Report Finds Police Complicity, Religious Bias and Government Conspiracy in Al-Kosheh Investigation
	WASHINGTON, D.C. (EP) ­ An investigation into the massacre of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians during riots in January 2000 has uncovered conspiracy and religious bias, reports human rights watchdog group Freedom House. On Feb. 28, the group released Massacre at the Millennium, a 130-page report on the Al-Kosheh massacre and the following police investigation. The report accuses the Egyptian police, justice system and government of religious persecution. It is based "on three fact-finding missions to Egypt and extensive interviews conducted in four countries."     Religious tension in the village of Al-Kosheh first caught world attention in August 1998 when local Egyptian police arrested, interrogated and tortured 1,000 Coptic Christians during a murder investigation. Coptic Christians are the largest religious minority in the Middle East. Freedom House says that many of those arrested endured religious slurs and torture from police only because of their religious affiliation.     Then, on Dec. 31, 1999 an argument between a small group of Christians and Muslims exploded into rioting that continued until Jan. 2. By the end of that day, 21 Christians had been killed by Muslim mobs incited by false rumors that Christians had poisoned Al-Kosheh's water supply and were planning to attack Muslim neighborhoods. The only Muslim who died during the conflict was shot accidentally, police concluded. Scattered fights between religious groups continued in outlying areas until Jan. 4.     During that horrible time, some courageous Muslim endangered their own lives to help Christians. Freedom House found several cases in which some Muslims of Al-Kosheh put themselves in danger to protect the lives and homes of their Christian neighbors.     Once an uneasy peace returned to the village, it became evident that the use of murderous force was one-sided. Coptic Christians were found killed in their own homes. While some rioting Christians vandalized property, none used lethal force against their foes.     Freedom House reports that the tragedy at Al-Kosheh continued long after the rioting was over - spurred on by police bias, corruption and conspiracy. Their report states, "The events of 1998 and 2000 show the local security forces to be at best incompetent and poorly trained and, at worst, a bigoted, corrupt and brutal force that believes it can act with impunity against the Christian minority." According to some accounts, police actively participated in the massacre. Those reports have not been investigated.     Police arrested almost 100 people suspected of taking part in riots. Of those, 38 Muslims were charged with murder and were later acquitted Feb. 5. The other 58 suspects were either acquitted or convicted of lesser crimes. The harshest conviction and sentence handed down in the Al-Kosheh incident was to a Christian, Surial Gayed Isshak, who was sentenced to three years hard labor for publicly insulting Islam.     The Freedom House report says that justice still hasn't been done in Al-Kosheh. The report concludes that "government officials disseminated misinformation about the murders; officials falsely shifted blame for the massacre to unnamed 'foreigners;' convictions that were handed down were religiously biased; the courts used mass trials for propaganda purposes to create an image of solidarity among the accused, rather than to convict the guilty; and corruption among the security forces in Al-Kosheh remains unaddressed."     These findings lead to one conclusion, claims the report: the Egyptian government is also to blame for the denial of justice in Al-Kosheh. "From the outset, the government of Egypt has pursued a political strategy to cover up the gravity of the religious tensions in Al-Kosheh and avoid the politically sensitive issue of punishing Muslims for the murder of Christians," the report said. The government did this by characterizing the rioting and resulting massacre as "conflict, clashes, exchanges or sectarian strife between two religious groups," intimidating witnesses of the massacre into silence and generally cracking down on all of Egyptian society to silence sympathizers with the Coptic Christians.     Freedom House recommends that the government stop its attempts at covering up the causes of the massacre and instead investigate and prosecute the people who led the killing in Al-Kosheh. At present, the murderers of 21 Christians are still free.     Even a year after the massacre "the village is rife with threats, fear, anger and frustration. Unless steps are taken to address these concerns, further violence is not only possible, but also likely. There will be escalating violence and deepening religious polarization," states the group.
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