Australian Coptic Movement (ACM)

The current era requires more participation in Independent Civil Society Groups.  

If the Supreme court upholds her conviction, Asia’s only recourse would be a clemency petition to President Arif Alvi. 
President Alvi is known to be a close ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Prime Minister Khan is a well known former Pakistani 
cricket player and philanthropist. #FreeAsiaBibi 

President Trump met with President Al-Sisi on the sidelines of the annual UNGA gathering in New York. We have posted the entire script below.  Throughout the week, scores of Copts and activists from all around the world expressed their outrage on social media over the methods that the church used to convince congregations in New York and New Jersey to greet the Egyptian President on the pavement outside the UN building.  The Church has been accused of turning a blind eye to Coptic persecution whilst invoking religion for political matters.   

The Egyptian Government fails to intervene to  put an end to Sectarian attacks against Coptic Christians. The perpetrators are usually set free.  

It has been close to 24 hours since news broke of the sudden passing of Bishop Ephiphanius, Bishop and Abbot of the Monastery of St Macarius in Wadi al-Natroun in Egypt’s Western Desert.  It seems that His Grace was murdered and investigations are underway.  

Suzy Hanna is a regular contributor. Suzy’s background, education and personal interest in Human Rights and Politics have seen her on the front lines of elevating her passions. Suzy has fronted an array of media outlets and presented papers at University.  

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights recently decried the security establishment’s treatment of mob attacks against Coptic Christians villagers. Villages in various governorates saw tensions and attacks on Copts after local committees came to survey churches that applied for legal status with the regularization committee. The most recent sites of attacks include Beni Manin in the Fashn district, Komir and al-Halila in the Esna district, and al-Toud in the Abu Tisht district, all discussed in detail below.  The recent mob attacks on Christian communities in Egypt coincide with a spike in reports of kidnappings and disappearance of Coptic girls from all over the country. 

The remains of 20 Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christians killed in 2015 by Islamic State in its
former Libyan stronghold of Sirte, have finally been returned to Egypt.  The Coptic Christians along with one Ghanaian citizen were beheaded on a beach in February 2015 wearing orange jumpsuits,
in a video recording. The Australian Coptic Movement has been reporting on the affairs of Coptic Christians in Libya since
early 2014.  

Dr Monica Hanna is a well known Egyptologist and third generation descendant of Morcos Gerges Saad. Dr Hanna writes about an unfortunate event that has taken place in Matai, El Minya, where an ancient church was demolished.  Dr Hanna  pursued her doctorate at the University of Pisa with a dissertation on the “Problems of Preservation of Mural Paintings in the Theban Necropolis: a Pilot Study on the Theban Tomb 14 using 3D Scanning Techniques.  

Discussions across the day focussed on the five priority pillars of Australia’s Human Rights Council engagement: gender equality, freedom of expression, good governance and robust democratic institutions, human rights for indigenous peoples, and strong national human rights institutions.  This is the third consecutive year we attended the annual Forum.