Most likely this is in response to several outcries of the church. Pressure has been building on the government over the past few years because of a trial concerning the massacre of a few over twenty Copts - for which none of the ninety or so involved got charged for murder or attempted murder. The next year saw some sexually explicit articles accusing the church of some revolting crimes, the Church did not stay quiet. Also, Pope Shenouda spoke out very recently against the treatment of Copts. The government had to do something.
This was on usenet a month or so ago.
>
Found this on MEMRI about the this church leader
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Inquiry and Analysis - Egypt/Reform in the Arab and Muslim World
November 12, 2002
No. 110
To view this Special Dispatch in HTML format, please visit:
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=IA11002
