The Statement of the International Quranic Center (IQC) Concerning the Third Arrest of the Egyptian Quranist Writer Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali

Published in August 28, 2020

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

 On the 22^nd of August, 2020, at 1:30 am, Cairo Local Time, the security soldiers stormed the house of Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali in the village of Abou Herez, near the town Kafr Saqr, in Al-Sharqiyah Governorate, Egypt. The security troops arrested Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali along with his brother Mr. Ahmed Abdel-Rahman Ali. The security troops stormed the houses of other relatives of ours to arrest Mr. Rajab Rizq M. Ali and Mr. Helmy Rizq M. Ali. All these men, who are members of our family, were released later on except for Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali who is still detained in an unknown location. This is the third time for Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali to be arrested by the Egyptian regime along with other relatives of ours; their only 'guilt' is that they are the relatives of Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour. We condemn and denounce such grave injustice committed against innocent people who never broke the Egyptian Law.

 We emphasize the following points:

1- The Egyptian regime targets the relatives of Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour in order to punish him for his writings; Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour is the initiator of the trend of Quranists who believes in Islam as the religion of peace, absolute religious freedom, democracy, tolerance, justice, and human rights and as the religion which stands against terrorism, tyranny, and corruption. Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour left Egypt and settled in the USA since 2001 as an asylee; even before his obtaining the American nationality, Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour plays his role as a thinker and writer through the VA-based IQC and through his website (www.ahl-alquran.com) since 2006. Because of the political articles about the introduction of political and religious reform in Egypt, the Egyptian regime punishes Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour through taking some of his innocent relatives as hostages; they have suffered arrest waves in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, and now in 2020.  

2- Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali works a teacher in an Azharite school; he is also a Quranist writer who has published his articles and researches on the Quranism website and also in his own blog (Justice, Freedom, and Peace) (http://redaaly55.blogspot.com/) launched in 2006. Because of his writings about religious and political reform, Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali is the main member of our family who got arrested many times; the worst time was on the 26^th of Oct., 2008, when he was detained unjustly while he was interrogated several times about his religious beliefs and practices, how he prayed, and his relation with his great uncle, Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour, and news of his arrest in 2008 reached some Egyptian opposition newspapers at the time. The Higher State Security Court issued a ruling on the 6^th of Jan., 2009, to annul the decision of the Minister of Interior to arrest Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali and to command his immediate release since there were no justifications and reasons for his detention. Strangely, instead of immediate release, Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali was released after more than two weeks after the court ruling.   

3- On the 4^th of July, 2015, at dawn, the security troops, in eight cars, along with high-rank police officers arrested several men among the relatives of Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour, including Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali, for no reason at all except to punish our person for our writings, and they were released on the following day.

4- Because of such terrorism practiced by the Egyptian State, Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali stopped writing on our Quranism website and on his own blog; his last article published on our website, in June 2016, was titled (Prophet Muhammad Is Innocent of the Lies of Salafists). Yet, Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali has been arrested, with other members of his family, on the 22^nd of August, 2020, and they were released with the exception of Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali who is still detained by the Egyptian regime in an unknown place. 

5- Interrogating our detained family members and relatives typically revolves around their relation with us, Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour, and yet, it is clear that the Egyptian military regime desires to take revenge against Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour by detaining and terrorizing his innocent, peaceful, weak relatives.

 We assert further the following points:

1- The current head of Al-Azhar hates our person and considers us as his enemy; we do believe that he incites the Egyptian regime against our person and our family members; when the head of Al-Azhar attacked our person, and all Quranists, indirectly in his speech in a conference in the presence of the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. In fact, Al-Sisi said that Quranists are peaceful people. We pose this question here: Why innocent, peaceful people are being repeatedly and intentionally targeted, terrorized, and detained?!   

2- We always repeat in our writings and YouTube videos that our peaceful, intellectual endeavors of reform are only through the cyberspace. We never engage in politics; we have no political ambitions at all. Within our intellectual career as a thinker who writes about the introduction of political and religious reform, we never impose our political and religious views on anyone and we seek no rewards from anyone. We never claim to monopolize the absolute truth; we welcome any corrections and remarks; we believe in free speech and in the Quranic higher value of absolute religious freedom. We wait for the Lord God's Judgment of our person and of our foes on the Last Day. This means that Quranists never pose a threat to the current Egyptian regime, and therefore, there is no need to arrest and detain any members of our family for their merely being Quranists.    

3- Since 1977, we have begun our peaceful, intellectual endeavors to call for reform; we have suffered several types of persecution including being imprisoned twice in 1980s, being terrorized and intimidated, being reduced to poverty since we were jobless, and then, we were forced into self-exile. We never visited Egypt since our departure in 2001; we are surprised that the Egyptian regime who dislikes our political articles published on our Quranism website would retaliate by targeting our innocent, peaceful, weak relatives who have nothing to do with what we write. Until when would such wronged parties experience intimidation and terrorism?! Their only 'crime' is that they are our relatives!     

4- We say to our relatives and family members in Egypt, including Mr. Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali, that we cannot help them in any way except by imploring and supplicating to the Lord God to save you from such injustice; all of us must remember this Quranic verse: "O you who believe! Seek help through patience and prayers. God is with the patient ones." (2:153).

SIGNATURE

Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour

The President of the VA-based IQC, the USA

August 28^th, 2020