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2 Coptic Christian Boys Detained in Egypt for Allegedly Urinating on the Koran

Oct. 4, 2012 9:01am

CAIRO (TheBlaze/AP) — Two Coptic Christian boys have been put in juvenile detention after locals accused them of urinating on pages of the Islamic holy book, an Islamic cleric and prosecutors said Wednesday, in the latest in a series of legal cases in Egypt against alleged contempt of religion.

Accusations of insulting Islam have increased in Egypt — particularly against Christians — since last month’s fury over an anti-Islam film produced in the United States. Such cases occurred in the past, but the flurry to prosecute in recent weeks has raised concerns over freedom of speech and over the power of ultraconservative Islamists in the country. This is particularly concerning following the nation’s election of Islamists to both parliament and the presidential post.

2 Coptic Christian Boys Detained in Egypt After Allegedly Urinating on the Koran

Photo Credit: AP

The new case is a rare instance of minors being accused. The boys, ages 9 and 10, were detained Tuesday in a southern town, to be held for 15 days while prosecutors investigate the accusations.

There have been 17 cases of alleged contempt of religion filed since the January 2011 revolution, including at least five in recent weeks, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. A female Coptic teacher in another southern town was also summoned for interrogation last week and detained for a night after her students accused her of speaking offensively of the Prophet Muhammad in class. The teacher was released from detention, but prosecutors are still investigating her, human rights activists said.

Another Coptic Christian, Alber Saber, is facing trial for posting material on his Facebook page deemed offensive of religion. He was first detained after neighbors complained he had posted the anti-Islam film, but investigators didn’t find it. Nonetheless, within days he was put on trial on charges of contempt of religion. His trial began last week.

In a rare case of prosecuting an offender of Christianity, an Islamic preacher is on trial for tearing up and burning a copy of the Bible during protests last month against the film.

Charges of contempt for religion in Egypt carry a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison. Since the film, there have been calls by leaders of some Muslim nations, including Egypt, for international laws criminalizing insults to religion.

The incident with the two boys took place in the village of Ezbet Marco in the southern province of Beni Suef. Sheik Gamal Shamardal, a Muslim cleric and the local leader of a hardline Islamist group, said residents saw the boys bring pages of the Koran behind a local mosque and urinate on them. Police arrested the boys and a crowd of angry residents gathered outside the police station. Fearing violence, security forces have surrounded the village and the boys were taken to a juvenile detention facility.

Police officials confirmed that the complaint was made and said they were investigating to determine what happened. Local security chief Attiya Mazrou told The Associated Press the boys were caught with the tarnished pages of the Koran with them, but no one saw them urinate it.

2 Coptic Christian Boys Detained in Egypt After Allegedly Urinating on the Koran

Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images

“They could have found them that way. We don’t know. No one saw them do it,” he said. The boys are to appear before prosecutors again Sunday.

In a sign of the broader tensions that surround such cases and the increasing powers of the Islamists, Shamardal insisted the two boys could not have acted alone and said they must remain in custody until they confess who incited them. That was the only way to calm offended Muslims, he said.

“An apology is not acceptable,” said Shamardal, head of the local branch of Gamaa Islamiya, which was once Egypt’s largest militant group but has since renounced violence. He speculated over a wider conspiracy behind the incident — ranging from the local priest to Coptic Christians living abroad.

The priest, he said, refused to discipline the children when told of the incident, forcing the residents to turn to the authorities. “He just dismissed it as children’s play,” Shamardal said. “But this feels like it was arranged” to incite religious anger.

“There was a lot of anger particularly with the circumstances the country is going through after the film,” he said. “It was like spilling oil on fire.”

Radical Islamists were hunted by security or imprisoned under the previous regime of former President Hosni Mubarak. After Mubarak’s ouster in Feb. 2011, the groups rose to prominence, rallying popular sympathy and operating openly for the first time. Many of their leaders were released from prison after newly elected President Mohammed Morsi came to power.

Rights activists have warned that the rise of court cases using contempt of religion as a charge threatened to restrain freedom of expression. The charges are vague and mean anything can be deemed offensive, said Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher with EIPR who monitors religious freedom cases in Egypt.

Ibrahim said the boys have denied the charges.

“This is a very serious development and is an attack on freedom of expression,” Ibrahim said. The writing of Egypt’s constitution is taking place in the backdrop of this furious debate over what constitutes freedom of expression and how much does Islamic law feature in the charter.

The cases also are reminiscent of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, where rights activists say Islamists increasingly use blasphemy accusations against Christians and other religious minorities. Earlier this year, a young Christian girl in Islamabad was detained after she was alleged to have desecrated the Koran, but since then a Muslim cleric has been accused of fabricating the evidence against her. She has been freed on bail.

2 Coptic Christian Boys Detained in Egypt After Allegedly Urinating on the Koran

Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images

On his Twitter account, Ibrahim criticized Egypt’s Islamic groups for focusing on cases of contempt of religion, while the country is boiling with economic difficulties, calls for better wages and distribution of wealth and dwindling resources.

“The rise in cases of religious contempt shows that some want to divert people’s attention from demanding their rights, and keep them busy with other issues,” Ibrahim wrote. “The Islamic trend has nothing to offer in terms of realizing social justice and is seeking to create issues to keep people from criticizing them.”

Amr Ezzat, a columnist in the Egypt Independent newspaper, warned that the cases are opening the gates “of sectarian hell.”

Going after such speech cases “is frivolous and would turn the state, police and judiciary into disciplinary watchdogs with no other responsibilities but to ensure that everyone engaging in dialogue is doing so respectably,” he wrote Wednesday.

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Comments (47)

1 2
  • QuincySmith
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 11:47pm

    Middle East: urinating on the koran = detention, possible trial, possible punishment. America: urinating on a crucifix = art. It may take me a while to figure this one out.

    Report this comment

    QuincySmith  
  • cosmic dogma
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 11:26pm

    muslims will not stop until every Christian is murdered.

    Report this comment

    cosmic dogma  
  • Depressed_American
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:36pm

    But Obama and Clinton STILL want to give almost 2 Billion Dollars to this Egyptian Government.

    Report this comment

    Depressed_American  
  • GREENDOG
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:12pm

    where do I mail a check to these 2 boys!!

    Report this comment

    GREENDOG  
  • Patriot Z
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 8:43pm

    Im sorry but you do not pee on the koran….especially when you are in a country that wipes their butts with their hands.

    ad slogan:

    “when you poop dont use your hand….rip out a page and wipe with the koran! now avaialable in 2-ply”…it mine im copywriting that!

    Report this comment

    Patriot Z  
  • PhineasJWhoopee
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 7:06pm

    Good job boys, now use it to wipe yourself right after you take a big allah.

    Report this comment

    PhineasJWhoopee  
  • clinging-to-my-guns-and-religion
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 3:40pm

    I am glad I serve a real GOD who’s power isn’t diminished because a piece of paper gets wet. And I am glad that my grandfather’s Bible, that was so used that the pages were torn and yellowed, wasn’t any less true or powerful. And I am glad that my savior, Jesus Christ, is still the SON of GOD before and after a piece of metal depicting him on a cross is submerged in a jar of urine.

    I am fearful that soon, it will be a crime in the U.S. to do or say ANYTHING to denigrate the false religion of islam. There is nothing I could do that would be vulgar enough to convey my disdain for this evil institution called islam.

    Report this comment

    clinging-to-my-guns-and-religion  
    • hollydani1977
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 4:46pm

      My thoughts exactly. I’m glad MY God does not feel His authority and truth is threatened by insult. And I’ll be revolting right there with you if any law that comes even close to Sharia Law and it’s “you must bow to my prophet or I will kill you” ways.

      Report this comment

      hollydani1977  
    • pcj
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:38pm

      Did you notice in the story that it was two Coptic Christian boys, ages 9 and 10? Residents said they saw them do it, the security chief said the boys had tarnished pages of the Koran, but no one saw them urinate on it. Sounds more like a hate-against-Coptic-Christians case than a so-called hate case against anyone defacing their Koran. Shows how much freedom non-Muslim people have in a Muslim society, it’s coming to America soon if we don’t stop this as the cases start to pop up here.

      Report this comment

      pcj  
  • OniKaze
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 2:58pm

    Its a waste of good urine to pee on the Quran….

    I’d say its only good for wiping your posterior, but I am sure you would get hemorrhoids if you did so…

    Just burn them… They work great as Starter logs to get your fireplace a goin….

    All joking aside, Muslims either need to lighten up, or go ahead and start their Jihad war, so we can get started eradicating them… I’m tired of this back-and-forth with a bunch of Primitive Sand-Camels…

    Glass them or Ignore them….. Either way, we waste WAY too much time worrying about what a bunch of cave-dwellers think…

    Report this comment

    OniKaze  
  • scrudge
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 2:52pm

    Ah Yes…. rag heads…. have to protect their pig god

    Report this comment

    scrudge  
  • obimackenobi
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 1:15pm

    Death to Islam, Death to Muhammad, Death to the Imam Mahdi, Death to the OIC and the islamic caliphate.

    Report this comment

    obimackenobi  
  • zoro51
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 12:47pm

    a book of LIES.. false doctrine in a MAN MADE CULT of hate n death period.. MURDERING MUSLUMS you get so offended by a drawing n a word.. GET OVER IT MOVE ON youre in a MAN MADE CULT hell not heaven awaits ALL MURDERING MUSLUMS

    Report this comment

    zoro51  
    • Lothmar
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 2:46pm

      Man if only the Quran had a passage about not bearing false witness… Yeah if only there was a book like that. ~sigh~

      Report this comment

      Lothmar  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 12:03pm

    There is a large swarth of this world that is mostly savage and has the mental acuity of the middle-ages. This place is the Muslim Caliphate (mainly the middle-east). They are stuck in th 7th century. They are uncivilized. They are one **** away from a gorrilla. The only way to deal with them is the way you would deal with a wild pack of wolves.

    Report this comment

    thegreatcarnac  
  • Jesuslovesus
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 11:33am

    Satan’s time on earth is coming to an end….all hell is breaking loose. We’re going to see a lot of intolerance everywhere.

    Report this comment

    Jesuslovesus  
  • PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 11:27am

    The persecution and blood of the Christians in the middle east can directly linked back to 0′s speech in Cairo. The children in Syria are suffering unspeakable torture and death. Pray for these children and for their families and souls.

    And pray for the souls of the heroes of Bengazi; The Navy Seals that came to the aid of the Consulate even though it was not their mission there. And gave their lives so other may live.

    http://www.theconservativetreehouse.com/2012/09/21/boldly-into-the-breach

    http://www.maggiesnotebook.com/2012/10/bengazie-clinton-obama-dempsey-reject-aircraft-support-cant-offend-lybia-who-are-the-30-persons-in-the-safe-house-on-sept-11/

    Report this comment

    PIGSWILLNEVERFLY  
  • Southerner01
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 11:12am

    We need to start printing koran verse toilet paper, because those actual koran pages are scratchy on my ****.

    Report this comment

    Southerner01  
  • Lion420
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 11:12am

    “no one saw them do it”….SO? “You are free from liability to the idolater” “Kill the infidel wherever you may find him. Send him to the fire(Hell) That is his just reward for his non-belief” When you get there…Allah shows up to mock you. “Where is your savior now”?

    Report this comment

    Lion420  
  • FreedomWitness
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:35am

    My two new heroes. Now if they can only work their way up to a number two, their mission will be complete.

    Report this comment

    FreedomWitness  
  • Mamma Bear
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:06am

    Won’t be long until they have public beheadings in their streets and soccer fields just like the Saudi’s. These boys may or may not have done these. My bet is they didn’t – this is just a way to settle scores against all those who oppose them.

    Report this comment

    Mamma Bear  
    • JimL
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:56am

      Egypt has an expanding pop and unemployment.

      Taking stuff from your unrecognized neighbor in the name of this and that has a long history with practical ruler ship, currently referred to as “governance”.

      Report this comment

      JimL  
    • TEARS FOR AMERICA
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 11:15am

      Christians in Egypt rise up! Cause these savages to show their true side and stand for freedom for all your brothers in sisters in the Arab world!!

      Report this comment

      TEARS FOR AMERICA  
  • JimL
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:56am

    Love God by extending His forgiveness and charity.

    By long standing law, Churches in Egypt can not be rebuilt.

    Love God by defending the innocent.

    Saint Nicholas Owen, builder and defender of the Church,

    Pray for the Persecuted.

    Report this comment

    JimL  
  • Chromo200
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:31am

    MB is doing to the Egyptians what Mubarak did to them. The MB did not learn the proverb “do unto other as you want them to do unto you”.. All those years Horsi present Egypt president did not learn anything about freedom and the typical Americans while he was here in college getting an education.

    Someday all of this turmoil will turn on him and his buddies. He can’t control the nuts in the Sinai and when the Egyptians start suffering and get hungry they will turn on the MB and the MB will get oppressive.

    Report this comment

    Chromo200  
  • biohazard23
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:16am

    “…No one saw them do it…” Kill them anyway! Jeez….

    I swear, bombing them to the Stone Age would be an evolutionary leap forward for those heathens.

    Report this comment

     
    • Cavallo
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:28am

      LOL, Well said, sir.

      Report this comment

      Cavallo  
    • PaxInVeritate
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:55am

      No one can hate his brother and love God. Well said? Hardly. Fast and pray for their convertion.

      Report this comment

      PaxInVeritate  
    • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:16am

      The muslim cleric and hard-liners do this all the time to people they do not like. I call BS on their story and say THEY probably peed on the Koran themselves, instead of the boys.

      Report this comment

      Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
    • PaxInVeritate
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 2:21pm

      That is very probable. Do a DNA swab test on the pages, the Cleric and the children. The results would either be the Cleric’s or goat.

      Report this comment

      PaxInVeritate  
  • sndrman
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:14am

    this is insane the kids are 9 and 10..

    Report this comment

    sndrman  
  • momrules
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:11am

    Yes. The Christian boys will be kept in custody until they confess who incited them. While in custody will they be beaten and tortured?Raped? Their families threatened? How long will these two little boys last before making up names?

    God be with them.

    Report this comment

    momrules  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:06am

    What does an Egyptian Muslim say when an Egyptian Christian pees on the Koran? Death to America. Send them more money Obama, that should do the trick.

    Report this comment

    Gonzo  
  • ares338
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:04am

    Off with their…..What? When ya gotta go…ya gotta go!

    Report this comment

    ares338  
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