Tag: Libya

600,000 Christians have fled Egypt since 1984

February 17, 2015 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Middle East, Upper Egypt

Rupert Shortt, author of Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack, has written an opinion piece in The Telegraph in which he argues that the murder of 21 Coptic Christians by Islamic State is not an isolated case but instead “the latest of countless outrages perpetrated against Christians in or near the . . . Read More

Egypt seeks international help against IS after 21 Christians beheaded

February 16, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Bishop Angaelos, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Libya, Minya, Samalut, Terrorism, Wahhabism

Egypt began seven days of national mourning after Islamist militants released a graphic video on 15 February, depicting the mass beheading of 20 Coptic Christians and a Ghanaian Christian in Libya. Originally it was believed that all 21 men were Coptic Egyptians, but on 25 February MidEast Christian News confirmed . . . Read More

Abduction of another Egyptian Copt in Libya

January 30, 2015 Libya Islamic State, Kidnapping, Libya, Sirte, Tripoli

Unidentified gunmen abducted an Egyptian working in a restaurant in the Libyan city of Sirte on Jan. 29. According to Middle East news agency Copts Today the colleagues of 26-year-old Christian Samir Sabri Masood, from Sidi Salem Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt, reported the kidnapping to the police after he was . . . Read More

Libyan militants hold 20 Egyptian Christians hostage

January 26, 2015 Libya Ansar al-Sharia, Benghazi, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Sirte, Tripoli

Coptic families in Upper Egypt’s Minya province await news on their kidnapped relatives in Libya, January 2015.Photo: Watani The kidnapping of at least 20 Coptic Christians in two separate incidents in December and January has been claimed by Libyan militants affiliated with the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Seven of the Christians . . . Read More

President Sisi sets a historic milestone

January 8, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Christmas, Copts, Libya

nEgyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, center, attends a Christmas Eve mass led by Egyptian Coptic Pope Tawadros II, left, at St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District of Cairo on Jan. 6 Ahmed Gamel / AFP / Getty Images Hours before Egypt’s Coptic Christian communities gathered for their . . . Read More

Islamists kidnap 20 Egyptian Christians in Libya

January 5, 2015 Libya Copts, Egypt, Libya, Sirte

The BBC reports that 13 kidnapped Egyptian Coptic Christian workers have been freed Jan. 5; they were suspected to be abducted by Islamist militants in northern Libya around 2:30am on Jan. 3. This is the latest in a series of attacks on Egyptian Christians in Libya and occurred only a week after seven . . . Read More

‘Freedom of Religion’: comprehensive report launch

November 4, 2014 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Central African Republic, China, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Maldives, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Qatar, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zimbabwe

A report showing that religious freedom is compromised in nearly 60 percent of countries worldwide is expected to send a signal to governments and religious leaders that this is an issue that can no longer be ignored. The international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need’s Religious Freedom in . . . Read More

4 men abducted in Libya for being Christian

August 28, 2014 Libya Copts, Egypt, Libya, Sirte, Tripoli

The Libya Herald has reported that a family of four Egyptian men, who were targeted specifically because they are Christian, was kidnapped in Libya on August 27 near Sirte. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedom said they were travelling with three Muslims when they were abducted at a checkpoint . . . Read More

Copts found dead in Libya

February 25, 2014 Libya Benghazi, Copts, Egypt, Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, Tripoli

Seven Egyptian Christians have been found dead on a beach near the Libyan eastern city of Benghazi. The Copts, who were found tied up and with gunshot wounds to the head, were identified as Talaat Sidik Bassiouni, Hani Garas Habib, Nadi Garas Habib, Fawzi Fathi Sidik, Edward Nashed, Ayoub Sabri . . . Read More

Freedom of religion an issue ‘whose time has come’

February 13, 2014 Global News -- No Particular Country Arab Spring, Barack Obama, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Europe, India, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Middle East, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Sharia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, UN, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Freedom of religion and belief is an issue “whose time has come”, the vice chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said yesterday. During the presentation of two reports on religious freedom at the European Parliament in Brussels on Feb. 12, commission Vice Chairwoman Katrina Lantos Swett said . . . Read More

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