Tag: Egypt

Family of Egyptian Copt held without charge accuse police of ‘torturing him to death’

July 25, 2017 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Hosni Mubarak

The family of a Coptic Christian who died in police custody last week have called for legal action to be taken against the two arresting officers, who they accuse of torture and murder. Gamal Kamal Aweida, 41, died in a room at Manshiyat Naser police station, in central Cairo, on Wednesday . . . Read More

Egypt’s Copts face discrimination in football, too

July 24, 2017 Egypt Asyut, Copts, Egypt, Football, Middle East, Upper Egypt

“Systematic discrimination” is preventing Coptic Christians from participating in professional sport in Egypt, according to a feature article on the Egyptian website MadaMasr: ‘Copts and Egypt’s national game – We’ll call you back later‘. Though Copts make up around 10 per cent of Egypt’s population, not one of the 122 . . . Read More

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

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

‘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

Archbishop of Canterbury: ‘Conservative attitudes can be passport for misogyny’

June 8, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Belgium, Boko Haram, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Justin Welby, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Pakistan, Punjab, Religious freedom, Trauma, Women

Women are often subject to discrimination and rejection due to social, legal and cultural norms, especially in patriarchal societies. (Photo: Open Doors International)

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said that sometimes “[religiously] conservative attitudes are a passport for misogyny, while at other times they are simply inherited attitudes”. His comment came two days after a consultation about Christian women under pressure for their faith, where speakers noted that women living in highly . . . Read More

Gunmen kill 28 Egyptian Christians in Ascension Day bus attack

May 26, 2017 Egypt Children, Egypt, Minya, Port Said, Tanta

Gunmen opened fire and killed at least 28 Coptic Orthodox Christians – some reports say up to 35 – and wounded about 25 others; the Copts were traveling to Ascension Day services at the Monastery of St. Samuel in Minya, southern Egypt. Bishop Ermia, General Bishop and President of the Coptic . . . Read More

Relatives of Coptic ‘martyrs’ join summit on persecuted Christians in US capital

May 11, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Converts, Copts, Donald Trump, Egypt, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Libya, Mexico, Mike Pence, Pakistan, Refugees, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, USA

A “World Summit in Defence of Persecuted Christians” has started in Washington DC, and is expected to be addressed by the US Vice-President Mike Pence today (Thursday, 11 May). It has been organised by American evangelist Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 600 participants have come from 136 countries: including Egypt, . . . Read More

Solidarity for Egypt’s beleaguered Christians during first Coptic papal visit to UK

May 10, 2017 Egypt Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, Tanta

British Christian and political leaders praised Egypt’s embattled Coptic Christians during Pope Tawadros II’s pastoral visit to the UK, the first by a Coptic Pope. Tawadros’ visit follows Pope Francis’ visit to Egypt during which he told the head of the Coptic Church: “The innocent blood of defenceless Christians was . . . Read More

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