The Legal Suit Against President Hosni Mubarka
Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak is being sued by three lawyers in connection with a case concerning the disappearance of a Coptic priest’s wife. And no, it is not because there was some illicit liaison between the president and this lady.
Why President Hosni Mubarak Is Being Sued
In July, Kamelia Shehata Zakher, wife of priest Thaddues Samaan Rizk, disappeared for 5 days before security authorities found her and returned her to her husband. It is said that 25-year-old Kamelia Shehata Zakher had converted from Christianity to Islam about a year ago, and the plan was that she would move to Cairo to announce her conversion publicly at the Al Azhar mosque last month, though the mosque denies that she had approached them.
She has not been seen since she was returned to her husband, a priest at Mowas Priory in Minya, 152 miles south of Cairo. The lawyers now allege that the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox church, Pope Shenouda III, issued an “illegal and a negative administrative decision to detain Zakher in a Coptic monastery on July 24 because of her conversion to Islam”. The lawyers argue that since the President is the only person entitled to appoint or dismiss the Coptic pope, Hosni Mubarak is fully responsible for the Coptic pope’s decisions. The lawyers add that the Egyptian constitution obliges the president to issue a decree cancelling the Coptic pope’s decision, which they claim is sectarian and a threat to Egyptian unity.
Public Reaction To The Case
Although conversions between Christianity and Islam and vice and versa have often led to sectarian clashes in Egypt, this case has not resulted in violent clashes. In July, when Kamelia Shehata Zakher first disappeared, Copts in Minya held a sit-in. On Saturday Aug 28, hundreds of Muslims held a peaceful demonstration outside a mosque in Cairo after evening prayers, demanding that Coptic officials reveal Kamelia Shehata Zakher’s whereabouts and calling on Al Azhar’s top cleric to take up the issue as well. In addition, at a press conference held on Aug 30, the International Day of Enforced Disappearance, the Arabian Network for Human Rights listed Kamelia Shehata Zakher’s case as one of “forced disappearance”.
Think About It
Under what circumstances can a president be sued for failing in his presidential duty? If it is indeed a case of forced disappearance attributable to the Coptic pope, shouldn’t he be the one being sued instead? The lawyers allege that the Coptic pope’s decision is sectarian and a threat to Egyptian unity. Isn’t their own action also sectarian and a threat to Egyptian unity?
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