For Copts, a conference that shows how Arabs embrace demoracy

The Daily Star - Opinion Articles - For Copts, a conference that shows how Arabs embrace demoracy: "Instead of convening to discuss discrimination against Christians in Egypt and ways for Muslims and Christians to combat the growing politicization of religion, those wild accusations would have had you thinking we were instead preparing for the invasion of Egypt by foreign troops. Such nonsense was to be expected of course. It was much easier for the government and its media to attack the organizers for holding the conference in Washington than to acknowledge and answer the disturbing questions it raised about discrimination against Christians in Egypt.
The government-controlled media conveniently neglected to mention that the organizers wanted to hold the conference in Egypt, but received no response to the request they sent to Egyptian officials. There was nothing new here - we all remember that the Egyptian government prevented Saadeddin Ibrahim from convening a conference in Egypt in 1994 on minorities in the Arab world. He had to take it to Cyprus instead. "