Tag: Copts

Coptic soldier’s father challenges military autopsy

September 17, 2015 Egypt Conscripts, Copts, Egypt, Suez

The father of an Egyptian Christian soldier found dead in his military unit 12 weeks ago is adamant, and angry. The results of an autopsy and military investigation into his son’s death are simply “not true,” he says. “I am very angry at the Suez military prosecution for refusing to . . . Read More

Copt arrested for distributing Bibles

August 11, 2015 Egypt Bibles, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Proselytism, Upper Egypt, Wahhabism

Egyptian Christian Medhat Ishaq was arrested in a satellite town of Cairo on Sunday (9 August) for giving away Bibles to passersby. According to the weekly Watani newspaper, the 35-year-old Copt was standing in front of the Arabia shopping mall in 6 October town when passersby stopped him and summoned . . . Read More

Egypt court reconsiders Christian’s blasphemy conviction

August 6, 2015 Egypt Copts, Muslim Brotherhood, Sohag

Bishoy Kameel Kamel GarasWorld Watch Monitor After a three-year rash of blasphemy cases filed against Egyptian Christians, the nation’s highest court backtracked last month on its harsh verdict against one young Copt. Bishoy Kameel Kamel Garas was sent to prison for six years in September 2012 for allegedly insulting . . . Read More

ISIL in Libya kidnaps more Christians

July 20, 2015 Libya Copts, Islamic State, Libya, Sirte

The Islamic State has released news that it kidnapped three African Christians in Libya, says Reuters. In a statement on social media, IS said the men are from Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana. The group published the men’s passport pictures for verification. They are believed to have been captured around 11 . . . Read More

Coptic boy’s Ramadan gesture ends in detention

July 20, 2015 Egypt Alexandria, Blasphemy, Copts, Islamic extremism, Ramadan

At sundown each day during Ramadan, which ended on 17 July with the Eid-al-Fitr celebrations, observant Muslims customarily broke their fast at their evening iftar meal by eating dates. A week prior, on the evening of 10 July, 16-year-old Fawzi Osama was on the street in the northern Egyptian city . . . Read More

Egyptian solider, the only Christian in his unit, found dead

July 1, 2015 Egypt Conscripts, Copts, Egypt, Suez

The facts are these: Bahaa Gamal Mikhail Silvanus, 23 and a conscript in the Egyptian Army, was found dead June 24 in a chair in the office of the military base where he was stationed. There were two bullet wounds in his chest, and a gun at his feet. One . . . Read More

Muslims must ‘face up’ to Quran’s violence

June 23, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Prophet Muhammad, Quran

Egyptian President al-Sisi’s New Year’s Day speech asking how belief in Islam could make Muslim nations “a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction” ought to have triggered a worldwide theological debate amongst Muslims asking where the mechanism for restraining Islamic violence lies, according to Canon Dr. Gavin Ashenden, writing . . . Read More

Coptic boys on bail, anti-Islam charges pending

June 18, 2015 Egypt Al-Azhar, Blasphemy, Copts, Gad Younan, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Muslim Brotherhood, Ramadan

The last of four Egyptian boys accused of having “offended” Islam has been released on bail while trial is expected to continue after the Muslim month of Ramadan. The 17-year-old student from Upper Egypt was released after 62 days in prison, subject to the payment of 10,000 Egyptian pounds, equivalent . . . Read More

Community ‘justice’ expels Copts from their homes

June 17, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Beni Suef, Copts, Egypt, Gad Younan, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood

Forgive Emad Youssef if he and his extended family felt quite confused. The crowd welcoming them back to the village had only a few days earlier demanded they leave. “They said this is the first time something like this has happened in our village,” he told private satellite channel, OnTV “and that, . . . Read More

Libya: ‘a country where Christians shouldn’t come’

May 14, 2015 Libya Algeria, Ansar al-Sharia, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Migrants, Muammar Gaddafi, Refugees, Tripoli, Tunisia

Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been engulfed by conflicts between various coalitions of armed groups.Photo courtesy Open Doors International Migrants and refugees in Libya are increasingly facing widespread abuse and persecution on religious grounds, a report by Amnesty International has revealed. Foreign nationals travelling irregularly . . . Read More

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