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Abstract
This article discusses the Muslim discourse concerning the Coptic Christian minority since the 2000s in Egypt. Emphasizing the effects of the January 2011 uprising, the paper analyzes the role of nationalism and the national unity discourse in suppressing the debate regarding discrimination against the Copts. Despite the fissures that were created in the discourse, which rejects any reference to discrimination against the Copts, the Coptic issue remains trapped among the contested interpretations of national unity. All narratives of national unity and Egyptian essence, whether the official one pursued by the regime or the one promoted by pro-democracy activists, require the Copts to suppress their demand for rights for the sake of national unity. Adherence to the national unity discourse by all forces precludes the possibility of developing a form of nationalism or a national culture which embodies pluralism of identities and cultures and reinforces the role of nationalism as a tool for stifling pluralism and democracy for all Egyptians, whether Muslim majority or minorities.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the Middle East & Central Asia Research Center at Ariel University for its generous support of this research. I would also like to thank the reviewers for their insightful comments on the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 See Eshhad, an online platform that collates and documents reports of sectarian attacks against religious minorities in Egypt https://eshhad.timep.org/database/.
2 On the characteristics of discrimination, see discussion in this article; on sectarian violence since the 1970s, see Nadia Ramsis Farah, Religious Strife in Egypt (New York: Gordon and Breach Science Pub, 1986); under Mubarak see Mariz Tadros, Copts at the Crossroads: The Challenges of Building Inclusive Democracy in Egypt (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2013), pp.45–60; Laura Guirguis, Copts and the Security State: Violence, Coercion, and Sectarianism in Contemporary Egypt (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017).
3 Ami Ayalon, ‘Egypt’s Coptic Pandora’s box’, in Ofra Bengio and Gabriel Ben-Dor, (eds), Minorities and the State in the Arab World, (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1999), p.53.
4 On the public discourse see Sebastian Elsässer, The Coptic Question in the Mubarak Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), especially Ch. 4 and 5; for the Islamist discourse concerning the Copts, see Rachel M. Scott, The Challenge of Political Islam: Non-Muslims and the Egyptian State (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010)
5 Ussama Makdisi, ‘The Mythology of the Sectarian Middle East’, Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, February 2017, p.3. https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/mythology-sectarian-middle-east/
6 Laurie A. Brand, Official Stories: Politics and National Narratives in Egypt and Algeria (Stanford: Stanford University Press , 2014)
7 Maha Abdelrahman, ‘The Nationalization of the Human Rights Debate in Egypt’, Nation and Nationalism, 13:2 (2007), pp.285–286.
8 On the national unity conception see, for example, Vivian Ibrahim ‘Beyond the Cross and the Crescent: Plural Identities and the Copts in Contemporary Egypt’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38:14 (2015), p.2589; Elizabeth Iskander ‘The “Mediation” of Muslim-Christian Relations in Egypt: The Strategies and Discourses of the Official Egyptian Press During Mubarak's Presidency’, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 23:1 (2012), pp.34–38; Sebastian Elsässer, ‘Muslim and Christians in Egyptian State Formation: A New Beginning in 2011?’ in Kenneth Christie and Muhammad Masad (eds) State Formation and Identity in the Middle East and North Africa (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), pp.139–157; Lisa Paulsen Galal, ‘Coptic Christian practices: formations of sameness and difference’, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 23:1 (2012), pp.45–58; Paul Sedra, ‘Class Cleavages and Ethnic Conflict: Coptic Christian Communities in Modern Egyptian Politics’, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 10:2 (1999), pp.221–223.
9 Iskander ‘The “Mediation” of Muslim-Christian Relations in Egypt’, p.34.
10 Reza Afshari, ‘On Historiography of Human Rights Reflections on Paul Gordon Lauren's The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen’, Human Rights Quarterly, 29:1 (2007), pp.1–67.
11 Ibrahim, ‘Beyond the Cross and the Crescent’, pp.2590–2591, 2595.
12 Nicola Pratt, ‘Identity Culture and Democratization: The Case of Egypt’, New Political Science, 27:1 (2005) p.74; Ibrahim, ‘Beyond the Cross and the Crescent’, p.2589.
13 Eva Pföstl and Will Kymlica, ‘Minority Politics in the Middle East and North Africa: The Prospects for transformative Change’, Ethnic and Racial Studies 38:14 (2015), p.2489.
14 The size of the Coptic population, most of whom belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church is a controversial subject. While government officials say that Copts constitute 6–7 per cent of the Egyptian population, Copts claim that based on data kept by the Church, they constitute 18 per cent of the population. Other sources say that Copts constitute 10–15 per cent of Egypt's population. Salim Najib, al-Aqbat fi al-tarikh [The Copts in history] (Cairo: Matbu‘at Dar al-Hiyal, 2001), pp.176–179; On the politics of numbers, see Tadros, Copts at the Crossroads, pp.30–35; Hamdi Rizq, ‘Kam cadad al-ʼAqbat fi Misr?’ [How many Copts in Egypt?] al-Masry al Yawm, 4 October 2017.
15 See a distinction between the two spheres in Samir Marqus, ‘Ma Mashakil al-Aqbat? Darurat al-Tamyiz bayna al-Mashakil al-Diniyya wa-l-Madaniyya’ [What are the Copts’ problems: The need to distinguish between religious and civil problems], part 1, al-Masry al-Yawm, 12 January 2011, Part 2, 19 January 2011, Part 3, 26 January 2011; Mira Tzoreff, ‘The Copts of Egypt: Full Fledged Citizens or Dhimmi’, in Brandon Friedman and Bruce Maddy-Weitzman (eds), Inglorious Revolutions: State Cohesion in the Middle East after the Arab Spring (Tel-Aviv: The Moshe Dayan Center, 2014), p. 190–191.
16 Sameh Fawzi and Samir Marcos, Governance of Religious Diversity: The Copts of Egypt as Example, Arab Reform Initiative, June 2012, https://www.arab-reform.net/en/node/500
17 See the full text of the law, al-Masry al-Yawm, 30 August, 2016.
18 Najib, al-Aqbat fi al-tarikh, pp.142, 145; Tadros, Copts at the Crossroads, pp.46, 50–60.
19 Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Weeks of Killing: State Violence, Communal Fighting & Sectarian Attacks in the Summer of 2013 (June 2014), pp.90-98; Human Rights Watch, ‘Egypt: Mass Attacks on Churches’, https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/21/egypt-mass-attacks-churches
20 Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, According to Which Customs: The Role of Customary Sessions in Sectarian Incidents and the Responsibility of the State (Cairo, June 2015) https://eipr.org/en/publications/%E2%80%9Cwhose-customs-role-customary-reconciliation-sectarian-disputes-and-state; see also criticism of these reconciliation sessions in Sahar al-Jacara, ‘al-aqbat fi Fakh al-Jalsat al-curfiyy’ [Copts in the trap of the customary reconciliation sessions], al-Masry al Yawm, 26 March 2017; Muhammed cIsmat, cGhaḍab al-Aqbat..Asbab wa-tawaqqucat [The Copts’ anger – reasons and expectations], al-Shuruq, 10 April 2017; Yasmin Fathi, ‘M is for Mosque: How Egypt's Copts were Sidelined’, Ahramonline, 6 July 2017. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/70051/Egypt/Politics-/M-is-for-Mosque-How-Egypts-Copts-were-sidelined.aspx
21 Ziad Bahaa-Eldin, ‘Egypt: Before Strife Becomes Sectarianism’, Ahramonline, 26 July 2016. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/235069.aspx
22 See Mubarak's remarks in an interview, al-Ahram Weekly, 1-7 October 1998; see also UN Doc. CERD/C/SR.1485, 13 September 2001, par. 2; UN Commission on Human Rights, 8 July 2005 E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/27
23 For their perceptions on this issue, see Samir Marqus, al-Himaya wa’l-ciqab: al-gharb wa’l-mas’ala al-diniyya fi’l-sharq al-awsat [Protection and punishment: The West and the religious issue in the Middle East] (Cairo: Merit Lil-Nashr wa’l-Maclumat, 2000), p.78; See also Sedra, ‘Class Cleavages and Ethnic Conflict’, pp.221–222; Paulsen Galal, ‘Coptic Christian practices’, pp.47–48.
24 Sedra, ‘Class Cleavages and Ethnic Conflict’, pp.225, 227; Paul Rowe, ‘Neo-Millet Systems and Transnational Religious Movements: The Hamayun Decrees and Church Construction in Egypt’, Journal of State and Church 49 (2007), p.331; Mariz Tadros, ‘Vicissitudes in the Entente Between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the State of Egypt’, International Journal of Middle East Studies 41:2 (2009), pp.269–287.
25 See for example UN Doc. CERD/C/SR.1049, 11 August 1996, par. 8, 9; UN Doc. CERD/C/384/Add.3, 11 April 2001, par. 363.
26 See for example an interview with President Mubarak in al-Musawwar, 5 July 1997.
27 See the statements of Egyptian representatives before the UN Human Rights Committee, International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, 11 August 1996 (CERD/C/SR.1049); see also the words of the Minister of Interior, Habib al-cAdli, regarding the violent incidents in the village of al-Kosheh in 1998, al-Ahram, 9 November 1998; also after the violent incident in the town Naj Hammadi in 2010, as quoted in Al-Ahrar, 27 January 2010.
28 Iskander, ‘The “Mediation” of Muslim-Christian Relations in Egypt’, p.39.
29 David Zeidan, ‘The Copts – Equal, Protected or Persecuted? The Impact of Islamization on Muslim Christians relations in Modern Egypt’, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 10:1 (1999), p.63; Sebastian Elsässer, The Coptic Question in the Mubarak Era, p.215.
30 See for example the Islamist publicist Fahmi Huwaidi, ‘Qadruna an nacishu macan’ [Our destiny is to live together], al-Ahram, 1 December 1998; Salim al-cAwa, cAqidati, 3 August 2004.
31 See for example Muhammad cImara, al-Aqalliyyat al-diniyya waʼl-qawmiyya [Religious and national minorities] (Cairo: Dar Nahdat Misr, 1998), pp.76–79, 99–104; Muhammad cImara, ‘al-Wahda al-wataniyya wa-hawiyyat al-umma’ [The national unity and the identity of the nation], al-Sharq al-Awsat, 31 January 2003; see also Tariq al-Bishri, al-Dawla wa'l-Kanisa [The state and the church] (Cairo: Dar al Shuruq, 2011); Rachel M. Scott, The Challenge of Political Islam, Chapter 5, 6; this Islamic civilizational project was not supported by Coptic intellectuals and activists, Tadros, Copts at the Crossroads, pp.42–43.
32 See, for example, the words of Supreme Guide Mahdi cAkif at a press conference presenting the Muslim Brotherhood political reform initiatives, al-Ahram Weekly, 11–17 March 2004.
33 For the narratives of national unity see Elsässer, The Coptic Question in the Mubarak Era, pp.102–124.
34 See, for example, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Collective Punishment in Al-Kosheh; see also the Jamaciyyat al-Musacida al-Qanuniyya li-Huquq al-Insan, al-Kosheh – Mihna Watan [Al-Kusheh: A plight of a nation], Cairo, 12 January 2000; Pratt, ‘Identity, Culture and Democratization’, pp.69–86.
35 For a discussion of the attitude of local actors regarding foreign involvement on behalf of Coptic rights see Bosmat Yefet, The Politics of Human Rights in Egypt and Jordan (Boulder, Co.: Lynne Rienner 2015), pp.182–187.
36 Saba Mahmood, ‘Religious Freedom, the Minority Question, and Geopolitics in the Middle East’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 54:2 (2012), p.440.
37 See for example Bosmat Yefet, ‘The Coptic Diaspora and the Status of the Coptic Minority in Egypt’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43:7 (2017), pp.2015–1221.
38 See for example Manar Shorbagy, ‘Understanding Kefaya: The New Politics in Egypt’, Arab Studies Quarterly, 29:1 (Winter 2007), pp.39–60; Joel Beinin, Justice for all: The Struggle for Workers Rights in Egypt (Washington: Solidarity Center, 2010).
39 For this Coptic activism see Tadros, Copts at the Crossroad, pp.13, 88–94; Jayson Casper, ‘Mapping the Coptic Movements: Coptic Activism in a Revolutionary Setting’, Arab West Report, 15 May 2013 http://www.arabwestreport.info/sites/default/files/pdfs/AWRpapers/paper44.pdf.
40 On the political liberalization in this period see for example, Michele Dunne and Amr Hamzawy, ‘The Ups and Downs in Political Reform in Egypt’, in Marina Ottaway and Julia Choucair-Vizoso (eds), Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World (Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2008), pp.17–44.
41 For the characteristics of this process, see Sebastian Elsässer, ‘Press Liberalization, the New Media, and the “Coptic Question”: Muslim–Coptic Relations in Egypt in a Changing Media Landscape’, Middle Eastern Studies, 46:1 (2010), pp.131–150; Iskander, ‘The “Mediation” of Muslim-Christian Relations in Egypt’, pp.33, 38-39; Issandr El-Amrani, ‘The Emergence of a “Coptic Question” in Egypt’, Middle East Report, 28 April 2006.
42 For analysis of the representation of Muslim-Coptic relations in the al-Ahram newspaper between 2005 and 2010, see Iskander, ‘The “Mediation” of Muslim–Christian Relations in Egypt’.
43 Henrik Lindberg Hansen, ‘Interreligious dialogue and Politics in Revolutionary Egypt’, Journal of Islamic Research, 9:2 (2015), pp.17–19.
44 Issandr El-Amrani, ‘The Emergence of the “Coptic Question” in Egypt’, Middle East Report, 28 April 2006. http://www.merip.org/mero/mero042806
45 Ibrahim, ‘Beyond the Cross and the Crescent’, p.2591.
46 ‘Hal naqulu wada‘an lil-wahda al-wataniyya?’ [Shall We Bid National Unity Farewell] Sawasiyya, 69 (April 2006), pp.3-4.
47 Elsässer, The Coptic Question in the Mubarak Era, p.214.
48 See for example Nabil cAbd al-Fatah, former deputy director of the Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies and editor of the ‘Annual Report on the State of Religion in Egypt’, as quoted in al-Ahram Weekly, 21-27 September 2000; see also Farida al-Naqash, al-Ahali, 11 August 2004; Rifacat Sacid, leader of the Leftist party al-Tajammu as quoted in al-Ahali, 23 November 2005.
49 See a discussion on the relevance of this concept to Muslim-Christian relations in Elizabeth Iskander Monier, ‘The Arab Spring and Coptic-Muslim Relations from Mubarak to the Muslim Brotherhood’, European Yearbook on Minorities 11 (2012), pp.180–182.
50 Al-Ahram Weekly, 27 October-2 November 2005. Such criticism was shared by Islamists as well. See for example al-Bishri, al-Dawla wa'l-Kanisa.
51 See for example, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Alexandria Misfortunes…Causes and Defiance Strategy, Cairo, 6 November 2005; Jamaciyyat al-Musacida al-Qanuniyya li-Huquq al-Insan, al-Intikhabiyya al-barlamaniyya 2005…qira’a fi al-sha’n al-qubti [The 2005 parliamentary election…reading in the Coptic issue], Cairo, 13 December 2005. Muhammad Hassan, ‘Fitnat al-iskandria…laysat nihayat al-mataf’ [Sectarian violence in Alexandria…not the end of the story), Sawasiyya, 69 (April 2006), p.1.
52 ‘Hassan, ‘Fitnat al-iskandria…laysat nihayat al-mataf’, p.2.
53 See the various reports and press releases from 2002 in the organization's website https://eipr.org/en
54 cAla’ al-Aswanni, ‘Hal yastatic al-ra’is Obama himayat al-Aqbat?’ (Can President Obama protect the Copts?) al-Shuruq, 26 January 2010.
55 Ibrahim, ‘Beyond the Cross and the Crescent’, p.2586.
56 Elsässer, ‘Muslim and Christians in Egyptian State Formation’, p.152.
57 See a discussion of the prevailing arguments in the public discourse in Hossam al-Sukari, ʼAkadhib ’idtihad al-’Aqbat al-sabca’ [Seven lies about the persecution of the Copts], al-Shuruq, 3 July, 2017.
58 Paul Sedra, ‘Reconstituting the Coptic Community Amidst Revolution’, Middle East Report, 265 (2012), pp.34–38; Dinna Ezzat, ‘Eye on the Revolution: Ramy Kamil, a Coptic Perspective’, ahramonline, 20 March 2013. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/66880.aspx
59 Ibrahim, ‘Beyond the Cross and the Crescent’, p.2586; Anthony Shenouda, ‘Reflections on the (In) Visibility of Copts in Egypt’, Jadaliyya Ezine, 18 May 2011. http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/1624/reflections-on-the-in)visibilityof-copts-in-egypt.
60 On the Maspero Youth Movement, see Candace Lukasik, ‘Conquest of Paradise: Secular Binds and Coptic Political Mobilization’, Middle East Critique, 25:2 (2016), pp.108, 110; Elsässer, ‘Muslims and Christians in Egyptian State Formation’, p.153.
61 Ibrahim, ‘Beyond the Cross and the Crescent’, p.2593.
62 ’Ishaq ’Ibrahim, ‘Kutu al-’Iqbat: waqic jadid am tajmil lil-sura?’ [A quota for the Copts: A new reality or an improved image] Majalat al-Dimuqratiyya, 2 July, 2017.
63 See for example the words of cAmr Musa, former candidate for the presidency, al-Ahram, 29 March 2012.
64 Iskander Monier, ‘The Arab Spring and Coptic-Muslim Relations from Mubarak to the Muslim Brotherhood’, pp.177–178.
65 Tadros, Copts at the Crossroads, pp.187–195.
66 Wael Eskandar, ‘The clanging Cymbal, a Church with a Loveless Creed’, Daily News, 11 January 2015. https://dailynewsegypt.com/2015/01/11/clanging-cymbal-church-loveless-creed/
67 ‘Questions about June 30: Who Were We and Whatever We Thinking?’ Part 1, Mada Masr, 8 July 2016, https://www.madamasr.com/en/2016/07/08/feature/politics/questions-about-june-30-who-were-we-and-what-were-we-thinking-part-1/The problems of the Copts were perceived as part of the fears of the Egyptian middle class.
68 On Mursi's attitude toward the sectarian problem, see Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Ma bacda mi’a yawm min ri’asa Muhammad Mursi [Muhammad Mursi’s hundred days in power] (Cairo, October 2012), pp.10–12; see also the critical discussion of the Islamic publicist Fahmi Haweidi of the Copts' fears during this period, ‘Makhawif al-’Aqbat’ [The Copts’ fears], al-Shuruq, 29 August 2012.
69 For the history of the term ‘civil state’ in the movement’s discourse, its sources and development, see Limor Lavie, ‘The Egyptian Muslim Brother's Ideal State Model: a Religious State – Out; a Civil State – In’, Middle Eastern Studies, 53: 5 (2017), pp.996–112.
70 Paul Rowe, ‘Democracy and Disillusionment: Copts and the Arab Spring’, Sociology of Islam, 3–4 (2014), p.245; Tzoreff, ‘The Copts of Egypt: Full Fledged Citizens or Dhimmi’, p.192–193, 198.
71 Clark Lombardi and Nathan Brown, ‘Islam in Egypt’s New Constitution’, Foreign Policy, 13 December 2012. www.foreignpolicy.com/2012/12/13/islam-in-egypts-new-constitution
72 Iskander Monier, ‘The Arab Spring and Coptic-Muslim Relations from Mubarak to the Muslim Brotherhood’, p.182.
73 Ibrahim, ‘Kutu al-’Iqbat: waqic jadid am tajmil lil-sura?’ Majalat al-dimuqratiyya, 2 July 2017.
74 The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Weeks of Violence, 92–98; Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, 2013, ‘Islamist Groups Must Stop Inciting to Sectarian Violence; Protection of Christians Responsibility of the State’, 7 August 2013.
75 Eric Trager, ‘The Cynical Conspiracy War on Egypt Christians’, Foreign Policy, 27 May 2017. http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/27/the-cynical-conspiracy-war-on-egypts-christians/
See also the condemnation by prominent human rights organizations of what they described as incitement to violence and religious hatred by the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies, ahramonline 7 August 2013.
76 See the praise expressed by various political elements for this visit, al-Ahram, January 8, 2015.
77 See his visit at the opening of the Cathedral ‘the birth of Christ’ in the new administrative capital, and the celebration of Christmas Mass, al-Ahram, 7 January 2018.
78 Al-Watan, 30 July 2017
79 Bahey eldin Hassan, ‘The Copts and Egypt: A Historically Critical Juncture’, A Speech before the 8th Annual Conference of Coptic Solidarity, Washington, 15–16 June 2017. http://www.cihrs.org/?p=19987&lang=en
80 See the text of the law as was published in al-Yawm al-Sabic, 30 August 2016; EIPR, ‘Press Release: Reproducing the Status Quo: New Church Construction Law Consolidates Discriminatory State Policies and Confiscates Citizenship Rights of Future Generations’, 31 August 2016. https://eipr.org/en/press/2016/08/reproducing-status-quo-new-church-construction-law-consolidates-discriminatory-state; See also cImad Ghad, ‘al-Tadyiq calʼ al-kanaʼis’ [The restrictions on churches], al-Watan, 31 October 2017. https://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/2668920
81 Bosmat Yefet, ‘Authoritarianism, Jihadist Ideology, and Renewal of the Religious Discourse in Egypt’, The Journal of the Middle East and Africa, 8:2, (2017), pp.211–232.
82 Nouran S. Ahmed, ‘Tajdid al-Khitab al-Dini Kamunasiba li-’Istidca’ al-watani wa-su‘ud al-shacbawi’ [Renewal of the religious discourse as an opportunity to enhance nationalism and populism] , Jadaliyya, 4 August 2017. http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/26960/تجديد-الخطاب-الديني-كمناسبة-أخرى-لاستدعاء-الوطني-و
83 Yefet, ‘Authoritarianism, Jihadist Ideology, and Renewal of the Religious Discourse in Egypt’, pp.216–223.
84 See for instance the case of Salem Abd al-Gelil, a former deputy in the Ministry of Religious Endowments, who was accused of contempt of religion after describing Christians as unbelievers and their positions as corrupt, in a television program, Ahramonline, 11 May 2017.
85 For a discussion of these visits see al-Ahram, 6 January 2017.
86 Ahmed, ‘Tajdid al-Khitab al-dini Kamunasiba li-’Istidca’ al-watani wa-sucud al-shacbawi’,
87 See for example Eskandar, ‘The clanging Cymbal, a Church with a Loveless Creed’; see also the statement of Coptic activists criticizing the Church support of al-Sisi's visit to New York. Risala maftuha lil-nizam wa-l-kna’isu wa-l-mujtamac al-madani [An open letter to the regime, the Church, and civil society] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScl4DSFAxi-tGScAuFTM9iSJwPpxI7cFeWyU1iBGSVCWOYq1Q/viewform
88 Ahramonline, 28 July 2016. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/236314.aspx
89 Ziad Bahaa Eldin, ‘Egypt's President's Visit to the Cathedral: From Symbol to Reality’, ahramoline, 15 January 2015. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/120375.aspx
90 On the protection pact under al-Sisi in which elites support the regime because it protects them from external and internal enemies, see Bruce Rutherford, ‘Egypt's New Authoritarianism under Sisi’, Middle East Journal, 72:2 (Spring 2018), pp.185-208; For its relevancy to the Copts see for example Gallal Nassar, ‘Extremism, Citizenship and Copts Abroad’, Al-Ahram Weekly, 31 March 2017. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/20021.aspx; see for example the way al-Ahram journalist Ahmed Abd al-Tawab explained the stabbing of the priest Samʽan Shahata in eastern Cairo as part of a conspiracy aimed at influencing Coptic Christians not to support al-Sisi, ‘Tasacid al-ʼirhab wa-intikhabat al-riʼasa’ [Increased terrorism and the presidential elections], al-Ahram, 16 October 2017.
91 The signatories include former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, long time farmers’ rights activist Shahenda Maklad, political activist George Ishak, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party’s Mohamed Abul Ghar, and Egyptian film director Khaled Youssef, Ahramonline, 23 August 2014. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/109064.aspx
92 Ashraf Sadeq, ‘Nobele lil-’Aqbat’ [A Nobel prize for the Copts], al-Ahram, 10 June 2014.
93 Hani Shukrallah, ‘J'accuse’, Ahramonline, 1 January 2011. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsPrint/2977.aspx; See also ’Ibrahim, ‘Kutu al-’Iqbat: waqic jadid am tajmil lil-sura?’
94 N.J. Brown and K. Bentivoglio, Egypt's Resurgent Authoritarianism: It's a Way of Life (Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2014).
95 Hala Shukrallah, ‘Why Does the Counter-Revolution Target Women and Copts’, ahramonline, 9 March 2011. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/7313.aspx
96 ‘Questions about June 30: Who Were We and Whatever We Thinking?’
97 Ziad Bahaa-Eldin, ‘Four years on: Have We Made any Progress in Sectarian Issues in Egypt?’ Ahramonline, 6 Jan 2015. http://english.ahram.org.eg/WriterArticles/Ziad-BahaaEldin/522/0.aspx
98 Hassan, ‘The Copts and Egypt: A Historically Critical Juncture’.
99 Taha Abdel Alim, ‘National Unity after the Egyptian Revolution’, Ahramonline, 23 March 2011. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/8367.aspx; Hassan Hanafi, ‘Muslim Qubti, Am Masri Watani?’ [A Muslim Copt or national Egyptian], al-Masry Al-Yawm, 27 July 2016.
100 Imad Jad, ‘li-khuruj min “dawlat al-Sadat”’ [The departure from ‘Sadat’s State’], al-Watan, 17 October 2017. http://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/2624574
101 cAbd al-Mucti Hijazi, ‘al-Misriyun kulhum ’Aqbat’ [All the Egyptians are Copts], al-Ahram, 18 February 2015. http://www.ahram.org.eg/NewsQ/360996.aspx
102 Shahira Amin, ‘What now for Egypt's Christians?’ Ahramonline, 13 January 2015. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/120046/Opinion/What-now-for-Egypts-Christians.aspx
103 See for example the criticism of Egyptian journalist and playwright, Bilal Fadl, condemning the concept of ‘toeing the line’ (isfifaf) ‘al-Istifaf nahwa al-hawiya’ [Toeing the identity line], al-Arabi al-Jadid, 19 April 2015.
104 Muhammad cEsmat, cGhadhab al-’Aqbat ’Asbab wa-tawaqqacat’ [The Copts’ anger – reasons and expectations], al-Shuruq, 10 April 2017. http://www.shorouknews.com/columns/view.aspx?cdate=10042017&id=6426e4d1-a7cf-4d19-b19a-8afd4cf337cd
105 Amr Hamzawy, ‘Dacu’ suwar al-shuhadac al-Aqbat fi al-Mayadin al-cama’ [Put the images of the Copts’ martyrs in the public squares], al-Shuruq, 2 June 2017. http://www.shorouknews.com/columns/print.aspx?cdate=02062017&id=f30473d4-9037-4dfb-a6ac-07443a9bef44
106 Ziad Bahaa Eldin, ‘Egypt's Sectarian Tensions: Causes and Possible Solutions’, Ahramonline, 4 June 2016, http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/219269.aspx