Tag: Upper Egypt

Al-Azhar says Islam ‘totally incompatible’ with violence, as IS shifts focus to Upper Egypt

June 29, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Alexandria, Anba Macarius, Copts, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Sinai, Upper Egypt

Scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of Sunni Islamic learning, have submitted a bill to the Egyptian government, which “aims to reaffirm the total incompatibility between the violence justified by religious arguments and Islamic law”. As World Watch Monitor reported on 21 June, Al-Azhar has distanced itself from . . . Read More

Coptic boy, 16, ‘murdered by Islamic extremists seeking to scare Christians’

April 20, 2017 Egypt Copts, El-Arish, Islamic State, Minya, Palm Sunday, Sinai, Upper Egypt

An Egyptian Christian boy murdered on Holy Thursday (13 April) was killed by Islamic extremists hoping to further intimidate Christians in the run up to Easter, say his family. Allam Bashay Gabriel found his 16-year-old son, Gamal, with his throat slit and lying in a pool of blood, in Qai . . . Read More

UPDATE: Missing Egyptian woman, 18, given new Muslim identity by security services

March 8, 2017 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Kidnapping, Luxor, Upper Egypt, Women

UPDATE (8 March) The brother of 18-year-old Hanan Girgis, an Egyptian Christian woman missing since 26 January, says he has been told she has a new Muslim identity and is being held by the security services. Rezeiky Girgis heard from the Civil Status Authority at Esna Police Station that Hanan . . . Read More

Fifth murder of an Egyptian Copt in two weeks

January 25, 2017 Egypt Cairo, Police, Upper Egypt

The murder of another Coptic Christian in Egypt, this time in the centre of the capital, makes this the fifth death over a 13-day period. Ishak Ibrahim Fayez Younan, 37, was found dead by his brother on 16 January, at Ishak’s flat in the old part of Cairo. He leaves . . . Read More

Fourth Coptic Christian murdered in 10 days

January 18, 2017 Egypt Asyut, Copts, Upper Egypt

Dr. Bassam Safwat Atta, 35, was found dead in his flat on 13 Jan.World Watch Monitor A Coptic surgeon was found murdered in his flat on Friday (13 Jan) in Upper Egypt, making him the fourth Coptic Christian murder victim in 10 days. Married father-of-two Bassam Safwat Atta, 35, . . . Read More

Egypt’s Christians ‘at breaking point’ says bishop

September 8, 2016 Egypt Anba Macarius, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Upper Egypt

Christians feel “under siege” in Egypt after a series of attacks this summer, and continued difficulties faced by the community in building churches, the New York Times reports. In Minya (Upper Egypt) alone, Copts continue to “suffer violence and humiliation”. Houses have been burned, Copts attacked on the streets and . . . Read More

Copt teens flee Egypt after blasphemy convictions

September 5, 2016 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Upper Egypt

Four Coptic teenagers sentenced to five years in prison for “blasphemy against Islam” have escaped from Egypt, via Turkey, to apply for religious asylum in Switzerland. They flew out of Istanbul on 1 Sept. under special “humanitarian” visas granted by the Swiss government. Since early April, they had lived in . . . Read More

Copt arrested for distributing Bibles

August 11, 2015 Egypt Bibles, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Proselytism, Upper Egypt, Wahhabism

Egyptian Christian Medhat Ishaq was arrested in a satellite town of Cairo on Sunday (9 August) for giving away Bibles to passersby. According to the weekly Watani newspaper, the 35-year-old Copt was standing in front of the Arabia shopping mall in 6 October town when passersby stopped him and summoned . . . Read More

Shooting of witness threatens trial of Coptic Christians’ murderers

February 19, 2015 Egypt Copts, Islamic extremism, Luxor, Upper Egypt

Taken during the funeral of Shahid Nasemis SaroufimWorld Watch Monitor It’s happening several times a week now, particularly in the towns and villages of Upper Egypt. Just a brief news report, citing an isolated killing here and there of a Coptic Christian by “unknown gunmen.” Another statistic, usually just . . . Read More

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

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