An Egyptian court convicted in absentia on Wednesday seven Egyptian
Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor, sentencing them
to death on charges linked to an anti-Islam film that had sparked riots
in parts of the Muslim world.
The
case was seen as largely symbolic because the defendants, most of whom
live in the United States, are all outside Egypt and are thus unlikely
to ever face the 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 were made available online, portrays the
Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, womaniser 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 – charges that carry the death sentence.
Maximum
sentences are common in cases tried in absentia in Egypt. Capital
punishment decisions are reviewed by the country’s chief religious
authority, who must approve or reject the sentence. A final verdict is
scheduled on January 29.
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 in an unrelated matter. 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. He was on probation for a
bank fraud case.
Multiple calls to Youssef’s attorney in Southern California, Steve Seiden, were not returned Wednesday.
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, not
far from the University of Florida. He has said he was contacted by the
filmmaker to promote the film, as well as Morris Sadek, a conservative
Coptic Christian in the US who posted the video clips on his website.
In
a telephone interview on Wednesday, Jones said the 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 criticise
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 on Wednesday, 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.
He said
the verdict “shows the world that the Muslim Brotherhood regime 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 over
land disputes, worshipping rights and love affairs between Muslims and
Christians.
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