Wednesday’s papers: Threats to Coptic Church, no international election monitoring

Fears of a possible terrorist attack on the Coptic Church, stemming from recent al-Qaeda threats, dominate Wednesday’s papers. Al-Shorouk leads with a headline reading: “Al-Qaeda renews its threats to the church…yet, the pope’s sermon will be held on time today.” 

The article says a terrorist Iraqi group calling itself “Supporters of an Islamic Iraqi State” reiterated earlier threats to attack the Coptic Church within 48 hours should the pope refuse to release Muslim women “imprisoned in monasteries.”

Al-Shorouk quotes the warning posted on an extremist website that reads: “A message to Christians…Save yourselves…The grace period is not over yet. You only have 26 hours for rational Christians to avoid a war that they are not up to.” But al-Qaeda militants first vowed to attack the church more than two days ago during their hostage takeover of Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad on Sunday. The attack killed 58 people.

However, the warnings did not dissuade the Pope from announcing his weekly sermon will be held on time Wednesday. According to the paper, the police apparatus is on alert; tight security measures have been enacted to protect the Coptic cathedral in Cairo. 

In the meantime, the privately-owned Al-Dostour quotes anonymous Coptic sources as saying that Pope Shenouda III is thinking of canceling a ceremony for the 39^th anniversary of his election as pope, set for mid-November. The paper also highlights a statement issued by Al-Azhar yesterday in which the world's oldest Sunni institution denounced the threats and affirmed that such “criminal acts” contradict Islam.

The Muslim Brotherhood issued a similar communiqué denouncing the attack on the Iraqi church and expressing their rejection of any attempt to target Egypt’s Coptic Church, according to Al-Dostour.

While the private press chooses to lead with the al-Qaeda saga, the state-owned papers dedicate top front-page columns to the coverage of an NDP meeting held Tuesday in preparation for the parliamentary elections. Al-Akhbar leads with a headline quoting Safwat al-Sherif, NDP secretary-general, and Gamal Mubarak, NDP assistant secretary-general, as saying: “The NDP seeks to hold fair elections and gain voters’ confidence.”

At the meeting, NDP leaders reiterated their refusal of any foreign monitoring of the elections, delegating the mandate to Egyptian non-governmental organizations, says Al-Ahram state-owned daily. The paper adds that the ruling party will announce its electoral platform next week. Gamal Mubarak affirmed that providing job opportunities and alleviating poverty will be on top of this platform, according to Al-Ahram.

Al-Shorourk publishes an lengthy interview with Mounir Fakhri Abdel Nour, the secretary-general of Al-Wafd Party. The paper quotes Abdel Nour as guaranteeing the NDP will win at least two-thirds of the parliament’s 518 seats. “The NDP will get a two-thirds majority plus 20 seats before we even get started,” he told the paper, adding that his party could only compete over 150 seats.

Aside from elections, Al-Ahram highlights on its front page a statement by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif affirming the government’s determination to curb violence in schools. In recent weeks, violent incidents left many students injured, making headlines in the local press. Earlier this week, one father filed a complaint with the prosecutor claiming his son was raped by three students at a school in Heliopolis. The incident drew wide media attention and prompted the education minister to go to the school himself in order to investigate the incident. The forensic doctor is quoted in Al-Ahram's Wednesday coverage as saying there is contestable evidence that the child was fully raped.

Al-Ahram TV supplement drops a bombshell by saying that the state-owned television is considering hiring famous TV journalist Mona al-Shazly, host of the successful “10 PM” news talk show. Since 2005, “10 PM,” which is aired on the privately-owned Dream 2 satellite channel, has established itself as an independent news show that hosts regime opponents and discusses plenty of politically controversial issues. The paper claims tensions began to mar the relationship between al-Shazly and the channel’s owner Ahmed Bahgat after the latter criticized her show for hosting a Muslim Brotherhood leader earlier this year. Al-Shazly considered such a critique to be clear interference in her work, adds Al-Ahram. It is still to be seen whether al-Shazly will be ensured the same space on airwaves that belong to a government with strong tendencies to curb freedom of expression.