MECA sought to start Offices around the world merely to spread the message among Christians of Middle Eastern origins to unite and strive for their rights to equal citizenship and freedom of worship in their homelands.

And when the State challenged us to work from within , we welcomed the proposition and set off to open the Cairo Office. We hoped to start an open dialogue with the authorities so the government knows our demands and to know that in the end our ultimate goal is to work for a coherent society and that this is for the best of our country. These basic rights of freedom of worship and equal rights were upheld by the Egyptian government but it seems that the government was only paying lip service if only to divert attention from the atrocities committed against Copts (Egyptian Christians). By opening the Cairo Office the Egyptian government was faced with a dilemma of how to deal with us. If the government leaves MECA activists to do their work, they would have exposed the government's hypocrisy and prejudice against the Copts. Alternatively it could curtail our activities and thus exposing its own hypocrisy to the world by itself.

In the three months from the day the Cairo Office opened, several issues which the government strove hard to cover up were raised, the most significant of which was the civil suit filed on MECA's behalf demanding compensation not retributions for the families of the 21 victims murdered in sectarian scuffles in Upper Egypt. Also bringing into the light the anti-Christian sentiment that is indoctrinated through the mass media at the hands of several so-called scholars and preachers. MECA also sought to support converts to Christianity against institutional and inherent persecution.

The publication of a booklet called 'The Persecuted' which gives detailed accounts of incidents of aggression against Copts and translating it into English was one of the efforts to make the outside world aware of the plight of the Copts.

The regime couldn't suffer the onslaught in silence and instead of opening a channel for dialogue it opened the gates of its prisons to devour our activists. Five activists were arrested and detained without charge and a few others went into hiding. A massive campaign to antagonise public opinion against MECA was waged in the media and under the threat of imprisonment or worse- security forces issued direct death threats to some-, some people decided to toe the government's line, cease their activities even disown the organisation.

Under the heavy yolk of antagonistic Press and massive legal fees MECA was exhausted and because of the constant attacks on MECA's mouthpiece, its website, the organisation could not get its voice out to the free world or defend itself against the vicious attacks

MECA had no other alternative but to take the following measures

-Ceasing activities of the Cairo Office and accepting resignations.

-Continuing with the civil suit on behalf of the families of the victims of the Kosheh sectarian murders as long as there are lawyers who are still willing to take the case.

-Issuing a complaint to the United Nations against the Egyptian government for the indiscretions committed against MECA activists.

-Asking both US and Canadian governments to hold inquests to look into the harsh treatment of our members by the state.

-Invoking all Coptic organisations and human rights organisations to include in the records what happened as an example of religious discrimination against Christians in Egypt.