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Do not fill this in! ==== Human rights ==== {{Main|Human rights in Egypt}} {{See also|Sudanese refugees in Egypt|August 2013 Rabaa massacre|Persecution of Copts}} In 2003, the government established the National Council for Human Rights.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nchregypt.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=3 |title=Law No. 94 of 2003 Promulgating The National Council for Human Rights |publisher=Nchregypt.org |date=16 February 2010 |access-date=8 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117012238/http://www.nchregypt.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=3 |archive-date=17 January 2013 }}</ref> Shortly after its foundation, the council came under heavy criticism by local activists, who contend it was a propaganda tool for the government to excuse its own violations<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eohr.org/PRESS/2003/6-3.HTM |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030701015847/http://www.eohr.org/PRESS/2003/6-3.HTM |archive-date=1 July 2003 |title=Egyptian National Council for Human Rights Against Human Rights NGOs |publisher=EOHR |date=3 June 2003 |access-date=8 February 2013}}</ref> and to give legitimacy to repressive laws such as the Emergency Law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://anhri.net/en/discussion/2004/ehrc.shtml |title=The Egyptian Human Rights Council: The Apple Falls Close to the Tree |publisher=ANHRI |access-date=8 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105202323/http://www.anhri.net/en/discussion/2004/ehrc.shtml |archive-date=5 January 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[File:Neither Morsi nor the military - Egypt's Third Square Movement seeks an alternative vision for the future.jpg|thumb|Protesters from the Third Square movement, which supported neither the former Morsi government nor the Armed Forces, 31 July 2013]] The [[Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life]] ranks Egypt as the fifth worst country in the world for religious freedom.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2748 |title=Religion: Few States Enjoy Freedom of Faith, Report Says |publisher=Ipsnews.net |date=17 December 2009 |access-date=1 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112201851/http://www.ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2748 |archive-date=12 January 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/restrictions/restrictionsfullreport.pdf |title=Global Restrictions on Religion|publisher=Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life|date=17 December 2009 |access-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206073203/http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/restrictions/restrictionsfullreport.pdf |archive-date= 6 February 2011 }}</ref> The [[United States Commission on International Religious Freedom]], a bipartisan independent agency of the US government, has placed Egypt on its watch list of countries that require close monitoring due to the nature and extent of violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by the government.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uscirf.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1457&Itemid=1 |title=USCIRF Watch List – USCIRF |publisher=Uscirf.gov |access-date=1 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114131553/http://www.uscirf.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1457&Itemid=1 |archive-date=14 November 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to a 2010 [[Pew Research Center|Pew]] Global Attitudes survey, 84% of Egyptians polled supported the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]] for those who [[Apostasy in Islam|leave Islam]]; 77% supported whippings and cutting off of hands for theft and robbery; and 82% support stoning a person who commits adultery.<ref>{{cite web|title=Muslim Publics Divided on Hamas and Hezbollah|date=2 December 2010|url=http://www.pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/|publisher=Pew Global Attitudes Project|access-date=8 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513123330/http://www.pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/|archive-date=13 May 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> <!--reflects Mubarak- and Morsi-era information--> [[Coptic Christians]] face discrimination at multiple levels of the government, ranging from underrepresentation in government ministries to laws that limit their ability to build or repair churches.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/christian-martyrs-victims-radical-islam/story?id=9976549&page=4 |title=Christianity's Modern-Day Martyrs: Victims of Radical Islam – Rising Islamic Extremism Is Putting Pressure on Christians in Muslim Nations |publisher=Abcnews.go.com |date=1 March 2010 |access-date=1 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430080456/https://abcnews.go.com/International/christian-martyrs-victims-radical-islam/story?id=9976549&page=4 |archive-date=30 April 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Intolerance towards followers of the [[Baháʼí Faith]], and those of the non-orthodox Muslim sects, such as [[Sufism|Sufis]], [[Shia Islam|Shi'a]] and [[Ahmadiyya|Ahmadis]], also remains a problem.<ref name="HRW" /> When the government moved to computerise identification cards, members of religious minorities, such as Baháʼís, could not obtain [[Egyptian identification card controversy|identification documents]].<ref name="International Religious Freedom Report 2008">{{cite web|url= https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108481.htm|title= Egypt, International Religious Freedom Report 2008|date= 19 September 2008|publisher= [[Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor]]|access-date= 24 June 2017|df= dmy-all}}</ref> An Egyptian court ruled in early 2008 that members of other faiths may obtain identity cards without listing their faiths, and without becoming officially recognised.<ref name="reuters">{{cite news|first=Cynthia |last=Johnston |title= Egypt Baha'is win court fight over identity papers|url=http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL29677385.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215133731/http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL29677385.html|archive-date=15 February 2008 |work=Reuters |date=29 January 2008 |url-status=dead |access-date=30 January 2008}}</ref> Clashes continued between police and supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi. During violent clashes that ensued as part of the [[August 2013 Egyptian raids|August 2013 sit-in dispersal]], 595 protesters were killed<ref>{{Cite news|author=Mohsen, Manar |url=http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/08/16/health-ministry-raises-death-toll-of-wednesdays-clashes-to-638/ |title=Health Ministry raises death toll of Wednesday's clashes to 638 |newspaper=Daily News Egypt |date=16 August 2013 |access-date=19 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821044205/http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/08/16/health-ministry-raises-death-toll-of-wednesdays-clashes-to-638/ |archive-date=21 August 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> with 14 August 2013 becoming the single deadliest day in Egypt's modern history.<ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/world/middleeast/memory-egypt-mass-killing.html Memory of a Mass Killing Becomes Another Casualty of Egyptian Protests] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325055057/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/world/middleeast/memory-egypt-mass-killing.html |date=25 March 2017 }}". ''The New York Times.'' 13 November 2013.</ref> Egypt actively practices [[capital punishment]]. Egypt's authorities do not release figures on death sentences and executions, despite repeated requests over the years by human rights organisations.<ref name="amnesty.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/news/egypt-more-500-sentenced-death-grotesque-ruling-2014-03-24 |title=Egypt: More than 500 sentenced to death in 'grotesque' ruling – Amnesty International |date=24 March 2014 |work=amnesty.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111055849/http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/egypt-more-500-sentenced-death-grotesque-ruling-2014-03-24 |archive-date=11 November 2014 }}</ref> The United Nations human rights office<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/world/middleeast/un-expresses-alarm-over-egyptian-death-sentences.html |work=The New York Times |first=Nick |last=Cumming-Bruce |title=U.N. Expresses Alarm Over Egyptian Death Sentences |date=25 March 2014 |access-date=24 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170718152729/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/world/middleeast/un-expresses-alarm-over-egyptian-death-sentences.html |archive-date=18 July 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> and various [[NGO]]s<ref name="amnesty.org" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/24/egypt-shocking-death-sentences-follow-sham-trial|title=Egypt: Shocking Death Sentences Follow Sham Trial – Human Rights Watch|work=hrw.org|date=24 March 2014|access-date=4 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170112174616/https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/24/egypt-shocking-death-sentences-follow-sham-trial|archive-date=12 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> expressed "deep alarm" after an Egyptian Minya Criminal Court sentenced 529 people to death in a single hearing on 25 March 2014. Sentenced supporters of former President [[Mohamed Morsi]] were to be executed for their alleged role in violence following his [[2013 Egyptian coup d'état|removal]] in July 2013. The judgement was condemned as a violation of [[international law]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Egyptian court sentences nearly 530 to death|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypt-sentences-529-morsi-supporters-to-death/2014/03/24/46b21f46-b32c-11e3-bab2-b9602293021d_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325150616/http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypt-sentences-529-morsi-supporters-to-death/2014/03/24/46b21f46-b32c-11e3-bab2-b9602293021d_story.html|archive-date=25 March 2014|newspaper=Washington Post|date=24 March 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> By May 2014, approximately 16,000 people (and as high as more than 40,000 by one independent count, according to ''[[The Economist]]''),<ref>[https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21603071-president-abdel-fattah-al-sisi-fails-bring-enough-voters-ballot-box A coronation flop: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi fails to bring enough voters to the ballot box] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905233107/https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21603071-president-abdel-fattah-al-sisi-fails-bring-enough-voters-ballot-box |date=5 September 2017 }}, economist.com.</ref> mostly Brotherhood members or supporters, have been imprisoned after Morsi's removal<ref>"[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/egypt-death-sentence-529-morsi-supporters Egypt sentences to death 529 supporters of Mohamed Morsi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225205950/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/egypt-death-sentence-529-morsi-supporters |date=25 February 2017 }}". ''The Guardian''. 24 March 2014.</ref> after the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] was labelled as [[terrorist organisation]] by the post-Morsi interim Egyptian government.<ref>{{cite news|title=Egypt's interim Cabinet officially labels Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/25/world/africa/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-terrorism/|newspaper=CNN|access-date=30 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726123339/http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/25/world/africa/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-terrorism/|archive-date=26 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> According to human rights groups there are some 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt.<ref>{{cite news |title=My brother is one of Egypt's 60,000 political prisoners – and Trump is happy to let him rot in jail |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/moustafa-kassem-abdel-fattah-el-sisi-trump-egypt-us-prisoner-a9288401.html |work=The Independent |date=17 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=No political prisoners freed as Egypt pardons thousands on Eid |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/5/24/no-political-prisoners-freed-as-egypt-pardons-thousands-on-eid |work=Al-Jazeera |date=24 May 2020}}</ref> [[File:Alaa Abd El-Fatah speaking to aljazeera.jpg|thumb|Prominent Egyptian dissident [[Alaa Abd El-Fattah]] was sentenced to five years of imprisonment in December 2021.<ref>{{cite news |title=Alaa Abdel Fattah: Leading Egyptian activist jailed for five years |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-59730354 |work=BBC News |date=20 December 2021}}</ref>]] [[LGBT rights in Egypt|Homosexuality]] is illegal in Egypt.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/ |title=Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=16 June 2016 |access-date=13 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111064457/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/ |archive-date=11 November 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to a 2013 survey by the [[Pew Research Center]], 95% of Egyptians believe that [[homosexuality]] should not be accepted by society.<ref name="pewglobal.org">[http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-homosexuality/ "The Global Divide on Homosexuality."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103034522/http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-homosexuality/ |date=3 November 2013 }} ''pewglobal''. 4 June 2013. 4 June 2013.</ref> In 2017, Cairo was voted the most dangerous megacity for women with more than 10 million inhabitants in a poll by [[Thomson Reuters Foundation]]. Sexual harassment was described as occurring on a daily basis.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://poll2017.trust.org/|publisher=Thomson Reuters Foundation|title=The world's most dangerous megacities for women 2017|work=poll2017.trust.org|access-date=24 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025024053/http://poll2017.trust.org/ |archive-date=25 October 2017}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page