Tag: Egypt

UK Coptic bishop receives Welby’s highest award

April 4, 2016 Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Egypt, Justin Welby, Middle East, UK

The Archbishop of Canterbury has given his highest award to , for his “exceptional services to the cause of Christian unity”. Justin Welby said to Bishop Angaelos, in presenting the Lambeth Cross for Ecumenism, “My encounter with Orthodoxy through you has been a really profound experience … It has changed . . . Read More

Egypt: ‘suicide’ claim for third Christian conscript in nine months

March 8, 2016 Egypt Asyut, Conscripts, Copts, Egypt

Another Egyptian Christian conscript has died in suspicious circumstances. Michael Gamal, 22, was due to finish his two-year compulsory military service this May, when his family heard the shock news of his ‘suicide’. Last time his family heard from him was Feb 15. “As often, we talked over the phone. . . . Read More

Egypt suspends charges against ‘proselytisers’

February 25, 2016 Egypt Alexandria, Egypt, Proselytism, Ramadan

Charges related to “evangelising” – an act often considered a “defamation of Islam” – have been suspended against three young Christian men in Alexandria. a zealous Muslim bystander, as he handed out dates and Christian words of encouragement to Muslims at the break of their Ramadan fast. Osama and two . . . Read More

Egypt sentences ‘anti-Islam’ teens to 5 years

February 25, 2016 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts, Egypt, Gad Younan, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya

Three Egyptian Christian students accused of “offending Islam” were sentenced today (25 Feb.) to five years each, Coptic news site Watani said. Muller Atef, Albert Ashraf and Bassem Amgad were given jail terms, while a fourth, Clinton Maged, is due to be remanded in a juvenile facility for five years, according . . . Read More

Year since Libya, Christians move closer to unity

February 15, 2016 Egypt Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Egypt, Libya, Middle East, North Africa, Pope Tawadros II

A year ago today (15 Feb.), 20 Coptic Christians and one Ghanaian killed by Islamic jihadists in Libya were announced as martyred saints by the Coptic Pope, Tawadros III of Egypt. The head of the ancient Church, the largest in the Middle East and key within its branch of Oriental Orthodoxy, said . . . Read More

Egypt returns confiscated SAT-7 equipment

February 5, 2016 Egypt Cairo, Censorship, Egypt

Egyptian authorities have returned all the equipment they had earlier confiscated from SAT-7 local offices, (Feb.2). This comes more than three months after the country’s censorship police , seizing computers and production equipment. On October 10, 2015, the authorities came to the SAT-7 Cairo offices with a search warrant. Country . . . Read More

Another Egyptian Christian conscript dies in ‘mysterious’ circumstances

January 14, 2016 Egypt Aswan, Conscripts, Copts, Egypt, Suez

Bishoy Kamel was supposed to walk free from his military service in February. Instead, his family collected his body three months earlier. The corpse bore “signs of torture”, the family said. “When we reached the hospital that afternoon, we saw Bishoy’s body reposed like an angel,” said Natei Kamel, the . . . Read More

2016 World Watch List drawn from world headlines

January 13, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Bibles, BJP, Boko Haram, Central Asia, Charlie Hebdo, Churches, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kenya, Libya, Middle East, Mosul, Niger, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, North Korea, Paris, Sub-Saharan Africa

Some of the most urgent headlines of the past 12 months, from the global spread of jihadist violence to North Korea’s test of a putative atomic weapon, intersect with an updated list of the most difficult places to live as a Christian. For the 14th straight year, North Korea is . . . Read More

Egypt: President promises to rebuild churches

January 8, 2016 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Middle East, Mohamed Morsi, Pope Tawadros II

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has apologised to his nation’s Christians for the violent attacks in August 2013 that damaged or destroyed at least 65 churches and Coptic properties, including businesses, across Egypt. Coming after the ouster of President Morsi, the wave of violence was said to be the worst . . . Read More

UK leaders say IS guilty of Christian ‘genocide’

December 21, 2015 Copts, Egypt, Genocide, Islamic State, Lord Alton, UK, UN, USA, Yazidis

Sixty UK parliamentarians, led by Lord Alton and the convenor of the Catholic Legislators’ Network, MP Rob Flello, have to ask that he use his influence to come to an agreement with the UN with reference to Daesh’s (ISIS) atrocities against minorities. Their letter calls on the 127 signatories of . . . Read More

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