International Shia News Agency
AfricaAll NewsFeaturedHuman rightsMiddle EastNEWS BRIEFSOther NewsShia Human Rightsworld

Shia Muslim plight in Egypt: continued prosecution and crackdown

SHAFAQNAThe recent ruling of life imprisonment that was issued against six members of the Shia community in Egypt has once again brought to surface the grievances of Shia Egyptians in a society of hostility. The six were found guilty on alleged charge of “spreading Shiism”.

A commentary in Arabic website Alahadnews has states that the newly-released verdict is not very surprising considering the sectarian behavior of political, religious and military officials in Egypt, as they have been conducting a campaign of suppression on the Shia Muslims in the past couple of years. The commentary adds the systematic crackdown has extended in a way that forced the Shia to hide their religious identity in fear of persecution.

The most dangerous aspect of this sectarian policy is that, the systematic campaign against the Shia Egyptians becomes legal as the country’s judicial body joins this trend.

A report by Egyptian paper al-Fajr reveals Al-Zahar University and the Ministry of Awqaf have thrown their support behind efforts by the Salafis against the Shia. It is also part and parcel of a regional policy of killing Shia Muslims in masses.

The policy is backed by Saudi Arabia and certain Arab states who look at Shiism as a deviant movement that should be uprooted to save their own narrative of Islam. Anti-Shia sentiment runs high in Egypt and the fact that consecutive governments refused to hold an inquiry into the brutal killing of Shia figure Sheikh Hassan Shahhata and his co-religionists shows how this sentiment runs deep in Egypt. Sheikh Hassan Shahhata was a Sunni scholar at Al Zahar University and imam at Egyptian army who later converted to Shia Islam. He was killed in a mob attack in 2013.

Alahadnews has noted that we should not mistake that the genocide of the Shia Iraqis was a local policy. Indeed, it was a broader regional policy stemming from Wahhabi school of thought that began in Saudi Arabia and made its way into Egypt and ISIS terrorists were only one of its enforcers.

Alahadnews has requested Al Azahar University to instead of labeling Daesh terrorists as Takfiri (which is by now a proved fact); prevent Salafi attacks against the Shia citizens living in Egypt.

Source: Alahadnews.net

Read more from Shafaqna:

Censorship against Shia media in Egypt

Egypt: 23 men jailed for killing top Shias scholar ‘Sheikh Hassan Shehata

Egypt’s Salafi Party demanded Iraqi Shias to be deported from Egypt 

Anti-Shia campaign by Egyptian Salafis

Related posts

Saudi Arabia provides 24-hour healthcare for pilgrims during Ramadhan

nafiseh yazdani

Saudi Arabia:More than 8 million perform Umrah in first half of Ramadhan

nasibeh yazdani

Saudi Arabia: 4-day Eid Al-Fitr holiday for non-profit sectors

nasibeh yazdani

Islam & Nowruz

asadian

Saudi’s Literature Commission takes part in 2024 London Book Fair

nasibeh yazdani

Saudi Arabia distributes dates in 93 countries

nafiseh yazdani

Leave a Comment