Tag: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Weary Copts urge Pope Francis to challenge Sisi over attacks and chronic discrimination

April 27, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Copts, Egypt, Palm Sunday, Pope Francis, Pope Tawadros II, Tanta

Egyptian Copts have welcomed Pope Francis’ “insistence” that his visit to Cairo this week go ahead despite the recent attacks on two churches that killed 45 worshippers. The head of the Catholic Church will arrive in Cairo on Friday and visit President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar . . . Read More

Bombed Egypt church cancels Easter celebrations

April 13, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Easter, Palm Sunday, Pope Francis, Tanta

One of the priests at the Mar Girgis (St George) Cathedral in Tanta, one of two churches attacked by suicide bombers on Palm Sunday, says his church will not hold its usual Easter Day celebrations as a mark of respect towards the families affected. “There will not be any festivities, only . . . Read More

Egypt’s Christians mourn 49 killed in Palm Sunday church bombings

April 10, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Palm Sunday, Pope Tawadros II, Tanta

Chaos in St George's cathedral, Tanta, after a suicide bomber blew himself up during the Palm Sunday liturgy

Egypt’s Christians are in mourning and profound shock after yesterday’s twin suicide bombing attacks on churches packed for Palm Sunday, which left at least 49 people dead and more than 110 injured. The Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, narrowly escaped injury, having just celebrated Mass in one of the cathedrals that . . . Read More

Bomb near Egyptian church defused amidst growing insecurity

April 4, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Gharbia, Islamic State, Muslim Brotherhood, Tanta

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 . . . Read More

Merkel accused of downplaying attacks on Copts

March 3, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Copts, Egypt, North Africa, Pope Tawadros II, Sinai, Sunni

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 . . . Read More

Egyptian Copt widow: ‘Gunmen who killed my husband and son then ticked them off their IS hit-list’

March 2, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Copts, El-Arish, Islamic State, Ismailia, Sinai, Suez

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, . . . Read More

Islamic State threatens to wipe out Egypt’s Copts

February 20, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts

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 . . . Read More

Egypt: bombed church restored in less than a month

January 3, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Pope Tawadros II

The Egyptian church in which a suicide bomber killed 27 people has been fully restored less than one month after the attack, reports Coptic news site Watani. The Boutrossiya chapel, which is adjacent to the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of St. Mark in Cairo, was restored following a pledge from President . . . Read More

Sisi under fire after Coptic church attack

December 15, 2016 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Copts, Islamic State, Muslim Brotherhood

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) attends the funeral ceremony for the victims of the 11 December bomb attack on St. Peter and St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Church. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi faced sharp criticism following Sunday’s (11 Dec.) bomb attack on a Coptic church in Cairo, in which . . . Read More

Egypt: President promises to rebuild churches

January 8, 2016 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Middle East, Mohamed Morsi, Pope Tawadros II

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has apologised to his nation’s Christians for the violent attacks in August 2013 that damaged or destroyed at least 65 churches and Coptic properties, including businesses, across Egypt. Coming after the ouster of President Morsi, the wave of violence was said to be the worst . . . Read More

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