CJPME is pleased to publish the next of a 15 part election series analyzing the positions of Canada’s political parties. CJPME hopes that, by revealing what parties have said and done on key Middle East issues, Canadians will be better informed voters in the upcoming elections. Our next analysis studies each party’s position on the El-Sisi government coup and the mass death sentences that followed.

CJPME is pleased to publish the next of a 15 part election series analyzing the positions of Canada’s political parties. CJPME hopes that, by revealing what parties have said and done on key Middle East issues, Canadians will be better informed voters in the upcoming elections. Our next analysis studies each party’s position on the arrest, detention and trials of Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy in Egypt.

CJPME is pleased to publish the next of a 15 part election series analyzing the positions of Canada’s political parties. CJPME hopes that, by revealing what parties have said and done on key Middle East issues, Canadians will be better informed voters in the upcoming elections. Our next studies each party’s position on the arrest and detention of John Greyson and Tarek Loubani during the summer 2013 Egyptian unrest.

CJPME Political Blog, June 26, 2015: Not since the early 1970s has Egypt been so militarily active in the Middle East. The calamitous legacy of Egypt’s previous military engagements in Yemen and Israel had long deterred an active military response to regional insecurity. Yet, under the emboldened leadership of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Egypt has expanded police and military operations in the Sinai Peninsula, and it has been playing a pivotal role in countering Islamic State activities in eastern Libya and in the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Yemen. Indeed, this bellicose strategy signals a clear break from abstention in regional conflicts. 

Montreal, April 29, 2014  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) calls for a suspension of trade with Egypt, given yesterday’s sentencing of another 683 Egyptians to death following yet another patently unfair mass trial.  The April 29 mass sentencing raises the number of death sentences handed out in recent weeks to 720; the same judge also upheld the death sentences of 37 of 529 men whom he last month ordered hanged. The death sentences of the remaining 492 of the latter group were commuted to 25-year prison terms. Each group is alleged to have killed a policeman. Meanwhile, another judge banned the April 6 youth movement—a liberal youth group. Egyptian authorities continue to detain Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and several other Al Jazeera news channel staffers, jailed since December. 

Montreal, February 25, 2014  — Canadians will demonstrate with others around the world this Thursday, February 27^th, in a global Day of Action against the arrest of journalists in Egypt.  Protests are planned for Toronto, Nathan Phillips Square, and Montreal, the Egyptian Consultate, and perhaps other Canadian sites at noon on Thursday.  They join dozens of other events around the world in a global Day of Action under the theme: “Journalism is not a Crime.”  “Journalists are being arrested and detained in Egypt simply for doing their jobs,” asserted Thomas Woodley for Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME).  “It is time for the world – Canada included – to demand their release.”  

Montreal, February 20, 2014  — As news that Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and two other Al Jazeera journalists will remain in jail until March 5, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) has learned that Canadian officials have underserved both Fahmy and his family.  The three journalists are accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood – now virtually outlawed in Egypt – and of broadcasting “misleading” news about events in Egypt.  The three journalists pleaded not guilty, but the Egyptian court has refused them bail. 

Montreal, February 3, 2014  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) calls on Egypt to release Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and the other Al Jazeera journalists currently languishing in jail there.  CJPME also calls on Canadian political leaders to get involved to prompt Egypt to drop all trumped up charges that have been filed against Fahmy and other Al Jazeera journalists. Egypt’s Prosecutor General announced on January 29 that it would try 20 Al Jazeera journalists on charges of incitement, distorting Egypt’s image broad and fabricating news to aid the Muslim Brotherhood. “Egyptian authorities must release Mohamed Fahmy, and Canadian political leaders must address this terrible travesty of justice,” says CJPME President Thomas Woodley.

Montreal, January 27, 2014 — CJPME laments that three years after the massive protests that eventually toppled authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak began in Tahrir Square, democracy is still eluding Egyptians. According to a January 23 Amnesty International (AI) report, at least 1400 people had been killed in political violence since the military ousted elected president Mohammed Morsi July 3. AI says that Egypt has witnessed “state violence on an unprecedented scale over the last seven months.” In addition, on Saturday, January 25, 49 anti-government protesters were killed, and another 1079 were arrested, according to media reports.

CJPME Factsheet 120, published March, 2011: This factsheet provides an overview of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community, which represent 10% of Egyptians. Since there is no racial or ethnic difference between Christian and Muslim Egyptians, this factsheet looks at who the Coptic Christians of Egypt are, how are the relations between them vis-à-vis their government, how well they co-exist with Muslims, and what are the kinds of discriminations they face in Egyptian society.