Participants in a conference of Coptic leaders on Sunday called for uniting Coptic Christians under one political party, and requested that the pope investigate bishops who allegedly urged Coptic voters to vote for the Egyptian Bloc in the parliamentary elections, thereby “dispersing their votes,” as they put it.
They also rejected the appointment of five Coptic MPs to the People’s Assembly by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
“Perpetrators of sectarian violence have not been brought to trial yet,” said Sherif Doss, head of the Coptic General Authority (CGA). “Our status has not improved after the revolution.”
Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations and co-founder of the CGA, held SCAF head Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi responsible for the marginalization of Copts in Egypt.
Mamdouh Ramzy of the Reform and Development Party lamented that the Church took part in “delivering the country to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Michael Mounir, president of the Hayat Party, called the parliamentary elections a farce. “We Copts will not be fooled again,” he said.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
