Background:

This conference was held at Ibn Khaldūn Center for Development Studies in the event of the second conference on minorities. Several speeches were given especially on the Coptic rights in Egypt and related to the Muslim Christian incident of 1996 in Kafr Dimyān (Delta) and the terrorist attack inʿIzbat Aqbāṭ, Assyut.

*For more information on the Ibn Khaldūn conference, please refer to the tapes: Conference Ibn Khaldūn on Copts rights II, III, IV, V and VI

http://www.arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-ii-0

http://www.arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-iii

http://arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-iv 

http://arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-v 

http://arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-vi 

Side A:

The conference was directed by Dr. Sa‘d al-Dīn ʾĪbrāhīm, the founder of the Ibn Khaldūn Center for Development Studies, gave the keynote speech in which he criticized the marginalization of Christians, emphasizing that the number of victims due to internal attacks against minorities is ten times the number of victims of the Israeli-Arab conflict. He criticized the marginalization of Christians in the political sphere, especially at the Parliament, and finally, he indicated that the purpose of the Conference is to examine suitable mechanisms for solving such problems.

Mr. Maurice Sādiq, a christian human rights lawyer, mainly talked about the recurrent incidents of minor Christian girls tricked into converting to Islam, regardless of the Child Protection Law.

Side B:

Other issues were also examined; the discrimination of Christians in school curriculums, discrimination against Christians at work and the need for a unified law for the construction of houses of worship. These topics were further elaborated in the speech given by Dr. Talʿat Jād Allāh, political analyst, who insisted that blaming the governing party is not the answer. He denounced the inaction of opposition parties and civil society organizations as well.

The third speech on tape I was given by Mr. Ramzī Zaqlama, former president assistant of the Wafd Party,who dedicated a considerable amount of his speech to the Muslim Christian incident of 1996 in Kafr Dimyān. As he compared facts as he found them to the official reports. Mr. Zaqlama, demonstrated the failure of the official entities in dealing with such incidents.

For the rest of Mr. Ramzī Zaqlama’s speech, please refer to tape II.