Egyptian body slams government's maltreatment of Shias

By: Sultan Ahmed

CAIRO, Egypt: The “Egyptian initiative for the right of the individual” organization in Cairo has condemned what it called the government's maltreatment of the Shias in the country.

Addressing a news conference in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo, the chairman of the organization Husam Bahjat said, “Is it a stereotyping systematic discrimination by the region?” The answer is no. Are maltreatment acts individual cases? The answer is also no.

“We found out that it is a type of mistreatment, tortures and interrogation permitted by the state and were not prevented by the judiciary,” he added.

“The government is responsible… interior ministry, members of parliament and national assembly for human rights… all those are responsible who are not doing in line with their legal duties in the field of probing into the violations,” Bahjat said.

He said: “there are continuous violations of rights of Shia in Egypt sine 1988.”

The organization had issued a report indicating that the Egyptian security forces raided the Shia centers in the country five times between years 1988 and 2002 and indicated at least 124 cases when Shia were detained randomly in 1988, 1989, 1196, 2002, 2003 and beginning of 2004 and held for long times during the trial and in certain cases torturing them.

There is no official estimate of the number of Egypt Shias.

According to a report of religious freedoms issued by US foreign ministry number of Shias in Egypt is 700,000 people that make up 1% of the country’s population.

However, some sources put their number to hundreds of thousands practicing their faith far from light.

END