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Persecution of Egypt's Shiites continues

Egypt’s Shiites are being discriminated against through a number of means that are causing the religious minority to be further marginalized.
Egyptians carry the coffin of a Shi'ite victim, who was killed in sectarian violence, before funeral prayers in El Sayeda Nafisa Mosque in Cairo, June 24, 2013. Egypt's president, accused of fuelling sectarian hatred, promised swift justice on Monday for a deadly attack on minority Shi'ites as he tried to quell broader factional fighting to avoid a threatened military intervention.  REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh  (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST RELIGION) - RTX10ZDR

CAIRO — For decades, Egyptian regimes have robbed the Shiite Muslim minority of their right to practice their religion freely and publicly, fearing this would lead to the spread of Shiism in the predominantly Sunni country, at a time when their sense of belonging has also been in question.

Egyptian Shiites have been subject to persecution, detention and imprisonment. On May 18, the prosecution accused Shiite leader Al-Taher al-Hashimy of attempting to spread Shiism, disturbing social peace and conducting covert activities, according to a statement Hashimy emailed to Al-Monitor after his release.

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