Tag: Egypt

5 years on: what has the Arab Spring meant for Christians?

December 17, 2015 Arab Spring, Copts, Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Iraq, Islamic State, Libya, Middle East, Muammar Gaddafi, Muslim Brotherhood, North Africa, Ramadan, Syria, Tunisia

The Arab Spring, which began five years ago today (17th December) started with a wave of protests in Tunisia followed by other Arab countries. It was positively acclaimed as a social movement demanding an end to human rights violations, government corruption and poverty. Yet, so far, the outcome is largely contrary to . . . Read More

Egyptian brothers add to tally of Christians killed in Libya

December 16, 2015 Egypt Ansar al-Sharia, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Sohag

Today, 16 December, is the date set for the signing of a UN-facilitated agreement on forming a new national unity government in Libya. Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has been engulfed by conflicts between various coalitions of armed groups. The country is split between an . . . Read More

Egypt army rebuilds church destroyed by Islamists

November 25, 2015 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Pope Tawadros II

A Coptic Orthodox church destroyed by Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers in August 2013 has been rebuilt by the Egyptian army. St Theodore’s church in the Upper Egypt city of Minya was destroyed by Islamist extremists after the Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohamed Morsi, was deposed from the Egyptian Presidency. In retaliation for . . . Read More

Report: Christianity contracting in MidEast, Africa

October 16, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Belarus, Boko Haram, China, David Cameron, Egypt, Eritrea, Europe, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, London, Middle East, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pope Francis, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, Ukraine, Vietnam

Christianity is fast disappearing from entire regions, most notably a huge chunk of the Middle East, and could vanish from Iraq within five years, according to a new report by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. Released in the UK’s House of Lords on Tuesday, the report, “Persecuted and . . . Read More

Police raid Sat-7 channel’s Egypt offices

October 14, 2015 Egypt Censorship, Copts, Egypt, Middle East, North Africa

Egyptian police raided Sat-7 channel’s Cairo offices on Oct. 10, confiscating equipment and briefly detaining the pioneer Arabic Christian broadcaster’s country office director. Detained for hours before being released, director Farid Samir faces possible charges related to operating a satellite TV channel “without the necessary licenses,” a press release by . . . Read More

Egypt church goes ahead despite opposition

October 6, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya

A church commemorating the beheading of 20 Coptic Christians and one Ghanaian by the Islamic State in Libya has finally received the go-ahead by government authorities, seven months after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi ordered its construction. Coptic newspaper Watani quoted local priest Fr. Maqar Eissa saying that all building and . . . Read More

Al-Azhar bans book on blasphemy in Egypt

September 28, 2015 Egypt Al-Azhar, Blasphemy, Cairo, Egypt, Islamic extremism

Egypt’s top Islamic authority visited a well-known bookshop in central Cairo last week, telling it to halt sales of the book “Blasphemy in Egypt” by two prominent Egyptian authors. “Officials representing Al-Azhar and the Egyptian Ministry of Islamic Endowments visited Madbouli Bookshop and asked them to stop selling the book . . . Read More

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

Billionaire proposes ‘refugee island’

September 9, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Egypt, Greece, Italy, Refugees, Syria

A tweet from Egypt’s third richest man went viral last week when the Coptic billionaire offered to purchase a large island from Greece or Italy to host “hundreds and thousands of refugees” fleeing the conflict in Syria. Telecom tycoon Naguib Sawiris, the chief executive of Orascom TMT, told both Agence . . . Read More

Egypt’s sexual harassment ‘epidemic’

August 14, 2015 Egypt Egypt, Women

A Cairo-based photojournalist has responded to an “epidemic” of sexual harassment in Egypt by “making portraits of women next to the clothes they would wear on the streets if only they felt safe enough,” reports Time. “To be a woman in Egypt is to live with the crushing inevitability of . . . Read More

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