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Egypt inaugurates hundreds of mosques amid smear campaign

The Egyptian government is opening hundreds of new mosques across the nation, brushing off Muslim Brotherhood accusations that the state is demolishing places of worship.
A bricklayer is working on a mosque construction site, it the new administrative capital, some 50 km east of the capital Cairo, on March 8, 2019 (Photo by PEDRO COSTA GOMES / AFP) (Photo by PEDRO COSTA GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)

CAIRO — Egypt inaugurated over 300 new mosques in several governorates across the country in September. This step comes in response to accusations by the Muslim Brotherhood and the foreign-based opposition that the Egyptian authorities have been demolishing mosques in a crackdown on illegal buildings, which caused widespread anger in several governorates. 

In a Sept. 3 statement, Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said the government would open and renovate 314 mosques in September and October.

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