Tag: Egypt

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

Al-Azhar: to leave Islam is ‘treason’

June 22, 2016 Al-Azhar, Apostasy, Cairo, Converts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Mohammed Hegazy, Ramadan, Sharia, Sunni

To convert away from Islam is “treason” that should carry the death penalty, according to Sunni Islam’s topmost religious authority. “The penalty for an open apostate, departing from the community, is well stipulated in Sharia,” Al-Azhar’s Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayyib declared on Egypt television last week. “An apostate must be . . . 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

‘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

Sinai Christian shot after ‘confessing’ his faith

May 10, 2016 Egypt Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic extremism, Sinai

A Coptic civil servant was killed in Sinai, Egypt, after his vehicle was stopped and passengers were asked if any “Christian infidels” were on board. Messak Nasralla, 58, was going about his business as a government medical supplier when he was found dead last week, south of Arish, reports in . . . Read More

US religious-freedom report urges government to add 7 countries to worst-offenders list

May 2, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, BJP, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Europe, India, Iraq, Middle East, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Taliban, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

What is happening? The primary US government agency on global religious freedom issued its annual report 2 May. It says “religious freedom abroad has been under serious and sustained assault” during the past year, and says America should add seven countries to its list of worst offenders: Central African Republic . . . Read More

Coptic teenager kidnapped for ransom in Upper Egypt

April 21, 2016 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Kidnapping, Qena

The News Earlier this month, a young Christian boy was kidnapped in Upper Egypt, before being released 12 days later after the payment of a hefty ransom. Anthonius Farag, 13, was snatched outside his school early in the morning on April 5, in the village of Mansheyyit Manbal, off Matay . . . Read More

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