HRW calls for release of pro-Coptic groups

NEW YORK, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Cairo should release the various suspects detained for chanting anti-government slogans during a ceremony for slain Coptic Christians, Human Rights Watch said.

The rights group called on authorities in Egypt to release the estimated 30 activists who were arrested last week while on their way to express their sympathies for the families of six members of the Coptic community who were killed during Coptic Christmas Eve celebrations Jan 6.

"The Egyptian authorities should be focusing on the causes of the tragic shooting of six Coptic Christians," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Instead, they're arresting activists whose efforts to express their condolences is an important step toward healing sectarian fractures."

Human-rights lawyers in Cairo said the activists were arrested for illegal demonstrations and for chanting anti-government slogans.

Copts said authorities in Cairo ignore violence against non-Muslims, adding many officials choose not to address the matter.

Amnesty International in a 2008 report on the situation said "sporadic clashes" between Copts and Muslims were on the rise. Cairo's Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, meanwhile, said religious freedoms for the Coptic community were suppressed heavily.

State prosecutors said three suspected gunmen would face trial for the Jan. 6 killings, though the weekend was marked by widespread demonstrations in support of the rights for the Coptic community.