Australia’s foreign minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd today met with HG Bishop Anba Suriel
Australia’s foreign minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd today met with HG Bishop Anba Suriel, Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Orthodox Diocese of Melbourne. HG Bishop Suriel confirmed that Mr Rudd was very concerned about the plight of Egypt’s indigenous Coptic Christian population in light of the escalation of violence directed at Egypt’s Christians.
The Hon. Kevin Rudd spoke about his visit to Egypt in Mid December of last year and Mr Rudd stipulated that he did in fact raise the issue of Coptic persecution/Coptic rights issue and conveyed the concerns of thousands of Australians to the former Egyptian minister of Foreign Mr Ahmed Abou El Gheit and to the former President Mubarak.
HG Bishop Suriel will issue a statement in coming days regarding this meeting and he looks forward to Australia playing a positive role in supporting Egypt’s future as a free, democratic and modern society.
The Australian Coptic Movement commends the efforts of HG Bishop Suriel in advocating for the Coptic Christians in Egypt. HG Bishop Suriel is a pioneer in the field of Human Rights and on 12/12/2010 Bishop Suriel gave a historic landmark speech in New York in which he openly condemned the former Egyptian President Mubarak for failing to protect the interests of Egypt’s 12 million Copts.
http://bishopsuriel.blogspot.com/2010/12/words-and-prayers-from-ecumenical-day.html (Bishiop Suriel’s Landmark speech)
The Australian Coptic Movement
Melbourne, Australia 15 February 2011