Opponent of religious freedoms to lead Egypt's Al-Gomhuriya newspaper

Ahram online, August 9

Egypt’s Shura Council, the upper, consultative house of parliament, has named editors-in-chief for state-owned newspapers, including the appointment of Gamal Abdel-Rahim as the editor-in-chief of Al-Gomhuriya daily newspaper. Abdel-Rahim, a former member of the Press Syndicate Council, caused controversy in the past with his stance against religious freedoms in Egypt. In 2008, he stopped a conference about religious freedoms in Egypt because it discussed the issues of religious minorities, notably Baha’is. In 2009, Basma Moussa, a Baha’i activist for religious freedom, filed a complaint against Abdel-Rahim, accusing him of calling for her murder on air during a television programme discussing the rituals and traditions of Egypt’s Baha’i community. During the programme, Abdel-Rahim said Moussa should be killed because she is a Baha’i. In the same year, six human rights organisations accused Abdel-Rahim of inciting hatred towards Baha’is after he praised locals in Al-Sharoniya village in Sohag after their attack on the houses of Baha’is. Abdel-Rahim has frequently attacked Baha’is in his column in Al-Gomhuriya daily newspaper, which he is now to lead. Al-Gomhuriya is a major state-owned newspaper with a number of daughter publications, also administered by the editor of al-Gomhuriya.

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