Tag: Upper Egypt

Book about beheaded Copts offers ‘different view of martyrdom’

February 15, 2019 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Upper Egypt

The 21 men moments before they were executed on a beach in the coastal city of Sirte, Libya, in February 2015. (Still from video)

Four years since the beheading of 20 Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya by Islamic State militants, a book has been published about the victims based on interviews with their families. The 20 Copts plus one Christian from Ghana, all daily labourers in Libya, were abducted by armed militants who . . . Read More

Egypt: Muslim mobs force closure of 8 Coptic churches seeking ‘official’ recognition

August 29, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Luxor, Upper Egypt

The Copts in El-Zeniqa are no longer able to meet in their church following an attack by Muslim villagers. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Coptic diocese in Upper Egypt last week saw its eighth church closed following attacks by Muslim villagers protesting against the church being legally recognised. Across Egypt, there are thousands of buildings informally acknowledged as churches. Exactly two years ago, the government introduced a new common law granting church buildings the . . . Read More

Copts’ homes attacked after they protest Muslim men swimming naked in front of them

June 15, 2018 Egypt Beni Suef, Copts, Egypt, Upper Egypt

Coptic houses were attacked in a village in Upper Egypt last week, after Copts objected to a group of young Muslim men swimming naked in a canal in front of their homes, as Coptic women sat outside. The incident took place on 4 June in the village of Tarshoub, in . . . Read More

Egypt: Families of beheaded Copts finally reunited with remains of loved ones

May 16, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Minya, Pope Tawadros II, Ramadan, Samalut, Upper Egypt

After a three-year wait and a number of broken promises, the Egyptian Coptic families of 20 men beheaded by IS in Libya in 2015 have finally received their loved ones’ remains. The leader of the Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, accompanied by several bishops, priests and deacons, welcomed the 20 . . . Read More

Kidnapping fears for missing Coptic newlywed

May 8, 2018 Egypt Aswan, Beni Suef, Copts, Egypt, Giza, Kidnapping, Marriage, Minya, Qalyubia, Qena, Samalut, Sharqia, Sohag, Upper Egypt, Women

A Coptic Christian woman who had been married for two weeks went missing from her school last Wednesday, sparking fears that she may have been kidnapped. Her disappearance brings to eight the number of Coptic women in Egypt who have gone missing since April, according to research by World Watch . . . Read More

Egyptian Copts face Muslim mobs protesting against legalisation of churches

May 4, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Luxor, Palm Sunday, Upper Egypt

The closure of a church in Upper Egypt that sought legalisation has been condemned as illegal by the congregation’s lawyer, and charges made against eight of its congregation, who have been detained for more than a month, as not valid. Coptic Christians of Al-Koumair village in Luxor Governorate had been . . . Read More

Egyptian mob celebrates blocking application for new church

March 26, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Qena, Upper Egypt

Mob rule has stopped hundreds of Christians in a village in Upper Egypt building their first church, World Watch Monitor has learned from local Copts. The nearest church for the 500 Copts living in El Toud, in Qena Governorate, is 10km away. So, since 2007, they have used the home . . . Read More

Copt soldier’s family say he didn’t commit suicide, he was killed

March 19, 2018 Egypt Asyut, Conscripts, Copts, Egypt, Giza, Upper Egypt

A young Egyptian Copt reported to have committed suicide in his army unit last week was in fact killed by his commanding officer, his family say. Matthew Samir Habib, 22, was pronounced dead at his Al-Ahram Palace Club unit in Giza, just south of Cairo, last Wednesday morning (14 March). His . . . Read More

Egypt’s elections and the man dividing the country’s Copts

March 14, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Arab Spring, Aswan, Asyut, Bahrain, Cairo, Catholics, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, El-Ghad Party, Elections, Faiyum, Hosni Mubarak, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Pope Tawadros II, Protestants, Samalut, Sinai, Sohag, Sunni, Tanta, Terrorism, Upper Egypt

Walking around Cairo you would be forgiven for thinking that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was the only candidate running in the elections later this month. His is the only grandiose face bearing down on passers-by, while billboards of his rival, Mousa Mostafa Mousa, are nowhere to be seen. Egypt’s 26-28 March presidential elections have . . . Read More

Egypt’s Copts flock to see church opened in remembrance of beheaded Christians

February 15, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Libya, Minya, Upper Egypt

It is a special day for the Coptic community of Minya province, Upper Egypt, as a new church was inaugurated this morning in Al-Our village in remembrance of 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian beheaded by IS on the Libyan coast three years ago today (15 February 2015). In . . . Read More

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