Tag: Egypt

Shea: Copt massacre may unite Egypt

February 20, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt

The mass beheadings of 21 Coptic Egyptians in Libya may have the surprising effect of bringing Egypt’s Muslims and Christians closer together. So says Nina Shea, director of the . “The killers may have aimed to exploit sectarian hostilities – as they have in Iraq and Syria – and splinter Egyptian society. . . . 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

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

Egypt allocates land for new Cairo churches

January 29, 2015 Egypt Cairo, Churches, Copts, Egypt

Agenzia Fides reports a plot of land, the size of 2.5 acres (30 hectares), has been made available to the Coptic Patriarchate to build offices connected to the Cathedral of San Marco in Cairo. Three additional smaller plots will be allocated in other areas across the capital for the construction of . . . Read More

Bureaucratic delays put Egyptian convert’s appeal at risk

January 29, 2015 Egypt Apostasy, Blasphemy, Egypt, Mohammed Hegazy

After weeks of judicial runaround, Egyptian lawyer Karam Ghobrial has managed to find and visit his client, Egypt’s most publicly-known Christian convert Mohammed Hegazy, in Cairo’s Tora Prison. The whereabouts of Hegazy, the first Egyptian Muslim to, in 2007, fight a legal case to change his religious identity to Christian, . . . 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

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

Egypt’s Hegazy sentenced to one year in prison

December 30, 2014 Egypt Apostasy, Converts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya, Mohammed Hegazy, Upper Egypt

Mohammed Hegazy, the first Egyptian citizen to attempt to change his legal religious identity from Muslim to Christian, was sentenced to a year in prison on one charge and acquitted of two other charges at a Dec. 28 hearing in the Misdemeanor Court in Minya, Upper Egypt. According to Mideast . . . Read More

Egypt increases security for Christmas

December 29, 2014 Egypt Alexandria, Christmas, Copts, Egypt

Special security plans have been developed to protect Coptic Christians during their upcoming Christmas celebration Jan. 7. According to Agenzia Fides, Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim assembled a meeting Dec. 28 to discuss security, and “the plan provides for the distribution of patrols in the vicinity of places of worship and . . . Read More

Muslims condemn threats toward Egypt’s Christians

December 23, 2014 Egypt Al-Azhar, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Muslim Brotherhood, Salafism

According to Fides News Agency, recognized Muslim academics from the Arab world’s most prestigious Islamic university have denounced recent threats made by extremist Islamists against Egyptian Christians. In the lead up to Christmas, celebrated on Jan. 7 by Coptic Christians, death threats and organized attacks against Christian communities have been . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye