Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank our witnesses for being here today.
Obviously, I think, all of us around this table are deeply committed to the value of freedom of religion as a fundamental human right, recognizing that most—if not all—other human rights flow from that.
Throughout your document, your speech today, and the documents we received from the Library of Parliament, there are a number of references to the attacks that are being carried on by extreme groups within Egypt, as opposed to the government itself, and there is some indication that perhaps the action of the government in dealing with those violent attacks is less than robust.
You also reference the reconciliation meetings, which are being used in lieu of prosecutions. It appears that in some cases these reconciliation meetings may actually be serving as a cover for not dealing aggressively with the violent behaviour.
Finally, in your comments today you mentioned the Maspero incident, the two parallel judicial processes, and the two- to three-year sentences in prison for those who were convicted of the deaths of 14 protestors.
Is that type of sentence consistent with other judgments that would have been rendered for murder in a less religious context? This appears to me—I'll be frank—to be a very light sentence for the deaths of 14 people. I'm wondering if you could comment on that. Also, could you comment further on the issue of the reconciliation process, which appears to provide a bit of a cover for actually dealing in a really forthright way with a problem that's pretty severe?