Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a brief statement, following the passing of my motion, on the current situation in Egypt.

Leave granted.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the presence in the Gallery today of His Grace Bishop Suriel of the Coptic Church, Rev. Father Jonathan Issac, Rev. Father Gabriel Yassa, and my good friend and former Sutherland Shire councillor Magdi Mikhail.

Our motion recently noted that Egypt is currently experiencing a period of unprecedented transition, the success of which hinges on full respect for the rule of law and compliance with international human rights standards, including freedom of religion. The motion that was just passed could not have been more timely, as it comes just days after we saw the shocking military violence against the Coptic Christians in Egypt. During the recent debate we noticed that it was only on 1 January this year that a bomb was detonated in front of a Coptic Church, the Two Saints Church, in Alexandria, killing 23 people and injuring more than 97. We noted that this was the most deadly act of violence against Egypt's Christian Coptic minority for more than a decade, when a massacre in 2000 left 21 Coptic Christians dead.

However, it is very sad to say that the latest attacks on the Coptic Christians have left 24 dead and over 270 injured. And what we have seen on video of these recent attacks is armoured military vehicles driving at high speed, ploughing into unarmed Christian protesters. For members of this House who have not seen these videos, although they are graphic and horrific I suggest that you do to understand the gravity of the situation.

Medical staff at Cairo's hospital have told Amnesty International that the casualties resulted from bullet wounds and crushed body parts resulting from people deliberately being run over by army vehicles. A young Christian, Vivian Magdi, whose fiance was killed when an armoured vehicle ran over him, gave a tearful account to Egyptian TV. She said:

His body was in the middle of the wheels. His legs were torn. His head hit the pavement, breaking his skull. Soldiers gathered around us and started to beat him up. I begged them to leave him.

She told the soldiers he was not breathing. She continued her account:

Then a soldier with a red cap came, shouting, cursing and hitting me with a stick then tried to beat him up. I threw my body on him (her fiance) … and the soldier said to me: 'You infidel, why are you here?'

Let us be clear: when military forces open fire on unarmed civilians and drive armoured vehicles at high speed into crowds and kill at least 25 it is not only murder; it is mass murder.

Egyptian state television must accept some responsibility for this latest violence, for they called on so-called honest Egyptians to rush to the defence of the military, which they said was under siege from Copts. This resulted in vigilante attacks against Coptic Christian protesters who were merely fleeing the army's bullets and armour.

The fate of Egypt will be determined by how Christians are treated in that country in the future. The situation could not be more serious, not only for Egypt but for the world. The Coptic Christians are the largest non-Muslim minority in the Middle East. The Copts have been the intellectual entrepreneurs in Egypt, and the country will continue to decline without a strong Christian minority. We have already seen this year the collapse of the Egyptian tourist industry, and since January their share market has collapsed by 45 per cent in value, pushing the economy to the verge of abyss. The country is fast running out of financial reserves. Growing hunger in the streets is a reality. And the latest piece of madness has pushed the country closer to the edge. This risks people becoming more radicalised, pushing Egypt and the entire Middle East into a downward spiral.

Now is not the time for silence or appeasement from the international community, for as the Copts go so may go the entire Middle East. If a Christian minority cannot live in a country with a Muslim majority population without suffering persecution and institutionalised discrimination our future looks bleak. However, calls by world leaders after these latest atrocities merely for restraint from both sides naively fail to understand the situation. The Coptic Christians do not have a militia ready to engage the army. The moderate voices in Egypt must be put on notice in the strongest terms to root out any anti-Christian element in the army and to give equal rights to all Coptic Christians and to ensure their protection.

Our US allies generously support the military in Egypt. The Americans should be warning the moderate Egyptian voices that if they fail to protect the Christian minority their military aid will be cut back. There is a real danger of this Arab spring falling into dark Islamic winter. Religious extremism must have no place in a modern society anywhere in the world, including Egypt.

I thank all members of the House for supporting this motion as it helps send an urgent message through to Cairo that to persist on the present course is to court catastrophe. It will also greatly galvanise much needed broader international attention to the issue of looming Egyptian catastrophe. I thank all members.

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