Abeer Fakhri, Egypt Woman Whose Affair Blamed For Sectarian Violence, Detained

CAIRO -- A security official says the Christian woman whose affair with a Muslim sparked deadly sectarian clashes has been detained, facing charges including polygamy.

The official says Abeer Fakhri will be held 15 days for questioning. He spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to reporters. She converted to Islam escape a marriage to a Christian and became involved with a Muslim man.

When her family located her, she was taken to a building next to a church in the Cairo district of Imbaba. She has not been seen.

Her Muslim partner rallied ultraconservative Salafi Muslims, claiming a Muslim convert was abducted by the church, sparking clashes that left 15 dead and more than 200 injured.

Christians comprise 10 percent of Egypt's population of 80 million.

Comments

[maxben]

11:17 AM on 05/15/2011

Personally, it sounds like the Copts were in the wrong. Consider that if Muslims forcefully held a muslim woman who tried to convert to Christianity, we would blame the Muslims. Any group that refuses the right of religious choice is wrong. God, it annoys me to be on the side of the Salafists for anything, but it appears this is the case.

[ardethbay]

02:51 PM on 05/14/2011

"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it." John Adams

[Dale Andersen]

04:44 PM on 05/18/2011

John Adams has often been quoted as having said: "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it."

John Adams did, in fact, write the above words. But if you see those words in context, the meaning changes entirely. Here's the rest of the quotation:

"Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been on the point of breaking out, 'this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!!' But in this exclamation, I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in public company—I mean hell."

As you can see from this example, context matters! And it's your responsibility, ardethbay, to print the WHOLE TRUTH, not just the part that suits you...

[leftyirishwoman]

10:55 AM on 05/14/2011

Humanity is a strange species. Archeologists look at remains and cultural artifacts with great attention to see the slightest indication of burial customs, a belief in an afterlife, and any sign of possible spirituality. News that Neanderthals buried some of their dead with red ocher means they believed something, and then the news that they occasionally practiced cannibalism puts that assumption in a new perspective. Since burial customs and cannibalism has been well documented for humans in the 20th century (World War II,) I wonder how we will be evaluated.

No one leaves monuments to their inherent craziness. In the religiously pluralistic US, when individuals who observe different religions marry, how to respect the religions and raise the children is usually discussed before the nuptials. Conversions due to such a marriage occur, and probably tick off or exalt the same proportion of the extended families as in Egypt, but no one else in the society gives a darn.

Early religion and politics went together in tribes. Life teetered on the precipice, and the idea of everyone not being committed body and soul to the same to the same beliefs threatened the powers to be. Today isn't that different; the intense emotional fervor put into following the two US political parties, which really don't differ that much compared to the European democracies.

I hope Egypt maintains it religious pluralism, but lets it evolve into the realm of the individual rather than the group.

[the grange gorman]

05:44 AM on 05/14/2011

It seems the more religious a society is the more brutal it is.The world needs more atheism.

[JessCostello]

02:14 AM on 05/14/2011

Was this guy a Salafi or did he just ask for their help?

There's rumors in India and other places of something called "Love Jihad" and there's some evidence of it taking place in the UK, Australia, Spain and the U.S. 

I wonder if this was "Love Jihad?"

[JadedNY]

09:45 PM on 05/13/2011

If she converted to Islam as it says int he 2nd paragraph, then she is NOT Christian, as it says in the first paragraph. Oh, and the total lack of details...

[maxben]

11:15 AM on 05/15/2011

Well that's the point, its one or the other and no one is really sure. That is what led to violence.

[J- A]

06:45 PM on 05/13/2011

More than ever I'm convinced that Stupid is innate. And universal. I would have realized sooner but I'm stupid too.

[DawnK]

04:55 PM on 05/13/2011

Yeah organized religion! Keeping societies divided for centuries! Woo hoo.

[KIVPossum]

12:40 PM on 05/13/2011

Something is wrong with a society, or a religion, where one person's infidelity is cause fror riots

[americancolonyinhell]

12:04 PM on 05/13/2011

Wow, the level of ignorance/barbarity in the African continent is stupefying.

[janetk]

11:43 AM on 05/13/2011

And it was all Eve's fault too

[troyrobertdavid]

10:23 AM on 05/13/2011

Because we all know that it’s all the woman’s fault. The man in the middle of all this is completely innocent; he just couldn’t help himself when he saw her ankles. It’s pathetic how women in 2011 are still being treated.

[Djelem]

11:15 AM on 05/13/2011

Actually it's religion's fault. Religions, all of them, have caused more human misery than all wars combined. In fact religion has been the cause of the majority of wars. The human race can not be considered free while one of these bastions of superstition is permitted to exist.

[JessCostello]

02:14 AM on 05/14/2011

Nobody said he was innocent.

[troyrobertdavid]

11:35 AM on 05/14/2011

Then why is she the only one being persecuted?

[HumanityEqualsLaw]

08:48 AM on 05/13/2011

So a Salafist got angry when his "property" ran away, gathered a mob and burned some buildings and killed some people in revenge, and now the "property" is detained?

[InTheSouth]

10:21 AM on 05/13/2011

Well, it makes perfect sense to the faithful. They have no capacity for reason and logic.

[anesthesia84]

10:32 AM on 05/14/2011

And Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Kim il Sung/Kim Jong Il did/do

[Pandoras Folly]

08:41 AM on 05/13/2011

(FACEPALM)
why did I choose to live on this planet full of stupid stupid monkeys?

[drjasonmd]

10:13 AM on 05/13/2011

It looked so nice in the travel brochures.

[Pandoras Folly]

12:24 PM on 05/13/2011

HAH!! it did at that. Stupid outdated pictures from the paleolithic, i was looking forward to continents with a nice Icecrust, instead i get stupid sauce.

well at least the Blues, pudding, and Scotch got invinted.

[BJHenton]

08:29 AM on 05/13/2011

Too bad these folks can't seem to get into the current century. I feel bad for any woman in that part of the world.

[InTheSouth]

10:26 AM on 05/13/2011

True, I agree that it is awful in that part of the world. However, women (of which I am one) who live in the West (USA, Europe, Britain, Australia, etc) are in greatest jeapordy from their husbands or boyfriends. Think about it. We still have a long way to go for women, in general, to feel safe muchless respected.