Over 100 Coptic Christians were killed in 2017 in a wave of deadly attacks by militants belonging to, or inspired by, the Islamic State group, which has vowed to “wipe them out”. Egypt’s Copts, who account for around 10 per cent of the population, were also targeted in 2013, after they were perceived as supporting the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood government. Scores of churches across the country were attacked and burned.
The family of a Coptic Christian who died in police custody last week have called for legal action to be taken against the two arresting officers, who they accuse of torture and murder. Gamal Kamal Aweida, 41, died in a room at Manshiyat Naser police station, in central Cairo, on Wednesday […]
“Systematic discrimination” is preventing Coptic Christians from participating in professional sport in Egypt, according to a feature article on the Egyptian website MadaMasr: ‘Copts and Egypt’s national game – We’ll call you back later‘. Though Copts make up around 10 per cent of Egypt’s population, not one of the 122 […]
A security guard was wounded on Saturday (15 July) at a Coptic church in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, after an Egyptian Muslim stabbed him in the neck, a senior police official told AFP. The 24-year-old male perpetrator, an unemployed law-school graduate, attacked the 47-year-old guard with a knife after […]
The son of one of the victims of the Ascension Day bus attack that left at least 28 Coptic Christians dead has announced he wants to donate money to build a mosque and a church, reports Agenzia Fides. Michael Atef Munir wants his share of the government money set aside […]
Attacks on Christians in Egypt have intensified in brutality because of an influx of arms and foreign jihadis, lax border security and increased local hostility to non-Muslims, according to a leading UK academic. Dr Mariz Tadros of Sussex University’s Institute of Development Studies said that the suicide attack on a […]
The churches of Egypt are temporarily shutting down their summer activities. “I asked all our churches and conference centres to cancel their trips and events for the next three weeks,” Dr. Andrea Zaki, president of the Protestant Churches of Egypt, told World Watch Monitor. “There is news they could be […]
A fifth Copt has been murdered in Egypt in six weeks, aggravating fears among Christians that Islamist extremists are targeting them with impunity. Nadra Mounir, 26, was found dead in her flat in Cairo last Thursday evening (6 July), and religious icons in her home had reportedly been desecrated. Her […]
The Coptic Orthodox Church held a memorial service on Monday (3 July), commemorating 40 days since the bus attack in Minya that killed 29 Copts on Ascension Day. Egypt’s Copts, who make up around 10 per cent of the population, have suffered countless deadly attacks this year and say they […]
Coptic Christians in Egypt are reeling from a fresh spate of murders, which they fear are part of a jihadist campaign against them. Three Coptic men were found dead in the space of eight days from the last week of June to the first week of July. A fourth was […]
Scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of Sunni Islamic learning, have submitted a bill to the Egyptian government, which “aims to reaffirm the total incompatibility between the violence justified by religious arguments and Islamic law”. As World Watch Monitor reported on 21 June, Al-Azhar has distanced itself from […]