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Coptic Leader Criticizes Egypt’s Building Restrictions on Churches After Deadly Fire


CAIRO – After an electrical fire ripped through a tiny Coptic Orthodox Church in central Cairo on Sunday and killed 41 worshipers, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt ordered the army to reform create buildings instantly.

Under the supervision of soldiers, dozens of workers worked through the night, pulling burning purlins and broken pipes, and repainting the walls and crosses atop the cramped four-story building. narrow between shops and apartments. By Monday night, the exterior of Abu Sefein Church, at least, looked newly built.

The government also offered condolences.

But that swift action did not stop the head of Egypt’s 10 million Coptic Orthodox Christians from venting his frustration on Tuesday that the Middle East’s largest Christian community has been squeezed by regulations. government for decades limited the number and size of churches in the predominantly Muslim country.

“Restrictions have led to the construction of small churches that are not suited to the needs of Christians,” Pope Tawadros II said Tuesday in an unusual statement of tacit criticism. He called on authorities to move the 12,000 square foot Abu Sefein Church to a larger space or allow it to expand to accommodate the large number of Christians in the vicinity.

His statement was softened by praise for the response of Mr el-Sisi and the civil defense forces, while noting that restrictions had already begun with previous governments. But in a country where any criticism of the government by Christian officials is extremely rare, it still has a big say.

Among the 41 killed were 18 children and the bishop was conducting a Divine service when the fire broke out at the church in the working-class neighborhood of Imbaba. Most died from smoke inhalation or being trampled upon trying to find their way from the fourth floor, where the ceremony was held, to the ground-floor exit, said Coptic Orthodox Church spokesman Father Moussa Ibrahim. on Tuesday.

Some of the survivors escaped through windows or terraces.

Father Ibrahim said that about 100 people had gathered to attend the ceremony on Sunday when the fire started, meaning that nearly half of those in attendance were killed. Initially, church officials said up to 500 people were present at the time of the fire.

The interior ministry is still investigating the cause of the fire. But church officials said it started shortly after a generator there came on during a power outage. The generator exploded when power returned during Sunday service.

“The fire affected the entire electrical network and there was smoke everywhere,” Father Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Coptic Church, said, adding that the entire electrical system had short-circuited at once.

The semi-official Al-Ahram newspaper said the government’s renovation after the fire included several upgrades to the electrical system with the installation of larger capacity cables.

Father Ibrahim denied witness reports that the main door of the church was locked at the time of the fire, preventing worshipers from escaping.

Coptic Christians have roots in ancient Egypt, and the country’s churches are a mixture of cathedrals stemming from government gestures of solidarity and small, temporary churches. in poorer areas.

Electrical fires broke out at two other Coptic churches in Egypt on Monday and Tuesday, one in Cairo and the other in Minya province a few hours south, according to government and local officials. There were no reports of casualties. The church in Minya, which a church official said was empty at the time, appears in the video to be badly damaged.

But the three fires in as many days reflect the general deterioration of buildings across Egypt, which often has substandard construction and little enforcement of safety standards.

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and the Imbaba neighborhood is made up of narrow streets lined with shops and apartment buildings overlooking a wide array of vendors. algae.

The Abu Sefein Church operated informally until after 2016, when its status as a church was legalized, Father Ibrahim said. That same year, Mr. el-Sisi passed a law that removed many restrictions on church building and renovation, but it left much of that power to the whims of officials. local government officials who can block permits to build churches.

Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egypt Initiative for Individual Rights, said Abu Sefein was licensed in 2019, but because it was not purpose-built and of limited size, the church extended upwards.

The U.S. State Department Report 2021 on religious freedom in Egypt noted that the allowable size of new churches depends on the government’s decision on the “number and needs” of Christians in the area. It said the construction of churches is subject to more government oversight than the construction of new mosques.

Egypt has historically been one of the major centers of Sunni Islam in the region. On Monday’s awakening in a church hall for the three children killed in the fire, the call to prayer from the loudspeaker of a nearby mosque drowned out the priest’s homily.

Tensions between Christians and Muslim communities in Egypt are concentrated mainly in rural villages, many of which are in Minya province, which has the highest percentage of Christians in the country. . According to the Christians of Minya, in some villages, the Christians were denied approval by the local government to build a church, leaving nowhere but the streets to hold religious ceremonies for the funeral. and wedding.

Major General Mohamed Nabil Omar, former director of civil defense, said all places of worship as well as other buildings must have emergency exits, as well as safety checks every one to three years.

Neither government nor church officials have commented on any of the findings of the investigation so far, or on whether the building’s wiring was last inspected.

“If the government decides today to close all buildings deemed unsafe according to official reports, three-quarters of Egypt will be closed,” said General Omar.

Nada Rashwan contributed reporting from Cairo.



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