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.
Egyptian security forces in the western province of Gharbia dismantled a bomb outside the Mary Girgis church in Tanta last week. Three days later, a group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood bombed a police training camp in the same city, killing one and injured 16. It was in Tanta, Egypt’s […]
In July last year, four Coptic homes were set on fire in a village 230km south of Cairo, following rumours the Copts planned to turn one of the houses into a church. Eight months later, the Copts – two brothers, Ashraf and Ibrahim Khalaf, and their families – are still […]
UPDATE (10 March) The murderer of a Coptic man killed “for selling alcohol” has been sentenced to death. Adel Soliman, 48, confessed to the murder of Youssef Lamei and said he would kill everyone who sold alcohol if he could, according to Egypt Independent. Lamei was killed as he sat […]
UPDATE (8 March) The brother of 18-year-old Hanan Girgis, an Egyptian Christian woman missing since 26 January, says he has been told she has a new Muslim identity and is being held by the security services. Rezeiky Girgis heard from the Civil Status Authority at Esna Police Station that Hanan […]
A leading German Catholic priest yesterday (2 March) criticised German Chancellor Angela Merkel for “genuflecting” to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and failing to raise human-rights concerns as she headed to North Africa for trade talks. Joachim Schroedel, who has worked in Egypt for more than two decades, rejected Mrs […]
A Coptic Christian mother in North Sinai who saw her son and husband killed in front of her in their home says she then saw the gunman calmly tick off her loved ones from a hit-list he carried. In an exclusive interview with World Watch Monitor, Nabila Fawzi Hanna, 65, […]
An ultra-conservative Islamic political party in Egypt, Al-Nour, has publicly condemned the killings of Copts in northern Sinai, saying they “go against the teaching of Islam”. The House of Fatwa, chaired by the Grand Mufti of Egypt, also condemned the murders, saying they are “sabotaging” national unity. Coptic families have […]
Egyptian Christians are beginning to flee Sinai’s largest city, El-Arish, after yet another Copt was killed there, reports Watani. Kamel Youssef, a 40 year old plumber, yesterday (23 Feb) became the latest victim, according to AP, which said militants stormed his home and shot him dead in front of his […]
Two more Coptic Christians have been killed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian security officials said suspected militants were responsible, as AP reports. This comes days after the Islamic State threatened to wipe out Christians from Egypt and following the murder of two other Copts in Sinai. Saad Hana, 65, was […]
UPDATE: (20 Feb) The Islamic State has released a propaganda video, vowing to wipe out Egypt’s Coptic Christians and “liberate Cairo”. The video also purports to show the last statement of the suicide bomber responsible for the 11 December attack on a church in Cairo, which killed at least 28 […]