ALEXANDRIA: An unofficial delegation of 16 parliamentarians on a visit to the Alexandria village that saw the forced eviction of eight Coptic families, criticized the absence of the rule of law while also praising the efforts by residents to end the crisis.
Rumors of an affair between a Coptic man and a Muslim woman, reportedly caught on video, led to the torching of shops and homes owned by the Coptic residents of Sharbat village in Nahda, Amreya. A customary-law reconciliation session ordered eight families to leave.
The MPs collective statement, read by MP Ihab Ramzy condemned the disrespect to the law, but nonetheless praised the efforts of the villagers to contain the situation.
It said the five families of Absakhron Abu Soliman should return to their home soon after it is rebuilt, as village elders and sheikhs guarantee their safety.
The other families associated with the man and the woman, whose affair led to the tension, were left out of the statement. It’s believed that they would remain away from the village.
Abu Soliman was part of the reconciliation because his son had initially fired gunshots to deter Muslim attackers targeting the family homes and shops.
Ramzy criticized the media’s coverage of the issue by naming the crisis as "forced eviction", saying that the Copts were taken out of the village to ease the tension.
The statement stressed that what happened was not forced eviction because it contradicts the social nature of the village. Priest Bokhtor Nashed rejected what he called political outbidding by people unfamiliar with their customs.
The eight-hour meeting at a resort 20 minutes away from Amreya featured the participation of village elders and Abu Soliman, in addition to the delegation that included parliamentarians of various political affiliations, as well as members of the Coptic Maspero Youth Coalition and Alexandria governor Osama El-Fouly.
The delegation and El-Fouly will visit the Abou Soliman families after their home is restored. It was also announced that a criminal investigation is underway.
