Tag: Copts

Coptic Bishop: Egypt ‘diseased’ with discrimination

July 14, 2016 Egypt Anba Macarius, Copts, Minya

An Egyptian bishop has called for an end to discrimination against the country’s Christians, urging the government to do more to control the situation in villages across the country. “We have to recognise everyone in Egypt as citizens of equal rights and obligations,” said Bishop Makarius in an Arabic interview . . . Read More

Motive unclear in attack on Copt priest’s daughter

July 8, 2016 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Sohag, Tanta

The reason why a 44-year-old government employee stabbed a local priest’s daughter outside a church in southern Egypt “remains unknown”, according to police sources. Lucia Murad, 14, survived a stab in the neck last weekend by a man identified by Watani only as “Muhammad T.E” in the bishopric of Sohag, 460km south . . . Read More

Mob attack damages Copt homes in Minya, Egypt

July 4, 2016 Egypt Alexandria, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Kom El-Loufy

Angry Muslims set fire to four Coptic homes in the Minya village of Koum al-Loufi, about 230km south of Cairo, suspecting a house would be turned into a church. According to Coptic news site Wataninet, two Copts, Ashraf Khalaf and his brother Ibrahim Khalaf, were in the process of building . . . Read More

Islamic State kills priest in Sinai

July 1, 2016 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Sinai

A Coptic Orthodox priest was shot dead yesterday morning (30 June) in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula by Islamist militants. Fr. Raphael Moussa, 46, was shot four times in the head from a passing taxi as he stood next to his car in Arish, the capital of northern Sinai. The priest was . . . Read More

‘House church’ prompts Muslims to attack Christian homes in Alexandria

June 28, 2016 Egypt Alexandria, Copts, House churches

The anti-Christian crowd welcomed the arrival of the police to their slum village of al-Bayda-1World Watch Monitor Although the number of casualties may not cross the world-attention threshold, the story of what happened in al-Bayda-1, a settlement outside Alexandria, is indicative of a pattern faced by minority Christians in . . . Read More

Bishop pleads for justice as attack on Copt grandmother ‘stripped naked’ stirs Egypt

June 3, 2016 Egypt Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Minya, Soad Thabet

Souad Thabet and Bishop Makarius of the Coptic Church have both stood for justice and reconcilliation.Courtesy of Wataninet, Diocese of Minya A Coptic bishop has urged full recourse to law to punish those behind an attack in Minya, Upper Egypt, which saw the 70-year-old mother of a man rumoured . . . Read More

Village rumour results in ‘attack on Copts’

May 26, 2016 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Minya

At least two Copts were injured and seven homes burned when angry villagers ran amok after a rumoured affair between a married Christian man and a Muslim woman in Minya, 250km south of Cairo. According to local Christian sources, scores of Muslims ransacked and torched several properties belonging to the . . . Read More

Amid crackdown, Egypt arrests Copt activist

May 20, 2016 Egypt Copts, Egypt

Egyptian security forces raided the home of a prominent minority rights activist early on Thursday (19 May), and are now refusing to disclose his place of detention, reports Amnesty International. Mina Thabet, Director of the Minority and Religious Groups Department of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, and family . . . Read More

Egypt Parliament to discuss easing restrictions on church-building

May 20, 2016 Egypt Churches, Copts

On May 12, the makeshift church of Esmaelia al-Bahreia, Minya, was burned down by ‘extremists’ as the proper church has since 2009 been awaiting government permit to function.Courtesy of www.wataninet.com Once again the Egyptian Parliament is considering a proposal on the construction of churches that Christians hope will narrow . . . Read More

‘Extremists’ burn down Minya makeshift church

May 12, 2016 Egypt Anba Macarius, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya

“Extremists” were behind the destruction of a makeshift village church in Upper Egypt, said a local Coptic bishop on Thursday (12 May). “St. Mary’s Church in the village of Esmaelia al-Bahreia was burned down completely after an attack carried out by extremists,” said Bishop Macarius of Minya, referring to the . . . Read More

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