[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 22 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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;
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
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the New Year's Day 2011 attack on the Saint 
        George and Bishop Peter Church in Alexandria, Egypt;
            (2) expresses its deep condolences to the Coptic Christian 
        community who suffered from this attack and lost their loved 
        ones and to all Egyptians who have suffered from terrorist 
        attacks;
            (3) calls on President Hosni Mubarak and the Government of 
        Egypt to continue to fully investigate the bomb attack and to 
        lawfully prosecute the perpetrators of this heinous act;
            (4) calls on President Hosni Mubarak and the Government of 
        Egypt to continue to enhance security for the Coptic Christian 
        community and to work to ensure in law and practice religious 
        freedom and equality of treatment for all people in Egypt;
            (5) calls on the President to work with the Government of 
        Egypt to identify the perpetrators of the New Year's Day 
        attack; and
            (6) calls on the Secretary of State to address the issues 
        of religious freedom and equality of treatment for all people 
        in Egypt with the Government of Egypt.
                                 <all>