No compulsion in Islam?

When we think of radical Islam, countries like Iran, Pakistan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia come to mind. Egypt, on the other hand, is usually viewed as a moderate Islamic nation. Welcome to moderate Islam (from the World Evangelical Alliance RLP 444, 29 August, 2007):

EGYPT, where a debate over religious liberty is heating up. A group of
Coptic converts to Islam wanting to return to Christianity were denied
permission in the courts. However, they successfully appealed and their case
will be reheard in Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court on 1 September.
Subsequent to the Copts' appeal, a Muslim convert to Christianity named Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy launched legal action against the Interior Ministry as it would not officially recognise his conversion to Christianity.

* UPDATE: EGYPT'S RELIGIOUS LIBERTY STRUGGLE. Compass Direct reports that after Hegazy's case became public, his lawyer resigned due to death threats and
public outrage. Then on 8 August Egyptian police arrested and are holding two
Coptic human rights advocates who interviewed Hegazy (25) on an Internet forum.
Dr Adel Fawzy Faltas (61), Egyptian head of the Canada-based Middle East
Christian Association (MECA), and Peter Ezzat, a senior MECA member, stand
accused of insulting Islam. Coptic lawyer Peter Ramses Raouf el-Nagar has taken
on their case as well as Hegazy's. Persistent death threats have forced Hegazy
into hiding. Meanwhile Egyptian clerics are debating the issues and trying to
redefine apostasy and religious liberty as issues of national security rather
than of Islam.

There is no compulsion in Islam…….yeah right!

Christian life in Egypt

Life for Christians in a "peaceful," moderate, Muslim Country:

For the past three and half decades, the Copts (Christians of Egypt) have
been targeted by a wave of brutal attacks on their persons, churches, homes and
businesses. Ibn Khaldoun Research Center (headed by Human Rights advocate
Saad Eddin Ibrahim) documented over one hundred and twenty major attacks on the Copts during this period. Another study estimated that over 4000 Copts were
killed or injured during this period, not to mention the material losses, in tens of Millions of Dollars, and the state of fear and mass immigration that followed.

One phenomenal one can't help but observe is that much of these attacks took place after attending the Muslim Friday prayers in mosques. Most significant, also, is that the vast majority of these attacks were not committed by organized terrorist groups, but by seemingly 'ordinary' people from the neighborhood, under the influence of hate propaganda emitted through the media, the education system and mosque preaching. The Egyptian justice system has yet to adequately punish a single Muslim perpetrator. (Christian Newswire)

Torture in Egypt

Since the United Nations, European nations and Leftists in general seem so concerned about the mistreatment of terrorists at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, why are they so silent about the humiliation, brutality and torture that is a regular part of Egyptian imprisonment? Excerpts of a recent Associated Press article appear below:

The footage is shocking: A man lies screaming on the floor of a police
station as officers sodomize him with a wooden pole.

Compounding the shock, it turns out that it was the police who made the
film, and that they then transmitted it to the cell phones of the victim's
friends in order to humiliate him.

Human rights activists say police brutality is deeply entrenched in
Egyptian life.

"Torture in Egypt is just routine, exerted on everybody whether in
political or criminal cases, and the police don't really feel any shame in
practicing it," said Mohammed Zarie, head of the Human Rights Center for the
Assistance of Prisoners.

Hafez Abu Saada, secretary general of the Egyptian Organization for Human
Rights, said his group reports some 400 cases of alleged police abuse a year. He
said 20 percent result in prosecutions, and convictions are much rarer.