A number of Coptic activists, including Najīb Jubrā’īl, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization, had submitted an official memo to Field Marshal ‘Abd al-Fattāh al-Sīsī, Minister of Defense, asking the Army to protect Copts, especially because of President Muhammad Morsi (Mursī) and his government’s “inaction”.

Pastor Ikrām Lam’ī, spokesperson of the Coptic Evangelical Church, said that he is against such calls, because the military duties is to protect the nation’s borders and all Egyptians, adding that Copts are part of the Egyptian people and what affects them affects also Muslims.

Father Rafīq Greish, spokesperson of the Coptic Catholic Church, said that calls for military protection should not come from politicians but from head of churches, which did not happen, because these kinds of decisions have to be studied well first.

The Coptic Orthodox headquarters denounced such calls and said that the Army should protect the nation borders and not to interfere in internal affairs. Adding that asking for protection should be directed to the people (Mustafá Rahūmah, al-Watan, Apr. 13, p. 6). Read original text in Arabic.