Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is estimated that around 15 per cent of Egypt’s 80 million people are Christians. According to tradition, Christianity was introduced to Alexandria by Saint Mark, making it one of the oldest Christian communities in the world and indeed the oldest in Africa. Originally a reference to Egypt generally, the term ‘Copt’, deriving from the word ‘Aigyptos’, is now used to describe Egyptian Christians. After the Arab invasion of Egypt in the 7th century, the Copts became a minority but remained a significant and prosperous group. Indeed, they remained an important group working with Muslims towards the freedom and independence of Egypt in the early part of last century. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has noted:

… Christians worked side by side with Muslims in the creation of modern Egypt. In the 1919 uprising against British occupation, Coptic priests were preaching in mosques —including Cairo’s prestigious al-Azhar Mosque —and imams were preaching in churches as a symbol of national unity. The trend continued until the 1950s …

However, during Nasser’s pan-Arab socialist regime the Copts were targeted because of their wealth and were reduced to second-class citizens. Many have emigrated, including a relatively small but significant number to Australia.

During the past three decades of the rule of Hosni Mubarak the discrimination against the Copts has increased. They are regularly targeted for discrimination and have been subjected to increasing violence from Islamist jihadi radicals. One such case occurred when six Christians and an off-duty police officer were massacred as they were leaving a Christmas service in January this year. This follows a series of other incidents in which hundreds of Copts, unfortunately and tragically, have been killed over the last 20 years.

Despite constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, Copts face discrimination and persecution. In practice it is virtually impossible to build or repair their churches. It can be very difficult to obtain travel documentation, and converts to Christianity are unable to alter their ID cards although no such obstacle stands in the way of converts to Islam.

This is not a motion against Islam; it is a motion calling for religious freedom. Egypt is not alone in restricting freedoms, including religious freedom. The persecution of religious minorities, including Christians, Jews, Baha’is and Sunni Muslims in Iran, is an egregious example of such persecution—and the restrictions on Christian churches in China is another.

Egypt has an opportunity to show leadership. It can be a force for toleration and moderation in the Middle East. It can embrace its obligations under international conventions and laws. This would be welcomed by Copts in Egypt, as it would by some 70,000 Copts who have made Australia home but are concerned about the plight of family, friends and associates who remain in Egypt. I join with members of the Coptic community in Melbourne, Sydney and elsewhere in calling on the government to voice its concerns about this matter and to restore the special immigration assistance to Copts that existed under the previous government.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of this motion on behalf of the Coptic congregation and community in and around my electorate of Hindmarsh and, of course, those further afield who are concerned by the persecution taking place in Egypt. Father Philopos Boghdady, of Adelaide’s Saint Mary and Saint Bishoy Coptic Orthodox Church, and his congregation have welcomed me with open arms to many of their community events and services. I have learnt of the intimidation of Coptic Christians in Egypt and the dangers that threaten their lives. Of course, this is of most grave concern. I have been invited to share in the warmth and hospitality of the local Coptic Church congregation and I appreciate the good works of His Grace Bishop Suriel, the head of the Coptic Church in Australia and New Zealand, whom I have met on a number of occasions. But Coptic Christians have endured an unprecedented increase in blatant hostility in the country of their church’s origin. As we heard earlier, we are talking about a Christian Church whose origins are very old. The Coptic Christians have been in Egypt since the early days of the Byzantine Empire. Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai dates back to the 6th century and has been in use as a centre of Christian teaching and learning since that time, not just for Egypt and Byzantium but for the entire Christian world.

Most regrettably, the threat that the church endured some 1,200 years ago is making itself very evident again today. The desire of some to destroy the Coptic religion is not a historic point of interest but a very real concern as we speak. On 21 June 2009, with the assistance of state security, a mob assaulted Coptic Christian households in Egypt destroying their homes, their crops, their livelihood and any meagre sense of security they may have had. This assault and destruction of people’s lives was perpetrated on the basis that the state security forces and the mob suspected that the Coptic Christians in question were celebrating mass and practising their Coptic Christian religion—they were doing no more than that. The response of the state authorities to this violent outburst was the forced reconciliation of aggressors and victims, which consists of a compromise: the aggressors promise not to further assault and destroy the victim’s person, family and belongings as long as the victim promises to give up the practice of their religion. This is modern Egypt, and this is considered fair and reasonable and currently passes for justice.

Following these attacks the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom said, ‘This latest incident is another example of the upsurge of violence against Coptic Christians we have seen in the past few years. The commission has long expressed concern that the Egyptian authorities do not do enough to protect Christians and their property in Egypt nor do the authorities adequately bring perpetrators of such violence to justice.’

The upsurge in violence against Coptic Christians continues and continued on 7 January this year. A congregation of Coptic Christians were celebrating Christmas in church. On leaving the church and entering the street they were sprayed with bullets and, as we heard, six were shot dead and 15 others injured. On 13 March a mob of some 1,000 besieged a Coptic church in Mersa Matrouh, hurling stones at the church and trapping 400 parishioners inside for some 14 hours. This is sectarian violence; it is rife. The free practice of religion, if it is Christianity, is blocked by the authorities. Church buildings are vandalised. It so happens that repairs, as we heard earlier, need a licence, a licence which too often takes a ridiculous amount of time to be issued and before works proceed buildings are demolished by state authorities.

Before new religious buildings works are approved, the building plans are declared contrary to law by virtue of the planned building having too close a proximity to newly established mosques. After their family is terrorised, possibly arrested and even tortured; after their home is destroyed with all private property; after their source of income is destroyed, their family uprooted and their home burnt to the ground, what can they do? Leave. The intended consequence of this sectarian violence and oppression is sectarian cleansing. I ask members to support the motion before us. (Time expired)

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution on the member for Menzies’ motion before the House. I have a great interest in the issue of religious freedom: the ability of people to choose their own religion and then be able to practise that religion without fear of persecution. Unfortunately, the attack on Christianity in certain places around the world seems to be increasing. I have spoken previously in the House about the issue of apostasy—those who convert from Islam to Christianity—about how often they are persecuted, sometimes threatened with murder and sometimes killed.

I would like to raise an issue before I move on to the specifics of the situation facing the Coptic church in Egypt and that is the matter of Mohammed Hegazy. In 2003 he converted from Islam to Christianity. He then sought to be recognised legally as a Christian—the first person in Egypt to do this. Under Egyptian law, sharia law, once someone is within the faith of Islam they have no choice. They are not allowed to convert. When Mohammed converted, I understand that a fatwa was issued against him. His father also threatened to kill him. This was all because of a personal decision to convert to Christianity. It was not just him; his wife also converted. I believe they now have a daughter three years old and it is said that, unless she elects to convert to Islam at the age of 10, she will also be killed or under threat of death. So I think there is a major problem in Egypt. There are major issues with regard to religious freedom and no more so than in the persecution that has occurred, as has previously been said by other speakers, since the fifties and particularly in the seventies. The number of incidents is increasing, even in the last year.

Certainly it is a major problem in that country. The people there are suffering. Although we might say that it has been somewhat good for Australia, because two-thirds of people with Egyptian ancestry who live in Australia are Coptics, we have been the beneficiary of the persecution. But it is not right that someone feels they have to leave their homeland for the safety of their families or that they should be forced to leave rather than face economic deprivation as a result of the archaic arrangements regarding the Coptic Christian faith as imposed by the state in Egypt. It has been said that the police and the security forces seem to be a bit reticent to act when required. When people and churches are being attacked, they do seem a little reticent to arrive on time to actually achieve something. Fundamentally, substantial change is needed within Egypt. It is hard to know exactly what to do, because it would appear that the government, bound by sharia law, is working according to the principles of that law. The country is being held back as a result; people are being held back. People are being persecuted—all for the sake of religious oppression. It is a shame and it is outrageous. We as a parliament should make a very clear point to Egypt, and the government should make a very clear point to Egypt, that this is not the way a modern country acts and it should change now.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to have this opportunity to support the motion moved by the honourable member for Menzies on the rights and freedoms of religious and other minority groups in Egypt, a country of 77 million people who are heirs to a great civilization and a country with enormous potential in land, resources and energy. Sadly, some of this potential has been wasted by many decades of poor government. Ever since Colonel Nasser and his colleagues seized power in 1953, Egypt has been a dictatorship and the current ruler, Hosni Mubarak, has been in power for over 30 years, with no real opposition to his regime allowed. I note that his son Gamal looks like being the regime’s favoured dear leader of the future.

Although there are worse regimes in the Middle East than Egypt’s, people have suffered under oppression, corruption and the failed policies of the Mubarak regime. Egypt’s indigenous Christian minority, the Coptic Christians, have survived many changes of regime for nearly 2,000 years. The motion refers to eight million Egyptian Christians, although I have seen estimates of up to 12 million or 15 million. Visitors to Cairo, which is about 20 per cent Christian, can see magnificent Coptic churches and schools. Egypt’s constitution guarantees religious freedom and, for the most part, Copts and other Egyptians can worship and educate the children. But it is a disturbing fact that Egyptian Christians face increasing levels of harassment, discrimination and violence, particularly in small towns and rural areas.

Over the past five years there has been an increasing incidence of violence against Egyptian Christians. In January this year, six Christians were killed in an attack on a church in Naj Hammadi. There have been similar incidents this year. The police did little to stop them, and the courts rarely convict those responsible. Egypt’s state controlled media draw a veil of silence across these incidents. Christians also complain of systematic discrimination in government employment, such as the police and civil service. That is why an increasing number of Egyptian Christians are immigrating. Not many people realise that we have about 70,000 Egyptian Christians living in Australia. I know some of them well. Some of them are very high achievers, and some of them are good friends. They are, of course, very welcome and make a great contribution to our Australian society, but it is a tragedy that members of such an ancient religious community should feel no choice but to leave their homeland. The deteriorating position of Egyptian Christians reflects the rise of militant Islamist groups in Egypt in recent years.

Islam is a great monotheistic religion itself. I deliberately used the word ‘Islamist’ rather than ‘Islamic’ because ‘Islamist’ refers to people who use a great monotheistic religion for a political purpose, not the religion itself. These groups seek to further their aims by attacking the Christian community. The rise of these groups has been made easier by the lack of economic opportunity and political freedom under the current Egyptian regime. Instead of reform, the regime deals with these groups through repression, which only enables them to make more recruits.

Egypt could learn something from Indonesia about how to defeat militant Islamism through fostering democracy and economic opportunity. It is very interesting to see our great Muslim neighbour to the north in its progress under democratically elected President Yudhoyono compared to the years of stultifying lack of economic progress in Egypt. One of the crucial ways that Australia is involved is with the very large amounts of economic aid that the American congress gives to Egypt. The Egyptian regime buys Australian wheat, and bread in Egypt is very heavily subsidised in order to keep the fellahin, the peasants, from revolting.

This motion refers to other minorities. I would like to mention that there is increasing persecution of gay people in Egypt as well. This is seen as an attempt by the Egyptian government to appease the militant Islamists by scapegoating gay people as well.

The industrialised world has faced a big problem as far as Egypt is concerned. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice under President Bush sought democratic elections in Egypt after the successful Lebanese ones. There was such great hope for that region in a brief period back then. The persecution of the Egyptian Copts is a longstanding problem that the country faces. While the lack of democracy exists in Egypt that prevents them freely expressing themselves and participating in their religion, it is a great shame for an ancient civilisation and an ancient country which deserves better.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to rise tonight in support of a motion that supports freedom of religion as a universal human right. Of course, it is a universal human right, one that is supported by Australia and one that we ought to support in other countries and seek to ensure is implemented in those countries. The subject of this motion tonight is the Coptic Egyptian community. The Coptic Egyptian community in Australia has made a great contribution to Australia since its arrival in the 1960s. We are very fortunate to have wonderful communities in Sydney in particular. I want to make mention of many of the contributions of the Sydney Coptic community to life in Sydney, in particular the St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox College, at Wattle Grove; the St Bishoy Coptic Orthodox College, at Mount Druitt; and all of the churches and dioceses in Sydney and Australia.

The Coptic Orthodox community in Australia is served by two Coptic Orthodox dioceses with over 50 parishes, two monasteries, two theological colleges and five schools. It is a very successful community. It is a community that is flourishing. It is a community that is law abiding and peaceful and has sought to make the most of the great opportunity that Australia represents—freedom, tolerance and our democratic way. It is estimated there are about 70,000 Copts in Australia.

This motion is so important because we ought to stand by all those communities who are being persecuted all around the world, all those minorities who face oppression and intolerance from either governments or other groups within their societies but particularly governments, because a government can be our best friend or it can be our worst enemy. When the state seeks to interfere in those things that it ought not to interfere in, particularly freedom of religion or the choices we may seek to make, it oversteps the mark in a way that produces intolerance, hatred and other forms of persecution. It is well documented that there are many examples in Egypt. The Coptic religion is an ancient religion which broke away from the traditional Roman Catholic Church but is now regarded as an Eastern Orthodox Church. However, in Egypt there have been many, many examples of persecution which involve death, serious mistreatment of families and some graphic examples which I will not relate today.

However, I do want to mention that in recent times there has been a substantial increase in the violence against Coptic Egyptians in Egypt, and the Coptic community has suffered greatly. There have been several notable examples that the Coptic Egyptian community has raised with me in person when they have seen me in my office in Sydney. These were the subject of some great rallies in Sydney in recent times. We saw many thousands of people rally in support of a number of people who have been persecuted by the Egyptian government, including a notable court case where two young Islamic men were acquitted of the murder of a Coptic Egyptian person who was horribly dismembered. These rallies were very important to show our support. They received support from the media, including broadcasters in Sydney such as Alan Jones, who particularly sought to highlight the role of the Egyptian Coptic community in Australia and the treatment they had received. It is particularly important that the motion:

(2)

calls upon the Egyptian government to guarantee that Coptic Christians and members of other religious communities and minorities enjoy the full range of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Egypt has been regarded in the Middle East as a moderate voice of peace and good influence in many ways. However, it does have work to do in relation to its treatment of its Christian community. Often governments have to think about how they can protect minorities within their society from elements which seek to encourage persecution and harm. The member for Melbourne Ports clearly outlined that there is discrimination in Egypt at all levels, particularly from a governmental perspective. Equal rights under the law oblige a society to allow people to choose their own religion freely and to practise it. This motion is so worthy of our support because we are a free and tolerant democratic society that allows freedom of religion to our citizens. It is a great blessing that we do so in our country today and it is something that we should seek to promote and foster in Egypt. We particularly need to stand up for the Coptic Egyptian Christians in Egypt.

Ramsey Rowen (the Deputy Speaker):

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.