JNN 18 Oct 2012 Cairo : Spokesman for Egypt’s Shia minority says his coreligionists will participate in planned Friday rally to press for religious freedom.

Egyptian Shias will take part in Friday’s planned ‘Egypt for all Egyptians’ demonstration, Bahaa Anwar Mohamed, senior member of the liberal Ghad Al-Thawra Party and a spokesman for Egyptian Shias, announced Wednesday.

The demonstration, organised by opposition forces, is intended to protest perceived Wahabi dominance of Egypt’s Constituent Assembly – tasked with drafting a new constitution – and press for revolutionary demands of democracy and social justice.

Separate marches will set out from the Mohandiseen, Shubra and Sayyeda Zeinab districts of Cairo.

Bahaa said that Egyptian Shias planned to join the Sayyeda Zeinab rally, slated to begin following Friday prayers.

The Sayyeda Zeinab Mosque contains the shrine of Prophet Mohamed’s granddaughter Zeinab, a sacred figure for Shia Muslims.

Estimates for the number of Shias in Egypt, who reprtedly suffer from discrimination, range from 10,000 to more than 1 million.

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