Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
February 28, 2005

The Arab Republic of Egypt has been governed by the National Democratic Party (NDP) since the party’s establishment in 1978. The NDP continues to dominate national politics and has maintained an overriding majority in the popularly elected People’s Assembly and the partially elected Shura (Consultative) Council. Islam is the state religion. In 1999, President Hosni Mubarak was reelected unopposed to a fourth 6-year term in a national referendum. The President appoints the Cabinet and the country’s 26 governors and may dismiss them at his discretion. The 1971 Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, it is subject to influence by the Executive, and application of the 1981 Emergency Law undermined its independence. The Government continued to use the Emergency Law to try non-security cases in the emergency and military courts. Corruption was a problem.

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Last month’s grisly murder in Jersey City of Hossam Armanious, his wife, Amal, and two daughters, Sylvia and Monica, remains unsolved. But friends and relatives of the family are convinced the bloody crime is rooted in a growing wave of violence and oppression against Christians taking place in Arab countries.They may well be right.

The Armanious family was devoutly Coptic Christian - an ancient orthodox Egyptian sect that has long suffered from discrimination and coercion in largely Muslim Egypt. Armanious did something in America that he wouldn’t dare try in his native Egypt: He attempted to convert Muslims to Christianity.

That, say members of the local Coptic community, angered Islamic extremists and led to the murder.

New Jersey police say they have no proof it was religious murder and are still considering robbery among the motives, although Armanious was far from rich and family jewelry was found untouched in the house.
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Egypt

Covering events from January - December 2004

At least 34 people were killed and more than a hundred others injured in car bomb attacks in the Sinai region in October. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were arrested in connection with the attacks. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) continued to operate under the restrictive NGO law introduced in 2002.

Scores of members of the banned Muslim Brothers organization were arrested; several of them remained held awaiting trial at the end of the year. Thousands of suspected supporters of banned Islamist groups, including possible prisoners of conscience, remained in detention without charge or trial; some had been held for years.
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By NIDRA POLLER

WASHINGTON - Relatives of Hossam Armanious - who along with his wife and two daughters was savagely murdered last month at Jersey City, N.J. - said at a press conference here yesterday that the family was probably killed because of their religious beliefs.
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Relatives of the slain Armanious family of four will speak out at their first press conference since the brutal murders on Tuesday, February 15th at 3 P.M. at the National Press Club’s Zenger Room in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Coptic Christian Association President Michael Meunier will join the Aramanious family’s relatives in addressing the investigation’s status, and expressing the family’s point of view of the horrific crime.  The family will also address erroneous reports circulated by some national and foreign media outlets. 

The family will be joined by friends of the Coptic-American community, including representatives of NGO’s and Human Rights organizations.

Ayman Garas, the brother of victim Amal Garas, will speak alongside Garas’ brother-in-law Emad Fahmy and uncles Emil, Gameel and Milad Garas.  The family members will also discuss the case with lawmakers and government officials during their visit to Washington.  “We feel it is extremely important that the public hear the Armanious family members’ side of the story and we are pleased to help them express their point of view on this disturbing crime,” said Meunier.

The bodies of the Coptic-American family, including father Hossam Armanious, 47, his wife Amal Garas, 37, and daughters Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8, were found bound and gagged with throats slashed in their Jersey City home in January.  Hudson County N.J. Prosecutors continue to explore several possible motives for the slayings, including retaliation by terrorists against Hossam Armanious, an outspoken advocate for Coptic Christian religious freedom in his native Egypt and a well-known leader of online ministry to the muslim-American community.

The Press Conference will take place in the Zenger Room of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. at 3 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 15th 2005.