DUBAI (Farrag Ismail, AlArabiya.net)
The head of an Egyptian legal center has denied accusations that he insulted Islam on the center's Web site, and dismissed rumors that he plans to start a "Christian Brotherhood" organization to parallel the powerful Muslim Brotherhood opposition group.
A group of lawyers is suing Mamdouh Nakhla, the head of Al-Kalima Human Rights Center, for comments posted on its Web site, which they said was insulting to Islam's Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Quran.
The group also accuses Nakhla of leading a campaign to be the 'supreme guide' of a group called the "Christian Brotherhood" – styled along the lines of the "Muslim Brotherhood" – also headquarters in Cairo's Al-Manial district.
But Nakhla, a prominent Coptic lawyer known for defending Egyptian Christians, told Al-Arabiya.net that both allegations are untrue.
According to Nakhla, people mistakenly assume that a Christian Web site based in the U.S. -- also called Al-Kalima – belongs to the human rights center he heads in Cairo of the same name.
Nakhla also dismissed the rumors that he is founding a "Christian Brotherhood" organization with the slogan "Christianity is the Solution"—again mirroring the "Islam is the Solution" slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Nakhla told Al-Arabiya.net that the group simply does not exist, adding that the idea had never even been suggested by any Coptic leaders.
The rumors started after Nakhla gave a recent interview, in which he reportedly said, "If this group existed, I would run for Supreme Guide, and I would make its slogan 'Nationalism is the answer.'"
Nakhla was speaking to journalist, Samuel Sweiha, in a story about "The Coptic Nation," a group which was disbanded in 1954 after its members were arrested for abducting Egypt's Pope.
The Coptic Nation's strategies were to a great extent similar to those of the Muslim Brotherhood.
A Coptic leader also dismissed the idea of reviving the defunct Christian group.
"It will do the Copts more harm than good, and will push the Muslim Brotherhood towards more extremism, said Adli Abadeer, who heads the Copts United group based in Zurich.
"Plus, Copts in Egypt are not really into politics," said Abadeer, considered "the godfather of immigrant Copts".
"What I would strive for is to make Egypt a civil society where all citizens are equal regardless of religion." |
