Egypt's Islamists under fire over Shia mob killings

Salafist Nour Party condemns recent violence but warns against 'insulting and demonising' figures revered by Sunni Muslims

Ahram Online

Mob attacks Shias in their home in Egypt's Giza district leaving 4 killed 

"Giza prosecutors have ordered the arrest of 15 people implicated in the murder of four Egyptian Shias in attack by Sunni Muslims in a Giza village on Sunday, an incident which has heightened sectarian tensions in an already polarised country......

Inflammatory anti-Shia rhetoric by some hardline Islamist clerics has been on the rise recently, apparently as a result of the growing conflict in Syria, as well as a recent thaw in Egypt-Iran ties.....

While some critics blame the Salafist-oriented Nour Party for igniting anti-Shia sentiment, the party has rejected any suggestion of involvement.
"We have warned the regime about looming sectarian friction, amid acts of insulting and demonising the Sahabah [the companions of the Prophet Mohamed] which will shock the fabric of Egyptian society, but it paid no heed," party spokesman Nader Bakkar said via Twitter late on Sunday.......

The hardline group, Egypt's second-largest Islamist political party after the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, has been largely blamed for the rising extremist rhetoric against Shia Muslims, with its statements warning against a potential spread of Shiism in Egypt......

The Salafist Call, Egypt's largest Salafist movement in Egypt, has also been accused of arousing anti-Shia sentiment in sermons it sponsored as well as posters emblazoned with its logo seen across different cities demonising the sect and its followers......

The already embattled president has been censured by his opponents for failing to curb sectarian utterances against Shia Muslims made by his Islamist backers at a Syria solidarity conference last week, during which he announced that Egypt would cut diplomatic ties with Damascus........

The Egyptians against Religious Discrimination, an independent group fighting religious sectarianism in Egypt, denounced in its statement in response to the violence what it described as a series of sectarian crimes under the Muslim Brotherhood's rule.
Morsi’s rule “opened the door for sectarian strife between Egyptians,” claimed the Monday statement."