Tag: Port Said

Egypt: 21 churches receive long-delayed government approval to build

November 29, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Anba Macarius, Cairo, Churches, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Minya, Pentecostals, Port Said, Protestants, Religious freedom, Samalut, Sinai, Sohag, Sunni, Upper Egypt, USA

Twenty-one churches in Egypt’s southern rural Minya governorate can restore, expand and rebuild their churches after receiving approval from the Minya Governor. Governor Essam al-Bedeiwi approved the 21 applications over the last six months. Some of the churches had been waiting for more than 20 years for a permit to come . . . Read More

Bomb found outside Cairo church

May 30, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, El-Arish, Helwan, Islamic State, Minya, Port Said

A bomb was found outside an Egyptian church just south of the capital, Cairo, yesterday (29 May), according to Coptic news site Watani. A guard reportedly found the bomb inside a paper box by the gate to the Anba-Barsoum al-Erian Monastery, in the Greater Cairo city of Helwan, and “quickly . . . 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

Egypt: small signs challenging religious intolerance

May 17, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Copts, Pope Francis, Port Said, Sinai

Pope Francis visits with Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Photo: Getty Images

Recent developments in Egypt show that Pope Francis’ visit to its capital Cairo last month might have inspired a more vigilant approach to religious hate speech against Christians by religious leaders and the media alike. John L. Allen writes in the Catholic publication Crux that two recent signs suggest the . . . Read More

Sinai: eighth El-Arish Copt killed in targeted attack

May 8, 2017 Egypt Copts, Helwan, Islamic State, Port Said, Sinai

Nabil Saber Ayoub Mansour became the eighth Egyptian Coptic Christian to be murdered in El-Arish, northern Sinai, this year in what appear to be linked killings. He was shot dead by four masked men on 6 May. Mansour, 40, was in El-Arish for a brief visit (contrary to media reports that said he had returned . . . Read More

Egypt convert’s legal limbo finally brings him ‘back to Islam’

August 2, 2016 Egypt Apostasy, Islamic extremism, Mohammed Hegazy, Port Said

During Hegazy’s periods of incarceration, he was subject to different forms of abuse.World Watch Monitor Egyptian lawyer Karam Ghobrial was clearly distraught as he talked about the saga both he and his client, once Muslim-turned-Christian Mohamed Hegazy, have endured over the past month. That was before Hegazy – the . . . Read More

Egypt’s imams and priests confront sectarianism together

December 29, 2015 Egypt Al-Azhar, Cairo, Hosni Mubarak, Ismailia, Luxor, Mohamed Morsi, Port Said, Sohag

For three years, the Imam-Priest Exchange has brought Christian and Muslim leaders together to deepen religious unity.World Watch Monitor Gathered at Cairo’s prestigious Dar al-Mudarra’at military complex in early December, 150 imams and priests heard some of Egypt’s highest religious authorities praise their participation in a three-year programme to . . . Read More

Jailed Egyptian convert awaits appeal hearing

November 12, 2014 Egypt Egypt, Mohammed Hegazy, Port Said

Hegazy’s lawyer Karam GhobrialWorld Watch Monitor A jailed Egyptian Muslim convert to Christianity is scheduled Sunday, Nov. 16 to appeal his conviction on a misdemeanor — if he can get to the courtroom. But according to his lawyer, prison and security police officials have not confirmed they will permit . . . Read More

Pro-Morsi backlash turns deadly for some Christian communities

July 18, 2013 Egypt Arab Spring, Copts, Luxor, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Pope Tawadros II, Port Said

Violence in the town of al-Dabayia on July 5 claimed the lives of Rasim Taodharos Ocaldius, 56; Mharib Noshi Habib,38; Romany Noshi Habib, 33; and Emile Naseem Sarofim, 41.Special to World Watch Monitor Violence across Egypt following the July 3 ouster of Mohamed Morsi has claimed the lives of . . . Read More

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