Tag: Copts

Security guard stabbed at church in Egypt’s Alexandria

July 19, 2017 Egypt Alexandria, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State

The front of the Al-Qiddisain (Saints) Church in Alexandria, Egypt. (Photo: Open Doors International)

A security guard was wounded on Saturday (15 July) at a Coptic church in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, after an Egyptian Muslim stabbed him in the neck, a senior police official told AFP. The 24-year-old male perpetrator, an unemployed law-school graduate, attacked the 47-year-old guard with a knife after . . . Read More

Egypt: bus attack victim’s son donates compensation money to build mosque and church

July 17, 2017 Egypt Copts

The son of one of the victims of the Ascension Day bus attack that left at least 28 Coptic Christians dead has announced he wants to donate money to build a mosque and a church, reports Agenzia Fides. Michael Atef Munir wants his share of the government money set aside . . . 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

Terrorist threat forces Egyptian Christians to cancel summer activities

July 13, 2017 Egypt Alexandria, Andrea Zaki, Asyut, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Ismailia, Minya, Suez, Tanta, Terrorism

The churches of Egypt are temporarily shutting down their summer activities. “I asked all our churches and conference centres to cancel their trips and events for the next three weeks,” Dr. Andrea Zaki, president of the Protestant Churches of Egypt, told World Watch Monitor. “There is news they could be . . . Read More

Murder of fifth Copt in six weeks creating ‘state of fear and terror’ among Egypt’s Christians

July 12, 2017 Egypt Cairo, Copts, Muslim Brotherhood, Upper Egypt

A fifth Copt has been murdered in Egypt in six weeks, aggravating fears among Christians that Islamist extremists are targeting them with impunity. Nadra Mounir, 26, was found dead in her flat in Cairo last Thursday evening (6 July), and religious icons in her home had reportedly been desecrated. Her . . . 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 more Copts killed in ‘most aggressive campaign in history of modern Egypt’

July 7, 2017 Egypt Copts, Hosni Mubarak, Islamic State, Minya, Tala

Coptic Christians in Egypt are reeling from a fresh spate of murders, which they fear are part of a jihadist campaign against them. Three Coptic men were found dead in the space of eight days from the last week of June to the first week of July. A fourth was . . . Read More

Al-Azhar says Islam ‘totally incompatible’ with violence, as IS shifts focus to Upper Egypt

June 29, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Alexandria, Anba Macarius, Copts, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Sinai, Upper Egypt

Scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of Sunni Islamic learning, have submitted a bill to the Egyptian government, which “aims to reaffirm the total incompatibility between the violence justified by religious arguments and Islamic law”. As World Watch Monitor reported on 21 June, Al-Azhar has distanced itself from . . . 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

‘Horrific’ social media posts celebrated murder of Coptic Christians in Minya

June 8, 2017 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Minya

Writing an anonymous opinion piece as ‘The girl with the Christian tattoo‘, a woman has expressed her shock at abusive social media posts published in response to the 26 May attack in Minya, Egypt, by so-called Islamic State that killed at least 28 Coptic Christians, including several children. The Christian woman . . . Read More

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