Preacher interrogated for Coptic pope slur

Egypt's Emergency State Security body summoned Islamic preacher Wagdy Ghoneim after Coptic lawyer Naguib Gabriel, the head of the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights, stated that Ghoneim insulted Copts and the late Pope Shenouda III after his death. Gabriel said Ghoneim had uttered words that would offend religious sentiments, stir sectarian strife and undermine social peace as well as insult a national icon. Gabriel presented a compact disc (CD) that included a telephone call from Ghoneim on a satellite channel programme containing provocative words against the Pope after his death. Chief prosecutor Mahdi Shoaib reviewed the CD during investigations and included statements like "Egypt is relieved by his death, the head of infidels. We rejoice that he is destroyed.... May God have His revenge on him - he and all who walk his path."