By Brian Whitaker
"......According to eyewitnesses cited by Ahram Online, police arrived late at the scene and then stood by, watching the attack.
Although Sunni Salafists have been whipping up anti-Shia
sentiment recently, a large portion of the blame for yesterday's violence lies
with the Egyptian authorities. Official policies under Mubarak and subsequently
have legitimised prejudice against the Shia (who in Egypt are a tiny minority
thought to account for no more than 1% of the population).
Among those who died yesterday, 66-year-old Hassan Shehata had
been jailed twice under Mubarak for "contempt of religion", Ahram Online
reports. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights has documented a number of cases since
2004 where Shia have been harassed and detained by the authorities.
The authorities have long been reluctant to take a firm stand
against sectarian attacks and perpetrators often avoid serious punishment.
Instead, the authorities encourage "reconciliation" meetings aimed at restoring
calm without necessarily addressing the underlying problems.
Last year, the US State Department's annual report
on religious freedom stated that the lack of prosecutions "contributed to a
climate of impunity that encouraged further assaults". It noted that Egypt's
National Council for Human Rights (a quasi-governmental body) had called for an
end to "reconciliation" sessions on the grounds that they were not only against
the law but also provided "a major reason for sectarian clashes" because of the
resulting impunity......."
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