into sectarian tensions in the country and to find plausible solutions. The organizations presented a memorandum on Monday to President Mubarak’s office as part of a campaign launched last week to face “the unprecedented escalation of sectarian tension.” “The …

CAIRO: In response to protests by Muslims accusing the church of forcibly holding a priest’s wife who allegedly converted to Islam, Pope Shenouda said he won’t allow her to appear in media to deny her conversion, a church lawyer said. Naguib Gobrael, a legal advisor for the church, told Daily News Egypt that the Pope …

CAIRO: Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud on Monday referred the publisher of Islamic books to a State Security Court on charges of contempt of the Christian religion. Publisher Ahmed Abdallah Abo-Islam, was charged for accusing Christians of fabricating the Bible and threatening social stability and security. The decision was a response to a complaint filed …

CAIRO: The Ministry of Interior has obstructed a State Security Court order to release a member of the Shia sect, according to a statement by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) Monday. The EIPR called for immediate release of Mohamed Farouk Mohamed El-Sayed along with seven other Shia citizens detained for a year without …

CAIRO: The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said it will take the case of Azhar student Sally Abdallah who had undergone a sex reassignment surgery, to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights with the Egyptian government as its adversary. The Administrative Court has ruled in Abdullah’s favor, ordering Al-Azhar University to enroll …

CAIRO: Lawyer Nizar Ghorab filed a complaint against the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar and the Minister of interior over the case of a priest’s wife, who he claimed was planning to convert to Islam but was forcibly handed back to the church. Kamilia Zakher, 25, the wife of Tadros Samaan, a priest at the Saint …

CAIRO: A lawyer filed a complaint Sunday to the Prosecutor General to investigate the disappearance last month of a Coptic woman and her three children. Micheal Mikhaeal, the woman’s husband, filed a similar complaint. Lawyer Mamdouh Nakhla, who also heads The Word Center for Human Rights, demanded that the police reveal the woman’s whereabouts, accusing …

CAIRO: Dozens of Copts demonstrated inside Abbaseya’s St. Mark’s Cathedral on Wednesday against the disappearance of a Coptic woman and her three children. The demo coincided with Pope Shenouda’s weekly sermon. Protestors called on the Pope to intervene to unveil the mystery surrounding the family’s disappearance. Adel Ibrahim Segryous, the brother of the missing mother, …

CAIRO: In a bid to resolve the ongoing crisis between the diocese of Maghagha city and the Minya governor, Pope Shenouda decided after a meeting with church leaders to respond to the governor’s request to move the prayer tent from the new to the old building. Governor Ahmed Diaa Eddin had decided earlier to halt …

CAIRO: The Egyptian Coalition to Support the Rights of People with Disabilities launched a campaign to enhance the political participation of the disabled after a report revealed a staggering lack of interest in the issue. The coalition released a study titled “The Reality of the Political Participation of People with Disabilities” in which found that …

CAIRO: The draft of the unified personal status law would exacerbate the sufferings of Copts pursuing a divorce, rights activists and Copts supporting divorce said. In a conference held at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center last Saturday, rights activists said the new draft law contradicts with the constitution and would further isolate Christians. Rights activist …

CAIRO: Eleven rights organizations presented to the legislative committee of the People’s Assembly a report suggesting the modification of some articles of the personal law, including putting more restrictions on polygamy and cancelling the obedience law. The report — which was co-authored by the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement, the Association of Legal Aid …

CAIRO: Fifteen activists were detained early Monday in Alexandria while hanging posters calling upon citizens to sign the “Together for Change” petition. The petition includes seven political reform demands outlined by the former Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and reform advocate Mohamed ElBaradei. The Arab Network for Human Rights Information condemned the …

  CAIRO: Under the slogan "Our Egypt is our right", the April 6 Youth Movement launched a campaign targeting the leaders of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and ministers’ constituencies around Cairo.   The campaign aims to raise awareness of political, constitutional and legal rights, as well as to collect signatures supporting the "Together for …

CAIRO: The runaway wife of a Minya priest whose disappearance had sparked protests among Copts, will receive counseling from the church’s doctor after having reappeared a few days ago. Kamilia Shehata Zakher, the wife of Tadros Samaan, a priest at the Saint Mark’s Church in Mowas Cathedral in Minya, has already begun psychotherapy sessions a …

CAIRO: Police say they have found a priest’s wife, whose disappearance on Sunday July 18 had led to a sit-in by Copts at Cairo’s grand cathedral in response to rumors that she was abducted. Police said that they delivered Kamilia Shehata Zakher, 25, to her husband, Tedaros Saman, Priest of Saint Mark’s Church in Mowas …

CAIRO: The political parties committee in the Shoura Council decided Sunday to recognize Moussa Mostafa Moussa as the President of Al-Ghad Party, denying Ehab El-Khouly, a supporter of the founder of Al-Ghad Ayman Nour, the post. Nour responded by threatening to boycott the political scene in Egypt which he described as “futile.” Nour said in …