Human rights activists charge Egyptian government is placing cameras in mosques to monitor sermons.
Egyptians are protesting against a plan to install surveillance cameras in thousands of mosques throughout the country.
Egypt’s Ministry of Islamic Endowments (Awqaf) denied the existence of such a plan on Monday, but the reports have caused ripples throughout the Egyptian media and the blogosphere.
Critics say the security forces are abusing their power by violating people’s privacy in their efforts to fight terrorism and extremism.
Responding to a public outcry, ministry spokesman Sheikh Shawqi Abdel Latif told several media outlets that cameras have been set up in one mosque alone – the Sayyida Nafisa Mosque in Cairo – with the declared purpose of ensuring people do not steal money from charity boxes, rather than to monitor religious sermons.
….According to official government statistics, Egypt accommodates around 104,000 mosques, but has appointed only 48,000 preachers. The significance of this is that many mosques have preachers who are not on a government payroll, and who are not subject to government guidelines in their teachings.
(via)
