Tag: Egypt

Egypt: Copts’ homes attacked despite advance notice to police of threats

September 3, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Luxor, Minya, Police

Houses of Copts have again come under attack by a mob in a village in Minya Governorate on 31 August, as a protest against Copts praying in a home owned by one of them, since there is no village church, Coptic news site Watani reports. World Watch Monitor last week . . . Read More

Egypt: Mob attacks prevent Coptic church’s recognition for ‘security’ reasons

August 31, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya

Following demonstrations and several attacks on their church, Copts in Ezbet Sultan Pasha village, are back worshipping in the small house where they used to meet. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Coptic community in Egypt’s Minya governorate, whose church was closed in July following protests by local Muslims, continues to be a target of mob attacks and hostility. The only Coptic church in Ezbet Sultan Pasha village, 250km south of Cairo, where about 20 per cent of the population is . . . Read More

Egypt appoints its first-ever female Coptic governor

August 30, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Women

A Coptic church in Cairo - Egypt's Copts account for 10 per cent of the population. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2004)

For the first time in Egypt’s history a Coptic Christian woman has been appointed as provincial governor. The new governor of Damietta, Dr. Manal Awad Mikhael, is also the second female governor ever to be appointed in Egypt, reports the BBC. Mikhael, 51, was sworn in by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi . . . 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

Egypt: IS murder of Coptic vet followed warnings to ‘leave or die’

August 22, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Ismailia, Sinai

The string of attacks on Coptic Christians last year in the coastal Egyptian city of El-Arish, which caused a mass exodus, followed warnings “to leave or to die”, say relatives of the Coptic vet who was killed by suspected IS militants. Bahgat William Zakhar, 40, was shot dead by a number . . . Read More

Coptic boy who saw father killed wants to join police ‘to protect Christians’

August 20, 2018 Egypt Children, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya

Marco (l) and Mina (r)standing next to the car that their father drove when he was killed. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A young Christian boy from a small village in Egypt’s Minya region, who saw his father killed by Islamic militants, dreams of becoming a police officer so he can prevent similar attacks. Mina was only ten years old when he and his brother Marco, aged 14, saw their father murdered, . . . Read More

Egypt: Suicide attack on Coptic church foiled

August 13, 2018 Egypt Alexandria, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Tanta

Dome of the Church of the Holy Virgin in Cairo's Mostorod district where a suicide bomber tried to get inside. (Photo: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

A suicide attack on a Coptic church in north Cairo, Egypt, was thwarted on Saturday, 12 August, reports Coptic news site Watani. A man wearing a suicide vest detonated the bomb about 250 metres from the Church of the Holy Virgin in the Mostorod district. He was killed instantly, as . . . Read More

‘Only jihadists want to see Christians leave the Middle East’

August 6, 2018 Arab Spring, Arabs, Cairo, Canada, Churches, Egypt, Europe, Islamic extremism, Lebanon, Middle East, Migrants, Minorities, North Africa, Palestinian Territories, Refugees, Syria, USA

Around 300 Christians went to Bartella during the Easter weekend of 2017, to have the very first Easter celebration in three years in their home town. A convoy of about 15 buses travelled from Erbil, crossing several Kurdish and Iraqi army checkpoints to reach the church. The people still live in Erbil and cannot go back to Bartella to live or to rebuild. But for this day many take the chance to celebrate Easter in their own church again. (Open Doors International)

“The only people that want to see all Christians leave are some of the violent jihadists,” concludes a new book. “Everyone else, including some we might term as Islamists, desires their continued presence. They recognise that it is Christians who are the leaven that permeates the whole of society.” The . . . Read More

Coptic bishop found dead, his head ‘smashed’

July 30, 2018 Egypt Beheira, Copts, Egypt

A Coptic bishop has been found dead inside a desert monastery in Egypt’s Beheira governorate, with the circumstances of his death still unknown*, reports AP. Bishop Epiphanius, 64, was the head of St. Macarius Monastery, which is situated near the town of Wadi El Naturn, 100km northwest of Cairo, and . . . Read More

Egypt: Copt in court for ‘blasphemous’ Facebook post that led to riot

July 24, 2018 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya, Prophet Muhammad

Following Adel's facebook post in July an attempt by a mob to attack the Coptic Saint Tadros Church in Menbal village was prevented by security guards. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Coptic Christian whose allegedly blasphemous Facebook post caused riots in his Egyptian village earlier this month is scheduled to appear in court today (24 July) on charges of contempt of religion.* Abdo Adel, 43, from Menbal village in Minya governorate, has been in detention since his arrest on 6 July . . . Read More

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