Third Attack on Copts Since the Beginning of the Year -- Fear Among Christians Grows

Christians in Egypt: The Third Attack This Year

(Cairo) In Egypt, the third assault has been directed against members of the Coptic minority since the beginning of the year. Security forces discovered the body of the Christian physician Bassam Sadouat Zaki.

On January 3, the Coptic merchant Youssef Lamei had been murdered in Alexandria. Only 48 hours later the corpses of the Christian couple Gamal Sami Guirguis and Nadia Amin Guirguis had been found.

The surgeon, Bassam Sadouat Zaki, practiced his profession in the city of Asyut in Upper Egypt, some 370 kilometers south of Cairo. According to the first surveys, he was stabbed with a knife on 13 January.

On January 5, the police discovered the corpses of the Coptic Guirguis couple. They too had been murdered by stabbing. As in the case of Zaki, the bloody act happened at home.The couple had been surprised with death in their sleep. The crime occurred in the governorate of Al-Minufiyya in Lower Egypt, 85 kilometers north of Cairo.

A few days ago some suspects were arrested. Neither the police nor the prosecutor's office wanted to provide more details.

Two days before the murder of the couple, the Copt Youssef Lamei had been murdered in Alexandria in the street where he was taking a break in his shop. While the authorities are silent about the motive  in the other two cases, the Islamic background of the murder in Alexandria is certain. The perpetrator shouted loudly, "Allah Akhbar" while he killed his victim with a sword before the horrified eyes of those passers-by and the inhabitants of the neighborhood.

Four murders within eleven days. Finally, on December 11, a brutal assassination attempt took place at the Peter and Paul Church in the district of al-Abbasiyya in Cairo. Directly adjacent is the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate. On the day when the Muslims celebrate the birth of Muhammad, Islamists detonated an explosive device in a Coptic church, killing 25 Christians. The jihadist militia of the Islamic State (IS) has taken responsibility.

There is growing fear among the Christians of the country.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Asianews
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
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Coptic Christian Beheaded in Egypt

Copts are suffering a new wave of Islamic violence.

(Cairo) on Monday, July 4, a Coptic Christian was stabbed in Tanta (Gharbia Governorate) by Islamists and then beheaded.

The 33-year-old pharmacist and Coptic Christian, Magdy Attia, was lured with a medication order into a house and killed there. According to Egyptian media reports, the house is inhabited by Salafists.

Witnesses said they had seen Magdy Attila half an hour with two men outside the building in a lively discussion. Other witnesses reported cries for help, which came out of the house.

The body of the Coptic Christian was found with nine stab wounds and beheaded. Video surveillance cameras were recorded two men covered with blood who left the house. They were identified and arrested by the police.

The police did not have any further details about the background of the event. The arrested men are Muslims.

Egypt is currently beset by a new wave of anti-Christian violence. On Tuesday, a Coptic Orthodox nun was killed. According to police, it had been a "tragic accident". She had been killed  by an "stray bullet". A few days earlier the Coptic priest, Raphael Moussa, was killed on the Sinai Peninsula. The attack was acknowledged by the jihadist militia known as the Islamic State (IS).

The city Tanta in the Nile Delta is located approximately halfway between Cairo and Alexandria and has approximately 450,000 inhabitants.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: asenseofbelonging (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
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Islam or Death? -- Islamists Take 2,000 Christians as Hostages and Threaten with Being Shot

(Damascus) Two thousand Christians are hostages in the hands of the Islamists. On Saturday night the rebel Salafist Brigade Al-Nusra took the Christian town of Kanaye. Since then, they have kept the Christians of the place hostage, as the retired Bishop of Aleppo, Bishop Giuseppe Nazzaro reported. A resident of Kanaye, who escaped, called the bishop and brought him the bad news. The Islamists offer the Christians two the alternatives: Islam or death.

"Based on the information available to me, I can say that the Al-Qaeda fighters have invaded the village on Saturday. First, they occupied the church and prevented the priest from sounding the bells of the church tower and alarm to warn the Christians," said Bishop Nazzaro. He fears for the lives of Christians of Kanaye, one of the many Christian places of Syria. "The Islamists have blocked all access routes to Kanaye and Christians explained that Islamic law is now in effect in Kanaye. The Islamists threatened the Christians: If even one woman is found unveiled on the road, all Christians would be executed. People are terrorized. Communication is unfortunately broken. Today it was not possible for me to make contact. What is currently happening in Kanaye, I can not say," said the bishop.

  In Aleppo, 15 Children Were Killed

Another village was taken in 2012 in the same manner by he Islamist group Ghassanieh,  near Kanaye, in the region Idlib. The churches and holy places were looted, Christians symbols were destroyed, especially the cross. The homes of Christians were seized by the Islamists. The Christians had to give up their homes and fled. "The same fate now threatens Kanaye. We would currently be happy if we knew that the Christians could get away with their lives," said Msgr Nazzaro.

In Aleppo, the Syrian Air Force flew an attack on the rebel-controlled part of the city. In this case, 83 people were killed, including 15 children.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 image: Asianews
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to katholisches....
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Egypt: More Attacks on Coptic Orthodox Community. Two Churches Set on Fire

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Egyptian Coptic community faces a new escalation of attacks by Islamists. On 17 May, two churches were attacked with Molotov cocktails in the district of Dakhela, west of Alexandria, Egypt, and Menpal in Upper Egypt.

In Alexandria over 20 thousand Muslims attacked the church of St. Mary setting fire to the entrance of the building and shattering windows. A man died of a heart attack in the attack. In response to the violence, hundreds of Copts left their homes to create a human wall around the building. According to witnesses some Islamists armed with pistols and knives fired on the crowd, causing some injuries.

At the origin of the clashes is a dispute between two neighbors. Basem Ramzy Michael, a Coptic Christian, is reported to have behaved inappropriately towards the sister of Alloshy Hamada, a Muslim with a criminal record. In a short time the dispute between the two erupted into a sectarian clash.

A similar incident occurred last May 13, in the village of Menbal, Matay district, north of the province of Minya, where a Muslim mob stormed the church called the Tadros el-Mashreki and assaulted one person inside. The assailants threw stones at the building, looted Christian shops nearby and burned cars. The Coptic minority has been threatened with expulsion from the village. Once again the violence was sparked by a trivial quarrel between two young people. Some young Muslims are reported to have made advances to a group of Coptic girls, as they entered the church. Irritated at having been ignored the group waited for the young Christian girls to leave the Church and threw bags filled with urine at them. The young people were rescued by some Christians peers who have started a heated argument with Muslims. As in other cases, the news spread across the village. In a short time a crowd of Islamists rallied in front of the church, forcing young people to take refuge inside.

Ehab Ramzy, a Coptic Christian, prosecutor in the province and former member of parliament, said Menbal has a Muslim majority, while Manshiet Menbal, 10 kilometers away, has Coptic majority. "The Christians of the two villages - he explains - have nothing to do with the fight that took place in Manshiet Menbal. The young people were attacked just because they are Christian." Two young Muslim men were arrested by police in Menbal. In the coming days there will be a reconciliation meeting between the two communities. "Now - he adds - the security forces are trying to arrest some young Copts. They have become a bargaining chip to seek reconciliation."

AsiaNews sources underline that the attacks against the Coptic community are now a daily occurrence and are being ignored by the police, who because of the climate of chaos, let communities resolve disputes among themselves, although this can result in dead or wounded. The most serious incident took place on April 7 in front of the Cathedral of St. Mark in Cairo, where a group of Islamists attacked funerals of four Christians killed in sectarian clashes that took place on April 5 in the district of Khosous, on the outskirts of the capital, with stones and Molotov cocktails. The assault, which took place before the eyes of the police, left two dead and over 80 injured. A church building caught fire.

Link to Asianews…..

Libyan Islamists Prey on Christians -- Christians Graves are Desecrated

Libya (Benghazi) Islamists do continue to hunt for Christians working in the North African country. They are summarily accused of  proselytism. The recent incident takes place in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi, the capital of Cyrenaica. In the second largest city of Libya 48 Egyptian Christians were arrested, as Asianews reported. These are Orthodox Copts, who were reported by Libyan Islamists. The Christians, merchants and traders who visited the market of Benghazi, are alleged to have conducted religious images and representations of themselves. A  video seized from the police  shows how Christians are being held in a small room of Salafists. They appear physically exhausted. Many wounds and abrasions are visible. The Islamists have shaved all Christians bald.

The incident has caused displeasure among the inhabitants of Benghazi. Only in October, it had risen against the Salafi militias accused of perpetrating the attack on the American consulate, where the U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed.

The authorities reported on Thursday that Egyptian Christians had not been arrested for religious reasons, but for violation of immigration laws. Only in mid-February, four Christians were arrested, an Egyptian, a South African, a Swede and a South Korean with U.S. citizenship. They are accused of having spread Bibles and other Christian materials.

The spread of Islamic extremism is affecting the Catholic orders, which have been active in part for a long time on the territory of modern Libya. They have built hospitals and work with elderly people. Only in January the Islamists have succeeded in forcing the Franciscan Sisters of the Child Jesus of Barce and the Ursuline Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Beida, to leave the country. In October 2012, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Spoleto were forced to leave Libya due to the constant threats and attacks by the Islamists, as Father Dominique Rézeau reported.

"Not a day goes by without Christian graves being desecrated and destroyed," lamented Bruno Daimasso to the magazine Tempi, the gardener of the Italian cemetery in Tripoli. "The remains of the Christians are torn from their graves and scattered in the cemetery," as Jeune Afriquereported. "The Libyan authorities have arrived, took photos and did nothing," said Daimasso.

According to Dominique Rézeau there are officially some 200,000 Christians who lived in Libya before the fall of Gaddafi, and three percent of the population, since the so-called Arab Spring, "only a few are thousand left." As the Vicar Apostolic Bishop Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli confirmed, the churches in the Kyreinaika are indeed still open, the situation for Christians is however "very critical”.

Link to Katholisches...