Pope Shenouda ends his isolation

Pope of Alexandria Shenouda III returned back to Cairo yesterday ending a "seclusion" he had started on December 8th demanding the solution of problems relating to Copts and releasing young men detained by the police.

The Attorney general Maher Abdul Wahed decided on Tuesday the release of 13 Copts with other 21 persons accused of injuring several police men during acts of protests in which hundreds of Christians took part two weeks ago because of the disappearance of a wife of a reverand amid claims of her being forced to embrace Islam and marrying her to a Muslim.

Lawyer Mamdouh Ramzi said "after the release of the accused men we went to the pope in the place of his "seclusion" and notified him of our debate before the attorney and the decision of the attorney general, and based on that, the Pope decided to end his seclusion and he returned to Cairo ( yesterday).

Ramzi added "we notified his holiness that we have received a promise that other jailed persons will be released gradually." He said that other problems will be discussed later with the officials.