LIVING IN FEAR
Canadians say they’re wrongly linked to anti-Muslim film that has ignited global furor,
OTTAWA— Two Canadian humanrights activists say they fear for their lives after being wrongly linked to an anti-Muslim film that has sparked riots and protests around the world.
Nader Fawzy and Jacques Attalla said Thursday they are among a number of Coptic Christians who Egypt has accused of being involved in the production, distribution or promotion of the film, Innocence of Muslims.
Both men deny any link to the film. They told The Canadian Press they’d never heard of the amateurish movie until it began sparking violent protests across the Middle East last week.
Indeed, Fawzy had actually denounced the film in a statement issued on behalf of the Middle East Christian Association.
The two men, both Canadian citi- zens, say they believe they’ve been targeted because they’ve been outspoken activists against the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt. “I think the new Islamic regime in Egypt, they are trying to terror(ize) all the Coptic activists outside of Egypt to let them shut up, to keep quiet,” Fawzy said in a phone interview from his home in Toronto. Fawzy’s name appears on a list of seven Coptic Christians, plus Florida pastor Terry Jones, against whom Egypt’s prosecutor general issued arrest warrants this week for alleged involvement with the film. The others are primarily based in the United States. They were all accused of offending Islam, insulting the Prophet Muhammad, inciting sectarian strife and jeopardizing Egypt’s peace and independence. Attalla said there are at least 10 other names that have been identified in the Arabic media as having arrest warrants issued against them. His name is among them. “I am on the first list and they add a few more,” Attalla said. “They consider us the most dangerous people because we are trying to save the lives of the Christian minority in Egypt in a very safe, very civilized way.
“We just write and we talk on the TV. That’s all what we do. We never carry a weapon like them, we never threaten anybody, we never talk about religion or produce a movie. We don’t have any money to do that.”
Neither man intends to return to their homeland. They are far more worried that senior Muslim clerics have offered a reward for killing them.
WASHINGTON— The U.S. State Department is airing a message on television channels in Pakistan with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton disavowing an anti-Islam film that triggered riots.
The U.S. embassy in Islamabad produced the ad from public comments by Obama and Clinton, and the State Department spent about $70,000 to buy commercial time to show it, department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The ad is an attempt to defuse anti-American sentiment that has spread through the Middle East and beyond over the video made in the U.S. that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad. Pakistan deployed its army Thursday to protect diplomatic missions in Islamabad amid some of the most sustained and violent protests yet against the film.
“We have to do everything we can to protect foreigners in the country,” Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told the GEO television channel.
He criticized the violence, which he said was an attempt to sabotage the government’s call for peaceful rallies Friday.
Pakistan deployed its army Thursday to protect diplomatic missions in Islamabad
“Is this the way to show respect to our Prophet?” Kaira said.
Earlier, riot police had fired tear gas and warning shots as hundreds of stick-wielding students converged on the so-called red zone that houses the U.S. embassy, breaking through barbed-wired barricades. “We will not tolerate insult to our Prophet,” demonstrators shouted as they tried to gain access to the heavily guarded enclave.
The 30-second U.S. announcement, subtitled in Urdu, shows Obama saying the U.S. rejects “all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.” Clinton is shown saying, “The United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message.”
A second message featuring clips, drawn from YouTube, of ordinary Americans condemning the film is also being shown in countries around the world, Nuland said.
Rallies were held Thursday in a number of cities in Pakistan. The government announced a public holiday for Friday to celebrate the life of the Prophet and allow people to protest the film.
Anti-American sentiment has been running high in Pakistan after years of U.S. drone attacks, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani town and other confrontations.