Tag: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Film about Sultan and St. Francis shown in Egypt

October 24, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Terrorism

Francis of Assisi (l) and Mohammad Malik (r) meet, seeking peace in the midst of war. (Photo: a still taken from the movie trailer)

The film ‘The Sultan and the Saint’, about the relationship at the height of the Crusades between Sultan Malik Al-Kamel, a Muslim ruler, and Francis of Assisi (later to become one of Christianity’s most famous saints), has had its first showing in Egypt where, under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, inter-religious . . . Read More

Coptic girl, 16, rescued 92 days after Islamists kidnapped her

October 5, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Kidnapping, Minya, Women

A 16-year-old Coptic Christian girl kidnapped on 28 June to be “converted to Islam, then married off or sold”, was released and returned to her family on 30 September after police found her and arrested her kidnappers in a city just outside Cairo. Marilyn was recovered from a city named . . . Read More

‘Mixed feelings’ for families after IS cameraman reveals where beheaded Copts were buried

October 3, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Anba Macarius, Copts, Islamic State, Libya, Minya, Muslim Brotherhood, Upper Egypt

The families of the 20 Egyptian Christians beheaded on a beach in Libya in 2015 say they have “mixed feelings” after the cameraman who filmed the beheadings reportedly told the authorities where the bodies were buried. Coptic news site Watani spoke to the families of 13 of the murdered Christians, . . . Read More

Egypt: Copts face arrest after Facebook post leads Muslims to riot

September 25, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Anba Macarius, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya

Two Coptic Christians in a village in Minya, Upper Egypt are facing charges of inciting sectarian strife and insulting Islamic leaders, after comments from one of the men on social media, shared by the other, caused some Muslims in their village to riot. Bassem Abdel-Malak Fahim, 25, from the village . . . Read More

Egypt: ex-kidnapper admits ‘they get paid for every Coptic Christian girl they bring in’

September 14, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Kidnapping, Minya, Salafism, Women

“I remember a Coptic Christian girl from a rich, well-known family in Minya. She was kidnapped by five Muslim men. They held her in a house, stripped her and filmed her naked. In the video, one of them also undressed. They threatened to make the video public if the girl . . . Read More

Egypt: Coptic churches ‘closed for security’ reopen

September 12, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Anba Macarius, Copts, Egypt, Kom El-Loufy, Minya

Copts are celebrating the reopening of their church in Ezbat Al-Forn. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Copts in the village of Ezbat Al-Forn, in the Minya governorate, have their church back after it was forced to close “for security reasons” last month, and celebrated this with a mass on Sunday morning (10 September) – the same day that another village church reopened elsewhere in Minya. The . . . Read More

Why are attacks on Egypt’s Coptic Christians getting worse?

July 14, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Arab Spring, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Hosni Mubarak, Iraq, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Salafism, Syria, Yemen

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 . . . Read More

Copts tired of ‘sacrificing willingly’ for Egypt’s unity

July 7, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, El-Arish, Ismailia, Minya, Pope Tawadros II

“Fifty-three per cent of ISIS attacks against the public in 2017 were aimed at the Coptic community." (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

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 . . . Read More

Four years after revolution Egypt’s Copts ask: ‘Where is our government?’

June 22, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Beni Suef, Cairo, Copts, Islamic State, Minya

A child hovers over the coffins of his parents during their funeral service at St Samuel Monastery. They were among the 29 Coptic Christians killed in the attack on Ascension Day. (Photo: Getty Images)

Two days before the bus attack in Minya that killed 29 Copts travelling to a monastery on Ascension Day (26 May), the US embassy in Cairo warned of a possible terrorist attack. Now Egypt’s Copts are querying the absence of increased security measures and wondering why the emergency response was . . . Read More

Bomb found outside Cairo church

May 30, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, El-Arish, Helwan, Islamic State, Minya, Port Said

A bomb was found outside an Egyptian church just south of the capital, Cairo, yesterday (29 May), according to Coptic news site Watani. A guard reportedly found the bomb inside a paper box by the gate to the Anba-Barsoum al-Erian Monastery, in the Greater Cairo city of Helwan, and “quickly . . . Read More

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