Complaint about an Egyptian News Newspaper

The Press Council upheld MWWA complaint about Egypt News Newspaper
On the 18th January 2005, the Egypt News, the Coptic Newspaper in Sydney allowed the publication of an article titled, as translated into English “Slaughtering of a Coptic family the Islamic way in New Jersey in the united states “.  The editor of the article allowed its publication with the intention of inciting hatred against Muslims.  Before allowing the Police investigation to take its course, he hastily accused Muslims of committing the killing.

The following are some translated extracts of his published article that were full of racist slur against Muslims.

“      ….the girl resisted the Muslim killers who were trying to rape her…
………..the case here is about New Jersey being the origin of Muslim criminals committing crimes…
………. It is believed that there are dormant Islamic gangs in this city which is highly populated by Muslims….
………some politicians said that if the FBI and the American Federal Police could arrest the killers this would mean that this crime was committed by Muslim Gangs inside America itself …….
…….. slaughtering is the trade mark of Muslims since the beginning of Islam ….”

On the 6th March 2005, we learnt the truth about that incident from International newspapers who reported that the New Jersey police have arrested the killers who were two American men.  They were Edward McDonald 25 and Hamilton Sanshez 30.  The Former, lived on the second level of the building where the assassinated family lived and the motive for the killing was robbery.

Consequently, we wrote to the editor of the Coptic Newspaper who had falsely covered the story in a sensational way.  We politely requested from him to rectify the situation by providing a written apology for falsely accusing the Muslims of an act they did not commit.

He bluntly refused.  His behaviour was grossly unethical, unprofessional and unjust.  Accordingly, we appealed for the intervention of the Press Council in solving this dilemma.  After investigating this matter thoroughly and failing to obtain any proof from Egypt News to sustain their false published accusations, the Press Council convincingly upheld our application and provided us with an adjudication of this case, a copy of which is displayed below .