Tag: Egypt

The woman who lost half her face in Cairo church attack

February 7, 2018 Egypt Cairo, Copts, Egypt

Samiha Tawfiq Awad and her husband, Qalini, were seated in the respective women’s and men’s sections of Cairo’s St Peter’s Coptic Orthodox Church on 11 December, 2016, when a man ran into the women’s section and detonated the bomb strapped to his chest. The attack, which claimed 27 lives, also . . . Read More

Egypt Minister: Churches have right to protection ‘Islam guarantees’

February 1, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic extremism, Pope Tawadros II, Sinai

Entrance to a Coptic Church in Egypt. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Egypt’s Minister of Religious Affairs, Mokhtar Gomaa, has said that churches, as well as mosques, have the legal right to be protected. He said this in response to a controversy involving Sheikh Abdullah Roshdy, who in a TV show said Muslims should not “congratulate non-Muslims on their religious occasions that . . . Read More

Egypt: Church owner fined, attackers given suspended sentences

January 31, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Giza

Coptic churches in Egypt face different challenges, from discrimination to violence. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Egyptian court today (31 January) found 15 people guilty of attacking a Coptic church south of Cairo, and also fined a Coptic man for illegally hosting the church on his premises. The misdemeanour court in Giza governorate handed down one-year suspended jail sentences to the 15 attackers, with a . . . Read More

Egypt rejects US claim of Copts’ persecution as ‘lies’

January 26, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, USA

The Foreign Relations Committee of the Egyptian Parliament is preparing a report in response to the US Congress “Coptic Solidarity” memorandum alleging persecution of Copts in Egypt. The memorandum was introduced last month and claimed that Copts were subjected to “systematic bigotry” and “treatment as second-class citizens in Egypt”. Described . . . Read More

A Middle Eastern Christian’s view of Pence’s agenda

January 22, 2018 Donald Trump, Egypt, Human rights, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jerusalem, Middle East, Mike Pence, Palestinian Territories, Refugees, Saudi Arabia, Syria, USA, West Bank

A Jordanian Christian trauma counsellor has urged US Vice President Mike Pence to recognise Palestinian statehood to make good his pledge to help Christians in the Middle East. Issam Smeir, who has worked with refugees in the Middle East and in the US, wrote a first-person piece for the Washington . . . Read More

Pence’s plans to help Middle East Christians overshadowed by political storm

January 19, 2018 Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Arabs, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bethlehem, Churches, Copts, Donald Trump, Egypt, Israel, Jerusalem, Jews, Jordan, King Abdullah II, Middle East, Mike Pence, Palestinian Territories, USA, West Bank

US Vice President Mike Pence’s postponed trip to the Middle East goes ahead this weekend amid myriad tensions and a fast-shifting diplomatic landscape. Pence’s trip is a shortened version of the one planned for last month, which was abruptly cancelled when protests erupted at President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem . . . Read More

Egypt: Copt thrown out of village and fined over ‘attack’ he denies

January 19, 2018 Egypt Beheira, Copts, Egypt

An Egyptian Christian has been thrown out of his village after it was alleged that he had attacked a Muslim woman. The Coptic community has also been forced to pay the equivalent of nearly 3,000 US dollars to the woman’s family, though they say the allegations are baseless. Awad Zaki, . . . Read More

UK Parliament hears ‘squeeze’ of persecution of Christians ‘as dangerous as violence’

January 18, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Blasphemy, Children, Commonwealth, Egypt, India, London, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Sweepers, UK, Women, Youth

Christian women are particularly vulnerable because of their gender and their faith. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Most of the 200 million Christians globally under pressure for their faith don’t experience violence but a ‘daily squeeze’ which is more insidious and – if left unchallenged – can lead to violence, MPs and others heard yesterday (17 January) at the launch of Open Doors’ World Watch List 2018 . . . Read More

Egypt: Sinai militants pledge to ‘kill more Copts’ after murdering man over cross tattoo

January 15, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic extremism, Ismailia, Sinai, Sohag, Suez

A Coptic cross tattooed on a wrist, like the one hat killed Bassem. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Militants belonging to the ‘State of Sinai’ group in Egypt have promised to “kill more Copts” after murdering a 27-year-old Coptic man because of the tattoo of a cross on his wrist. Bassem Herz Attalhah, also known as Haythem Shehata, was on his way home from work in El-Arish, capital . . . Read More

Egypt church celebrates long-awaited official opening

January 15, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Pope Tawadros II

Members of the Holy Virgin and Mar Girgis church staged a sit-in to protest the closure of their church in October. (Photo: Watani)

A Coptic church in Minya, Upper Egypt, was officially allowed to open last week for the first time since it was built in 2015, and three months after clashes with local Muslims had forced it to close indefinitely. The Holy Virgin and Mar Girgis church in the village of Sheikh . . . Read More

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