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.
One year ago Hanaa, a 42-year-old Egyptian mother of four, took a phonecall that changed her and her family’s life forever: her son called to say he and his brother had just seen their father shot by Islamist militants. On 26 May 2017 a convoy of Copts was travelling to […]
An Egyptian church that was attacked by a local Muslim mob after applying for legal recognition is to be temporarily closed following a conciliation session between Copts and Muslims aimed at containing the fallout of the attack. Eleven Muslims and nine Copts arrested after the attack on the church of […]
26 May 2018 will mark the first anniversary of the attack on two buses carrying Coptic Christians on their way to St. Samuel’s Monastery to celebrate Ascension Day*. The convoy was stopped at 9.30am on a remote desert road, close to the border between the Minya and Beni Suef provinces, by masked […]
After a three-year wait and a number of broken promises, the Egyptian Coptic families of 20 men beheaded by IS in Libya in 2015 have finally received their loved ones’ remains. The leader of the Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, accompanied by several bishops, priests and deacons, welcomed the 20 […]
For the third time since February, the families of the 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian beheaded three years ago in Libya by IS have been promised the imminent return of their loved ones’ remains. The head of investigations at the Libyan Attorney General’s Office, Siddiq Assour, ordered on […]
A Coptic Christian woman who had been married for two weeks went missing from her school last Wednesday, sparking fears that she may have been kidnapped. Her disappearance brings to eight the number of Coptic women in Egypt who have gone missing since April, according to research by World Watch […]
The closure of a church in Upper Egypt that sought legalisation has been condemned as illegal by the congregation’s lawyer, and charges made against eight of its congregation, who have been detained for more than a month, as not valid. Coptic Christians of Al-Koumair village in Luxor Governorate had been […]
A Coptic Christian soldier reported to have died by accident ten days ago was in fact killed, his family say. The family of 22-year-old Mikhail Farhat Saad Tamer were called to collect his body from the police station in Al-Qusiyyah, Asyut Governorate, on 23 April. But when they arrived, they were […]
At least seven Coptic Christian women and girls disappeared in Egypt last month, in what is becoming a recurring phenomenon. In each case, the family of the woman says she was abducted by a Muslim who wished to convert her to Islam and marry her. All of the disappearances have been […]
Three men are scheduled to stand trial in an Egyptian court for publicly stripping a 70-year-old Christian woman following rumours that her son had an affair with a married Muslim woman. Following the rumour and threats made to him and his family, Ashraf Attiya, a then-31-year-old Coptic Christian trader, fled […]