Tag: Egypt

‘Unprecedented’ persecution of Egypt’s Christians heads 2018 World Watch List

January 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Anti-conversion law, Boko Haram, Cairo, Central Asia, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, Eritrea, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jharkhand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Marawi, Middle Belt, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Philippines, Somalia, Southeast Asia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Upper Egypt

More Christians abused in India than in all other countries combined; Nepal enters list Islamic extremists driven out of Iraq and Syria are behind a new intensity of Christian persecution in surrounding countries, says global charity Open Doors in its latest annual survey of countries where it is most difficult . . . Read More

Egypt’s human rights move dismissed as ploy to win back US aid

January 10, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Human rights, Kidnapping, Minya, Muslim Brotherhood, Sohag

Efforts by the Egyptian government to improve its record on human rights are aimed primarily at persuading the US government to reinstate its generous aid package, Coptic activists have said. Last month Egypt announced it would set up 60 human-rights departments across the country to record complaints from citizens of . . . Read More

Egypt: 7 years after church closed, Copts start to rebuild

January 9, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Kom El-Loufy

Seven years after their previous church was closed by local authorities because of “security reasons”, the Coptic community in the Egyptian village of Kom El-Loufy, 250km south of Cairo, is celebrating as a new church is built. Last month, with the agreement of local Muslims, the Copts started digging the foundations on a piece of land 700 . . . Read More

Machine-gun ambush kills Christians leaving church near Cairo

December 29, 2017 Egypt Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Helwan, Islamic State

Preparations for memorial services following the Dec. 29 attack on Mar Mina church in Helwan, south of Cairo. (Photo via Twitter / @auscma)

This version contains updated information about the details of the attack, and comments from witnesses contacted by World Watch Monitor. Several Christians were gunned down as they left church services on the morning of 29 December near the Egyptian capital, Cairo, the Coptic Church and various government authorities reported. At . . . Read More

A merry Saudi Christmas and the flight from Egypt

December 25, 2017 Christmas, Egypt, El-Arish, India, Migrants, Saudi Arabia

How will Christians under pressure for their faith celebrate Christmas? In the second of our series we hear from Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Saudi Arabia: Migrant workers challenged to live Christmas every day No, really – although building churches, displaying crosses or meeting for Christian worship is outlawed in the . . . Read More

Egypt teenager’s murder ‘aimed to intimidate Copts ahead of Christmas’, says his pastor

December 22, 2017 Egypt Asyut, Copts, Egypt, Upper Egypt

Murdered 14 yr old Ishak Nashaat Birwan, who drove a 'tuk-tuk' taxi

The body of 14-year-old Ishak Nashaat Birwan was found on Wednesday (20 December), 11 days after he disappeared, in a canal near where he lived in Izziyah, a large Christian village near Manfalout in Asyut. Samir Fekry, Ishak’s cousin, told World Watch Monitor that the body was taken to the . . . Read More

Egypt: After 7 years of delays, new church for Copts, who agree to drop arson claims

December 21, 2017 Egypt Anba Macarius, Copts, Egypt, Kom El-Loufy, Minya

After 12 years of fierce opposition Coptic Christians in Kom El-Loufy, Minya, will soon again have a church. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Copts in the Egyptian town of Kom El-Loufy, Upper Egypt, 250 km south of Cairo, started the construction of a church today, seven years after their previous building was closed by local authorities because of “security reasons”. They have withdrawn their charges against 23 Muslims who burned down some of their . . . Read More

Egypt: ‘Let them live to tell the story’- boys who saw dad die on the monastery road

December 21, 2017 Egypt Children, Copts, Egypt, Minya

Marco and Mina with their mother and elder sister hold portrait of their father who died in 25 May attack. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Marco and Mina live in a small village in the Minya region of rural southern Egypt. Both look young for their age, 14 and 10 respectively. On 25 May 2017, they joined their father Ayad to go to the monastery of St. Samuel. Ayad worked there and was going to . . . Read More

Freedom of thought ‘regressing on a global scale’

December 6, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Apostasy, Asia Bibi, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Comoros, Education, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Human rights, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Qatar, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, The Gambia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

There are many Pakistani Christian women like Aasiya Noreen who live in fear of the Blasphemy law in their country and the (potential of) abuse. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The 2017 Freedom of Thought Report, presented yesterday (5 December), should be alarming “to all who care about freedom of thought and expression”, as it shows “a pattern of regression on a global scale”, says its editor, Bob Churchill. The report, published by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) . . . Read More

Egypt: Coptic church reopens 8 months after Palm Sunday bombing

December 4, 2017 Egypt Alexandria, Catholics, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Gharbia, Palm Sunday, Protestants, Tanta

A Coptic cathedral has been restored and reopened eight months after a suicide bombing there on Palm Sunday killed 28 and injured 74 others. St. George’s Cathedral in Tanta, the capital of the Gharbia governorate north of Cairo, has been renamed the Cathedral of St. George and the Martyrs, and . . . Read More

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