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.
Bishop Mounir Hanna Anis of the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt has declared that Egyptian Muslims who become Christians should be issued identity cards and other official documents, just as they are granted to citizens who convert to Islam from other religions. “The Egyptian Constitution guarantees freedom of belief. However, not all […]
The first Egyptian citizen to attempt to change his legal religious identity from Muslim to Christian, Mohammed Hegazy, has been in jail for a year now, awaiting a verdict on separate misdemeanor charges, due on Dec. 28. Hegazy faces a five-year prison sentence if an appeal court upholds his conviction […]
It’s been two months since Coptic Christians in an Upper Egypt village endured a traumatic sequence of events ending in heavy police abuse. The victims still have not received any justice from the state security authorities who broke the law and violated its citizen’s human rights. On Sept. 16, in […]
Hegazy’s lawyer Karam GhobrialWorld Watch Monitor A jailed Egyptian Muslim convert to Christianity is scheduled Sunday, Nov. 16 to appeal his conviction on a misdemeanor — if he can get to the courtroom. But according to his lawyer, prison and security police officials have not confirmed they will permit […]
Islamic State leader Abu Musab al-Maqdisi has called on jihadists to target Egypt’s Copts and judges, saying, “Targeting, pursuing and killing them is a means to serve the cause of our chaste prisoners held by the tyrants.” Egypt’s most active Islamist militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, allegedly pledged allegiance to […]
The pounding on the door shook Mina Hanna awake. A neighbour had urgent news: Fire at the church. It was 3 a.m. on Aug. 20. Hanna and his younger brother, Ibrahim Saber, ran to their church, Mar Girgis Coptic Orthodox, in the Sharara village in the centre of Abu Qurqas, […]
A year after a wave of anti-Christian violence , 10 have re-opened, says the Coptic bishop overseeing church restoration. that Bishop Morcos of Shubra Al Khaimah said “the army in cooperation with some concerned companies” has restored the 10 churches, which are in the Beni Suef, Sohag and Minya governorates […]
Mohamed Hegazy, left, with his lawyer, Karam Ghobrial.World Watch Monitor An Egyptian man who captured video of clashes between Muslims and Christians has been sentenced to five years in prison. Mohamed Hegazy was convicted June 18 for failing to obtain permission to film demonstrations in the Egypt’s Minya governate, […]
An Islamic extremist mob threw gasoline bombs at shops owned by Coptic Christians in a village near Luxor, Egypt on Monday. Authorities are investigating the attack, which happened hours before the nearby blasphemy trial of Kerolos Ghattas, a Coptic Christian, accused with contempt to Islam over his alleged Internet postings. […]
The man likely to become Egypt’s new president after the May 26-27 balloting told a nationwide television audience Monday that the Muslim Brotherhood would cease to exist after his election. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former Army field marshall who in 2013 directed the removal of former President Mohamed Morsi, gave his […]