III 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 22 

Condemning the New Year’s Day attack on the Coptic Christian community 

in Alexandria, Egypt and urging the Government of Egypt to fully 

investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of this heinous act. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25 (legislative day, JANUARY 5), 2011 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. WICKER, 

Mr. CARDIN, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. CASEY, 

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mrs. BOXER, and Mr. KYL) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the New Year’s Day attack on the Coptic Christian community in Alexandria, Egypt and urging the 

Government of Egypt to fully investigate and prosecute 

the perpetrators of this heinous act. 

Whereas Coptic Christians are a native Egyptian population 

and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria was 

founded by the Evangelist Saint Mark the Apostle in approximately 42 A.D. and is the oldest Christian church 

in Africa; 

Whereas Copts in Egypt constitute the largest Christian community in the Middle East and the largest Christian minority group in the region; 


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•SRES 22 IS 

Whereas Coptic Christians account for at least 9 percent of 

Egypt’s population of 80,000,000 and number more than 

3,000,000 outside of Egypt, including 1,000,000 in the 

United States; 

Whereas, on New Year’s Day 2011, a suicide bomber targeting Coptic Christians blew himself up in front of the 

Saint George and Bishop Peter Church in Alexandria, 

Egypt, killing at least 21 people and injuring almost 100 

others; 

Whereas President Barack Obama and other world leaders 

have condemned the attack and called for its perpetrators 

to ‘‘be brought to justice for this barbaric and heinous 

act’’; 

Whereas the head of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community, 

Pope Shenouda III, has called on President of Egypt 

Hosni Mubarak to increase security for the Coptic Christian community and to reach agreements over the building and repairing of churches, including the adoption of 

a single law applicable to both churches and mosques; 

and 

Whereas the freedom of religion is central to the ability of 

people to live together and must be upheld by the laws 

and practices of every democratic nation: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) condemns the New Year’s Day 2011 attack 

3 on the Saint George and Bishop Peter Church in Al4 exandria, Egypt; 

5 (2) expresses its deep condolences to the Coptic 

6 Christian community who suffered from this attack 


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•SRES 22 IS 

1 and lost their loved ones and to all Egyptians who 

2 have suffered from terrorist attacks; 

3 (3) calls on President Hosni Mubarak and the 

4 Government of Egypt to continue to fully investigate 

5 the bomb attack and to lawfully prosecute the per6 petrators of this heinous act; 

7 (4) calls on President Hosni Mubarak and the 

8 Government of Egypt to continue to enhance secu9 rity for the Coptic Christian community and to work 

10 to ensure in law and practice religious freedom and 

11 equality of treatment for all people in Egypt; 

12 (5) calls on the President to work with the Gov13 ernment of Egypt to identify the perpetrators of the 

14 New Year’s Day attack; and 

15 (6) calls on the Secretary of State to address 

16 the issues of religious freedom and equality of treat17 ment for all people in Egypt with the Government 

18 of Egypt. 

Æ 


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