An Egyptian court last Wednesday sentenced to death seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor on charges linked to the anti-Islam film that has sparked riots in parts of the Muslim world. The case was seen as chiefly symbolic because the defendants are all outside Egypt, most in the United States, and are thus unlikely ever to face the death sentence. The charges were brought in September during a wave of public outrage in Egypt over the amateur film, which was produced by an Egyptian-American Copt.
The low-budget “Innocence of Muslims,” parts of which appeared online, portrays the Prophet Mohammad in an entirely negative light, as a fraud, womanizer and buffoon.
Egypt’s official news agency said the court found the defendants guilty of harming national unity, insulting and publicly attacking Islam and spreading false information.
The man behind the film, Mark Basseley Youssef, was among those convicted. He was sentenced in a California court earlier this month to one year in federal prison for probation violations from an earlier fraud conviction. Youssef, 55, admitted that he had used several false names in violation of his probation order and obtained a driver’s license under a false name.
Florida-based Terry Jones, another of those sentenced, is the pastor of Dove World Outreach, a church of less than 50 members in Gainesville, Florida. He has said he was contacted by the filmmaker to promote the film. Jones is known for burning copies of the Qoran.
Jones told the Associated Press the Egyptian ruling “shows the true face of Islam” — one that he views as intolerant of dissent and opposed to basic freedoms of speech and religion. “We can speak out here in America,” Jones said. “That freedom means that we criticize government leadership, religion even at times. Islam is not a religion that tolerates any type of criticism.”
In a statement sent to The Associated Press Wednesday, another of those convicted, Morris Sadek, who fled Egypt 10 years ago and is now a Coptic activist living in Chantilly, Virginia, denied any role in the creation, production or financing of the film. His sole involvement, he said, was posting a trailer for the film on his website.
He said the verdict “shows the world that the Muslim Brotherhood regime [in Egypt] wants to shut up all the Coptic activists, so no one can demand Copts’ rights in Egypt.”
Coptic Christians make up most of Egypt’s Christian minority, around 10 percent of the country’s 83 million. They complain of state discrimination. Violent clashes break out occasionally.
The connection to the film of the other five sentenced by the court was not immediately clear. They include two who work with Sadek at a radical Coptic group in the US that has called for an independent Coptic state, a priest who hosts TV programs from the US and a lawyer living in Canada who has previously sued the Egyptian state over riots in 2000 that left 21 Christians dead.
One of the men sentenced who works with Sadek, Fikry Zaklama, told the AP he had nothing to do with the film and hadn’t even seen it. “When I went to look at it [on the Internet], they told me it had been taken down,” said Zaklama, 65, a Coptic activist and retired physician who practiced in Jersey City, New Jersey. “I’m not interested. I’m not a clergyman. I’m a political guy.”
Nader Fawzy, a 53-year old jewelry store manager and president of an international Coptic rights organization in Toronto, Canada, said he planned to file a lawsuit against the Egyptian government in Canada for what he said was a wrongful prosecution.
He said he’s terrified of being kidnaped and spirited away to Egypt. Fawzy, who came to Canada in 2002 from Sweden and lost his Egyptian citizenship in 1992, denied any involvement in the film. He said the Egyptian government has long been out to get him because of his Coptic Christian activism.
“Of course, I’m worried about this death penalty,” Fawzy said, adding that the verdict has limited his ability to travel freely. “Who will give me guarantees that the Egyptian government will not try to kidnap me, to take me to Egypt?”
The other person convicted is a woman who converted to Christianity and is a staunch critic of Islam.
The official Egyptian news agency report said that during the trial, the court reviewed a video of some defendants calling for an independent Coptic state in Egypt, and another of Jones burning the Qoran. The prosecutor asked for the maximum sentence, accusing those charged of seeking to divide Egypt and incite sedition. All the defendants, except Jones, hold Egyptian nationality, the agency added.
The Islamic Republic had no official response to the convictions. After the trailer of the film emerged in September, denunciations of it were swift and loud. The Iranian state sponsored protests around the country every Friday after congregational prayers. However, with the Israeli attack on Gaza last month, the regime shifted its focus away from the film and promoted anti-Israel protests instead.
Most, but not all, media in Iran have described the anti-Islam film as a “Jewish” project, funded, organized and filmed by Jews, not Copts.An Egyptian court last Wednesday sentenced to death seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor on charges linked to the anti-Islam film that has sparked riots in parts of the Muslim world. The case was seen as chiefly symbolic because the defendants are all outside Egypt, most in the United States, and are thus unlikely ever to face the death sentence. The charges were brought in September during a wave of public outrage in Egypt over the amateur film, which was produced by an Egyptian-American Copt.
The low-budget “Innocence of Muslims,” parts of which appeared online, portrays the Prophet Mohammad in an entirely negative light, as a fraud, womanizer and buffoon.
Egypt’s official news agency said the court found the defendants guilty of harming national unity, insulting and publicly attacking Islam and spreading false information.
The man behind the film, Mark Basseley Youssef, was among those convicted. He was sentenced in a California court earlier this month to one year in federal prison for probation violations from an earlier fraud conviction. Youssef, 55, admitted that he had used several false names in violation of his probation order and obtained a driver’s license under a false name.
Florida-based Terry Jones, another of those sentenced, is the pastor of Dove World Outreach, a church of less than 50 members in Gainesville, Florida. He has said he was contacted by the filmmaker to promote the film. Jones is known for burning copies of the Qoran.
Jones told the Associated Press the Egyptian ruling “shows the true face of Islam” — one that he views as intolerant of dissent and opposed to basic freedoms of speech and religion. “We can speak out here in America,” Jones said. “That freedom means that we criticize government leadership, religion even at times. Islam is not a religion that tolerates any type of criticism.”
In a statement sent to The Associated Press Wednesday, another of those convicted, Morris Sadek, who fled Egypt 10 years ago and is now a Coptic activist living in Chantilly, Virginia, denied any role in the creation, production or financing of the film. His sole involvement, he said, was posting a trailer for the film on his website.
He said the verdict “shows the world that the Muslim Brotherhood regime [in Egypt] wants to shut up all the Coptic activists, so no one can demand Copts’ rights in Egypt.”
Coptic Christians make up most of Egypt’s Christian minority, around 10 percent of the country’s 83 million. They complain of state discrimination. Violent clashes break out occasionally.
The connection to the film of the other five sentenced by the court was not immediately clear. They include two who work with Sadek at a radical Coptic group in the US that has called for an independent Coptic state, a priest who hosts TV programs from the US and a lawyer living in Canada who has previously sued the Egyptian state over riots in 2000 that left 21 Christians dead.
One of the men sentenced who works with Sadek, Fikry Zaklama, told the AP he had nothing to do with the film and hadn’t even seen it. “When I went to look at it [on the Internet], they told me it had been taken down,” said Zaklama, 65, a Coptic activist and retired physician who practiced in Jersey City, New Jersey. “I’m not interested. I’m not a clergyman. I’m a political guy.”
Nader Fawzy, a 53-year old jewelry store manager and president of an international Coptic rights organization in Toronto, Canada, said he planned to file a lawsuit against the Egyptian government in Canada for what he said was a wrongful prosecution.
He said he’s terrified of being kidnaped and spirited away to Egypt. Fawzy, who came to Canada in 2002 from Sweden and lost his Egyptian citizenship in 1992, denied any involvement in the film. He said the Egyptian government has long been out to get him because of his Coptic Christian activism.
“Of course, I’m worried about this death penalty,” Fawzy said, adding that the verdict has limited his ability to travel freely. “Who will give me guarantees that the Egyptian government will not try to kidnap me, to take me to Egypt?”
The other person convicted is a woman who converted to Christianity and is a staunch critic of Islam.
The official Egyptian news agency report said that during the trial, the court reviewed a video of some defendants calling for an independent Coptic state in Egypt, and another of Jones burning the Qoran. The prosecutor asked for the maximum sentence, accusing those charged of seeking to divide Egypt and incite sedition. All the defendants, except Jones, hold Egyptian nationality, the agency added.
The Islamic Republic had no official response to the convictions. After the trailer of the film emerged in September, denunciations of it were swift and loud. The Iranian state sponsored protests around the country every Friday after congregational prayers. However, with the Israeli attack on Gaza last month, the regime shifted its focus away from the film and promoted anti-Israel protests instead.
Most, but not all, media in Iran have described the anti-Islam film as a “Jewish” project, funded, organized and filmed by Jews, not Copts.
