Category Archives: Coptic persecution

Egyptian Muslim teacher targets only Christian girls for rape

Posted on by

From Pakistani Christian Post:

Muslim Teacher Sexually Abuses Christian Children In An Upper Egyptian School

Cairo: March 14, 2010. (By Mary Abdelmassih for PCP) A scandal was uncovered this week at an Upper Egyptian elementary girl’s school, where a Muslim teacher has been sexually assaulting Christian Coptic children. Copts are enraged due to the impunity with which the State Security authorities have dealt with these crimes.

The last incident took place on Tuesday 3/3/2010 in the Helwa Girl’s Elementary School, when Arabic teacher Hany Taha, lured 11-years-old Hanan Adel Aziz to the school’s lower ground floor and dragged her

into the washroom. She was later rescued by another Muslim teacher when he heard her distressed screams. The village of Helwa lies in the district of Matai, 200 km south of Cairo, in the Minya Governorate.

“Hany Taha has been targeting only the school’s Christian minor girls and has five ‘known rape precedents’ in the same school. However, the guardians of the children were put under pressure to accept a reconciliation using both coercion and threats not to report the incidents, according to activist Mariam Ragy of Katiba Tibia advocacy after interviewing Adel Aziz, the victim’s father. Aziz said that

the Muslim teacher lured his daughter from the classroom under the pretext that her aunt who works mornings in the same school is waiting for her. Ragy said that the accused Muslim teacher used to work in a private school before being sacked due to the same pervert behavior. “Also two transfer resolutions from this school were issued against him but were waived due to the “the existence of a family relationship

between the headmistress and the brother of the accused, said Ragy. ”

Continue Reading →

Crowd of 3 thousand Muslims attack a Coptic Christian community, 25 injured

Posted on by

H/T Tundra Tabloids

Faithful were gathered in prayer when attack occurred. There were four priests, one deacon and 400 parishioners in the building, women and children also targeted. Fundamentalists fury, egged on by the imam, unleashed by the rumour that the Christians are building a new church. In reality it is a hospice.

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) – The toll from an attack on the Coptic Christian community that took place yesterday in the north-western province of Mersa Matrouh, Egypt is 25 wounded, including women and children. A crowd of around 3 thousand Muslims attacked the faithful gathered in prayer in a building adjoining the local church. The fundamentalists fury, encouraged by the imam, was sparked by the rumour that the Christians have begun to build a new place of worship.

Around 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon, the Muslims – a group of Bedouins and Salafi fanatics – started throwing stones at a construction site, which they believe in reality will be a new church. Local witnesses reported that security forces present were not sufficient to contain the attack. The police fired tear gas and arrested a dozen people, including Muslims and Christians. Only this morning, reinforcements arrived from Alexandria, thanks to which the Coptic faithful trapped inside the building could return to their homes. Continue Reading →

Jan 30 Toronto protest for the Copts

Posted on by

It is wonderful to see people finally starting to react to the horrific and brutal treatment the Coptic peoples of Egypt have had at the hands of the Muslim Egyptians especially in the past few decades. Thanks Miss Trixie for posting the link on another post so I could find this video. More information there. Check it out.

Get a coffee and a notepad and watch this: Farewell Israel

Posted on by

I may have posted this most excellent film before, but it along with the rest of that channel has vanished from the Internet and as I feel this is one of the best, and I might add objective, films about Islam and the thought processes and actions it generates, and how it is so often misinterpreted and misunderstood to the benefit of Islam. I decided to repost. Please watch, enjoy, comment and add any links to relevant material in the comments section below.

Untitled from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.

Copts in Austria protest Muslim treatment in Egypt

Posted on by

Below is a machine translation from this site. Thanks very much to ESW of Mission Europa for these excellent photos of the event. It is so good to see one of the worlds most profoundly persecuted minorities, and I might add, the actual indigenous people of Egypt, begin to at least publicize the facts of their existence.

More from ICLA

A recent demonstration in Vienna, Austria has called for an end to the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt.  While the OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Conference) tries to impose global heresy laws on the world to prevent the criticism of religion, Egyptian non Muslims feel the full force of religious persecution.  Where is the concerned voice of the OIC in the preservation of the ancient religion of Egypt, Coptic Christianity?  Of course the OIC is silent because all it cares about are the objectives of political Islam and its desire to become the religion of the entire world.  The OIC should end its charade; it claims to be concerned about human rights abuses but is unwilling to raise its voice when such abuse occurs in the name of Islam.  Can we therefore conclude that the OIC member states are a set of hypocrites who only care about their own narrow political agenda and do not care a jot for the interests of humankind and civilised values?

It must be remembered that the Copts inhabited Egypt before the Islamic invasion and descend from the majestic lineage that built the pyramids and played such an important role in helping found Western civilisation.  We hear so much about the illegal occupation of Judea and Samaria by the decedents of that region’s ancient inhabitants.  The ancient inhabitants of Egypt are a persecuted minority in Egypt.  Those of us who live in the West will suffer the same fate if our despicable political leaders continue their misguided pro sharia policy that proceeds under the disguise of multiculturalism.

It is surely time to stand up to real intolerance!

The following are photographs from the Vienna demonstration in favour of rights for Christians in Egypt:

Stratfor: Egypt, Christians and Muslims set each other’s homes on fire

Posted on by

From Stratfor:

Egypt: Christians, Muslims Set Homes On Fire
January 9, 2010
Christians and Muslims set each others’ homes and shops ablaze near the southern Egyptian town of Naga Hamady on Jan. 9, three days after a gunman killed six Coptic Christians in a drive-by shooting, Reuters reported. Muslims set fire to four houses and a shop belonging to Christians in the village of Tiraks, while Christians set fire to four shops owned by Muslims in the village of al-Bahgorah. Six people were injured.

Egypt: Christians, Muslims Set Homes On FireJanuary 9, 2010Christians and Muslims set each others’ homes and shops ablaze near the southern Egyptian town of Naga Hamady on Jan. 9, three days after a gunman killed six Coptic Christians in a drive-by shooting, Reuters reported. Muslims set fire to four houses and a shop belonging to Christians in the village of Tiraks, while Christians set fire to four shops owned by Muslims in the village of al-Bahgorah. Six people were injured.

More on the horrors in Egypt, the shooting of the Copts at the church.

Posted on by

This is a difficult post in many ways. For one thing, the quality and source of information is questionable. The Egyptian authorities have claimed that this awful shooting was a retaliation of a rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian. Personally from the volumes of information I have read on the Copts etc. I find this very unlikely. Even if it is the case, it does not justify this:

The video above is alleged to be the immediate aftermath of the shooting of many Christian Egyptians as they left a church. Certainly there is no doubt that the current government of Egypt bends and breaks laws as a matter of policy, one could even say that laws protecting the rights of the Coptic minority are more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Christian girls are often kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam and ‘married’ to Muslim men. Sharia law forbids the construction of new non-Islamic places of worship or repair of those which are damaged, and sharia law seems to be in effect in Egypt over any pretence to secular law on the books to curry the favour of western powers.

Here is a STRATFOR Sitreps on this issue:

January 7, 2010
Relatives of seven people killed while leaving a Coptic Christmas Mass in Egypt smashed ambulances outside a hospital and demanded the bodies for burial, AP reported Jan. 7, citing unnamed security officials and witnesses. Police reportedly fired tear gas in response.

January 7, 2010Relatives of seven people killed while leaving a Coptic Christmas Mass in Egypt smashed ambulances outside a hospital and demanded the bodies for burial, AP reported Jan. 7, citing unnamed security officials and witnesses. Police reportedly fired tear gas in response.

Here is an article from Gates of Vienna on the issue:

Ethnic Cleansing of Christians in Upper Egypt

by Baron Bodissey

Coptic Christians are a small minority in Egypt, and have always been vulnerable to the whims of the country’s rulers and the mobs of the “Muslim street”. In recent years the persecution of the Copts has grown more intense, with reports of murder, arson, looting, and forced conversions becoming more common.

Girls as young as fifteen have been abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married to Muslim men, with their families being warned in no uncertain terms not to attempt to reclaim their daughters. All of this persecution occurs with at least the tacit — and sometimes active — collusion of the police and local authorities.

In the last two days there has been a wave of violence against Copts in the village of Nagaa Hamadi in Upper Egypt. What’s interesting is that the mayhem was triggered by a rumor that a gang of Coptic men had raped a Muslim woman. This is ludicrous on the face of it — to think that a group of Christians, outnumbered a hundred-to-one by Muslims in the surrounding population, would put their entire community at risk in such a fashion. The rumor is yet another example of projection, in which Muslims generate a collective fantasy attributing to their enemies behavior to which they are all too prone themselves.

And so the dogs of revenge were loosed, and a drive-by shooting killed at least seven people (listed as five in the earliest reports) as worshippers left a church after mass. According to ANSAmed:

Egypt: Deaths and Injuries in Christian-Muslim Clashes

CAIRO, JANUARY 7 — At least five Coptic Christians were killed yesterday evening in a southern Egyptian village in a shootout with Muslims, according to security sources. The attack occurred at midnight in front of a Coptic church in the Nagaa Hamadi village, 400 km south of Cairo, after the mass for the Orthodox Christmas (which falls on January 7). Churchgoers were leaving the church when armed men got out of a car and opened fire on the crowd. At least five were killed and a dozen wounded, including two Muslims passers-by. According to initial reports, the clashes started after rumours went round that a number of Christians had raped a young Muslim woman. Tension and clashes between Christians and Muslims have intensified over the past few years in Egypt. Among the most recent was a tragic case last autumn in Assiut, where a Christian circulated a video in which a young Muslim girl was expressing affection towards her boyfriend in what would be considered an inappropriate manner. Three people lost their lives when about a hundred furious Muslims engaged in stone throwing at Christian houses and shops and set fire to their cars. In another incident, clashes — with the setting fire to about twenty cars and shops — were sparked when a Christian shopkeeper accused a woman of having stolen a mobile phone and hidden it under her niqab (the Muslim veil leaving only eyes uncovered), and then pulled the latter off the woman’s face.

This follow-up report, also from ANSAmed, details the outraged response of Christians, who staged a protest demonstration in Nagaa Hamadi the following day:

Hundreds of Christians (as many as two thousand, according to TV network al Jazeera) have gathered to demonstrate in Nagaa Hamadi, in Upper Egypt, where last night seven people were killed in an attack. The demonstration took place outside the hospital where the bodies of the victims had been taken. Demonstrators threw stones at police officers who responded using tear gas and fire hydrants. The archbishop of the Nagaa Hamadi church said that the Coptic community accuse the police of not taking seriously the numerous threats of criminals and fundamentalists. Apart from the seven deaths, including one police officer, nine people were injured in the attack carried out by Muslims against Coptic Christians at the end of the Christmas mass celebrated by the Coptic Orthodox community. According to security sources quoted by Egyptian press agency Mena, the attacker (who had two accomplices) targeted two separate groups of Christians gathered to celebrate the holiday and is said to have been identified. The security forces have imposed a curfew in the area to facilitate the hunt for those responsible.

According to Al-Arabiya the attackers were “men believed to be Muslims”. Presumably there might have been renegade Christians — or maybe the Mossad? — who lay in wait to perform the dastardly deed in order to discredit Muslims, as happens so often these days.

What Al-Arabiya considers most significant about the events is that “Christian Copts clash with police”, as their headline reports. Those bloodthirsty Copts couldn’t restrain themselves from attacking the Egyptian forces of law and order!

Clashes erupted on Thursday as thousands of Coptic Christians in a southern Egyptian village gathered to bury six of their number gunned down on Coptic Christmas Eve by men believed to be Muslims, security officials said.

Officials and the local bishop said three men in a car had raked pedestrians with gunfire along a street containing two churches and a shopping precinct late on Wednesday.

Bishop Kirilos said the victims were people who had just emerged from church after attending a Christmas Eve service, and the proximity of the shopping area might have drawn some of them to it.

Riots

Six Copts and a Muslim policeman were killed, while at least nine more Copts were wounded, two of them seriously, a security official said.

The wounded were evacuated to hospital in the nearby governorate of Sohag.

An estimated 5,000 Copts attended Thursday’s funeral in Nagaa Hammadi, 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the popular tourist city of Luxor.

Police said a group of protesters stoned cars as the dead were buried, and police responded with tear gas. The demonstrators chanted: “With our spirit and blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for the Cross.”

They said Copts earlier stoned police cars and the hospital where the bodies of the six dead were held before the service, chanting: “No to repression.”

An initial investigation reported that the gunmen opened fire as they sped along the street, killing and wounding people over a distance of 400 meters.

As the car headed out of town the gunmen fired at a convent which also housed the bishop’s offices before fleeing to a rural area near the town in Qena governorate, 700 kilometers (435 miles) south of Cairo.

Copts celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7 along with many other Orthodox communities around the world.

Shooter’s identity

Bishop Kirilos told AFP on Thursday that he saw gunmen spraying worshippers with automatic gunfire outside the archbishopric after the mass ended the previous night.

“We concluded the mass at 11:00 pm (2100 GMT) and I was heading to the bishopric when I saw a man, in a car, open fire with an automatic rifle at Copts who were walking past the building,” Kirilos said in a phone interview.

“The gunman then continued to fire on Copts in the streets of the town,” he said.

Witnesses, cited by local officials, earlier said the main gunman is a Muslim wanted by police and linked the shooting to the abduction of a 12-year-old Muslim girl in November who was allegedly raped by a Coptic youth.

“The first elements of the investigation, based on testimony of people on the ground, indicate that the main shooter is a town resident identified as Mohammed Ahmed Hussein, who is wanted by the police,” one official said.

Kirilos also told AFP that for the past week some of his parishioners had received cell phone hate calls and threats alleging that Muslims “will avenge the rape of the girl during the Christmas celebrations.”

Copts, who represent roughly 10 percent of Egypt’s 80-million-strong population, are the largest Christian community in the Middle East, but they frequently complain of discrimination, harassment and sectarian attacks.

In November, hundreds of Muslim protesters torched Christian-owned shops in the town of Farshut, near Nagaa Hammadi, and attacked a police station where they believed the suspected rapist was being held.

It was latest in a wave of sectarian tension between Muslims and Egypt’s Copts.

“Sectarian tension” is a delicate way of phrasing what is happening — as if there were two groups of believers, equivalent in size and strength, who just happened to clash over some obscure point of doctrine.

But this is simply the latest episode in a 1,400-year campaign of ethnic cleansing by Egyptian Muslims, who long to rid themselves of those troublesome Copts.

This is not an aberration, nor extremism. This is the letter of Islamic law in action. Those Christians can only be suffered to live inside Dar al-Islam as long as they “pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.” (Koran 9:29)

By throwing stones at the police, the Copts of Nagaa Hamadi have demonstrated that they are no longer in a state of “willing submission”. Under Islamic law (Reliance of the Traveller, o11.11), they have violated the terms of the agreement that gives them their dhimmi privileges, and their status thus reverts to that of prisoners of war.

This means that the adult males among the Copts may be slain with impunity, and their women and children may be enslaved (Reliance of the Traveller, o9.14).

None of this is likely to happen under the current Egyptian political system — although it might be different if the Muslim Brotherhood ever succeeds in taking over the reins of power in Cairo.

But the “Muslim street” knows these rules well, and the Copts have broken them. The prospects for the Christian population of Nagaa Hamadi do not look good.

Gunmen kill 7 at Egypt church after Christmas Mass

Posted on by

By SARAH El DEEB Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press

Jan. 6, 2010, 7:28PM

CAIRO — Gunmen killed at least seven people in a drive-by shooting outside a church in southern Egypt as worshippers left a midnight Mass for Coptic Christmas Thursday, the church bishop, security and hospital officials said.

The attack took place in the early morning hours in the town of Nag Hamadi in Qena province, about 40 miles from the famous ancient ruins of Luxor.

Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hamadi Diocese, a hospital administrator and a local security official all said seven people were killed in the attack. The security official said three people were seriously wounded as well.

The security official said two gunmen drove by a group as they were walking out of the Virgin Mary church and sprayed gunfire randomly into the crowd. The security and hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Qena is one of Egypt’s poorest and most conservative areas.

Christians, mostly Coptic, account for about 10 percent of Egypt’s predominantly Muslim population.

Muslim-Christian clashes, largely confined to the south of the country in recent years, have seeped into the capital. As Islamic conservatism gains ground, Christians have increasingly complained about discrimination by the Muslim majority.

In summer 2008 in southern Egypt, a Muslim man was killed in clashes over the expansion of a Coptic Orthodox monastery, and Muslims torched Christian villagers’ homes because a priest was seen holding Mass inside a house, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a rights group.

***** UPDATE *****

From STRATFOR:

Egypt: Riots Follow Coptic Killings
January 7, 2010
Relatives of seven people killed while leaving a Coptic Christmas Mass in Egypt smashed ambulances outside a hospital and demanded the bodies for burial, AP reported Jan. 7, citing unnamed security officials and witnesses. Police reportedly fired tear gas in response.

Seven Egyptian Christians Sentenced to Prison

Posted on by

H/T Gates of Vienna: From Assyrian News

Egypt (AINA) — Seven Coptic Christians, including two priests, were sentenced to prison for allegedly being involved in a brawl in connection with a dispute over the purchase of a property by the Coptic Orthodox Bishopric of Delga and Deir Mawas, 270 KM from Cairo. The Misdemeanor Court in Mallawi upheld a verdict passed by the First Instance Court in April, 2007. The Rev. Maximos Talat and Rev. Bolah Nassif – priest of St. George’s Church were sentence to one week in prison and fined 200 Egyptian Pounds, “based on claims made by the ‘aggressors’ and without any legal basis,” according to the their lawyer, Amgad Lamei.

In 2007 an adjacent property was legally acquired by the Bishopric from the Selim family. The dispute ensued after another neighbor, the Shaker family, said they have “right of first refusal” as they are cousins of the Selims, and subsequently occupied the property. The Bishopric obtained an eviction order from the Attorney General.

Attorney Amgad Lamei, who is also sentenced to prison, told Freecopts that during the execution of the eviction order on 4/15/2007, the Shaker family assaulted the party accompanying the two priests, in the presence of the police. “When I saw the brawl, I left the place with the priests and went to the police station to file a report about the incident,” said Mr. Lamei. “We went at 14:00 to report the matter to the police, and found out at 17:00 that we had been accused.” He expressed his surprise and disappointment at the verdict. He plans to take case to the Court of Cassation, but that will not stop the prison sentence.

There has been an escalation in the imprisonment of clergy. In October 2008 an Egyptian court sentenced Coptic priest Father Mettaos Wahba to five years hard labor. He was falsely accused of aiding a young Muslim woman in getting an ID card that had falsely indicated her religion as Christian, thus enabling her to marry a Christian man and flee Egypt.

By Mary Abdelmassih

Forced Islamization of Christian Girls Supported By Egyptian State

Posted on by

H/T Gates of Vienna: From AINA.Org

Cairo (AINA) — The phenomenon of abduction, rape and forced Islamization of Christian girls in Egypt was shown for the first time on the Christian TV channel “Life TV”, which broadcasts from outside Egypt and has nearly 60 million Arab-speaking viewers in Egypt and around the world.

The testimonies of the victims and their families came as a shock to many, including Egyptian Christians, since this issue is taboo for the Egyptian media, “Our role is to expose those behind those crimes,” said Rasheed El Maghreby, the program’s moderator.

The program was aired in mid-November 2009, and interviewed Mr. Magdi Khalil, an authority on Coptic affairs who has made a complete field study on forced Islamization of Christian minors in Egypt. Mr Khalil explained that this phenomenon in its present form is nearly 40 years old, and most of these conversion crimes, with a few isolated exceptions, are carried out by organized Islamization gangs or “Islamization Mafia”, a termed coined by him, which are fully funded by the state and supported by State Security.

“Those highly organized gangs carry out systematic planning,” says Khalil. “Besides violent forced abductions, other devious means include allurement, deception, psychological pressure, financial temptation, emotional relationships ending in rape and photographs taken to blackmail the victims into conversion, and spreading fear in the hearts of their families. They turn the minor into a broken, humble, and submissive person who drifts along a road which would have been impossible for her to take under normal circumstances or in an atmosphere of family or legal protection, and of her own free will.”

The TV program aired three cases of victims throwing light on the complete disadvantage of the affected families in front of the “Islamization mafia”, in view of the complete lack of support, if not collusion, of the authorities.

Ingy Adel, now 16, was abducted at the age of 12 on her way to school by being anaesthetized and bundled into a car. “I was taken into a room by a man called Sultan, who tied my hands behind my back and raped me,” said Ingy. Four men followed Sultan in raping her, “I felt as each one of them raped me, that I was their enemy. They have beaten me ferociously.” She said that for a whole month she was given drugs and raped, “more than 50 men raped me.” After two months and only through the efforts of her father she was found and brought back home. When they reported the crime to the State Security she was beaten by the officer to change her testimony and say that she ran away from her family with her own free will. “Until today they have done nothing about it and will not do anything, because I am a Christian,” sobs Ingy (see testimony).

Another victim was Amal Zaki from Mahalla el-Kubra. “I received a phone call at work, informing me that my father was taken ill and lies in hospital and wishes to see me urgently. A work colleague with a Burka offered to accompany me. Outside was a car full of sheikhs, and when I refused to get in, I was pushed inside the car, and woke up in a dark room in Dar el Eftah [Al-Azhar affiliated Islamic Legislation Authority]. I knew that I was married to a certain Ahmed Ramadan, the cousin of my Burqa colleague. He tied me to the bed, after three hours I was taken to hospital suffering with haemorrhage.” Amal’s father continued the story: “I went to State Security and they assured me that they will get her back, but they were just fooling me; they knew all along were my daughter was. When I reported Ahmad Ramadan to the police, he said in the police report that State Security told him to marry Amal, take her to Cairo for conversion to Islam, and after 9 days, they told him to divorce her. He presented documents to support his claims” Amal was returned 9 months later after her father paid a ransom to her abductors. Although she never went to Al-Azhar to convert to Islam, she still got a conversion certificate. Continue Reading →

Egypt: “Muslim Mob” of 3,000 Attack Christian Businesses, Individuals — Rioting Spreads in Upper Egypt

Posted on by

From the most excellent R.E.A.L. organization. Please click through and bookmark these hard working and courageous people.

– AINA reports “Muslim Anti-Christian Riots Spread in Upper Egypt, Video Shows Looting and Burning”
– “On Monday November 23, 2009 Muslim rioters looted and burned Coptic Christian businesses in the village of Abou Shousha, which lies 25 KM from Farshoot. The terrorized Coptic inhabitants of Abou Shusha have stayed indoors, their shops are closed and their children are being kept away from school. They fear a repeat in their village of the Muslim violence which engulfed the town of Farshoot less than 36 hours earlier (AINA 11-22-2009).”
– “The Middle East Christian Association (MECA) reported that at least three large Coptic stores and a pharmacy were looted and burnt in Abou Shusha and that the fire brigade arrived one hour late, although their headquarters is only 8 KM away from the village. “They gave the pretext of being busy in Farshoot, which is untrue, as Farshoot had a quiet night,” said Wagih Yacoub of MECA. ‘Coptic and Muslim neighbors tried to put the fire out.’ A video posted by Free Copts shows the Abou Shusha fires.”
– “Bishop Kirrillos of Nag Hamady Diocese said that a mob from the neighboring village of Abu Tesht torched the businesses in Abou Shusha. MECA reported that three girls were assaulted in the street by having bricks hurled at them. No serious injuries were reported.”
– “It is estimated that over 80% of Coptic businesses have been destroyed in the 48 hours of violence in Farshoot. A video prepared by Free Copts advocacy shows Muslim mobs chanting Allah Akbar (God is Great) while looting and burning Coptic businesses and shops.”

Here any familiar chants in this one?

– AINA reports on mob attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt:
Continue Reading →

Coptic Christian forced to surrender daughter to Muslim husband

Posted on by

From Compass Direct News, courtesy TROP

Coptic Family Forced to Surrender Woman Rescued in Egypt
With extortion and violence, authorities pressure father to return daughter to Muslim husband.

ISTANBUL, October 9 (CDN) — State Security Investigations (SSI) forces in Egypt arrested, abused and then extorted money from a Coptic Christian for rescuing his daughter from her Muslim husband, who was holding her against her will in Alexandria, according to sources in Egypt.

Security forces also arrested 10 people in Alexandria and tortured them in an attempt to find those involved in the rescue. Authorities are preparing to make a new wave of arrests, the sources said.


On Sept. 30, they said, the only daughter of Gamal Labib Hanna called home and asked her family to save her from her Muslim husband. How Hanna’s daughter, Myrna Gamal Hanna, came to marry Mohamad Osama Hefnawy is disputed, but sources said the now-20-year-old woman was 19 and under the age of marital consent when she and Hefnawy were wed 10 months ago.

According to Egyptian civil law, a woman under the age of 21 has to have approval of her father or another male member of her family if the father is deceased. In Myrna Gamal Hanna’s case, no such approval was given.
Moreover, sources said, the woman’s future father-in-law was inexplicably allowed to stand in place of her father in approving the marriage, in violation of Egyptian law.

Later, sources said, Hefnawy and his father converted the young woman to Islam.

The sources said that the elder Hanna went to Hefnawy’s apartment on Oct. 1 to get his daughter. En route he passed a café where he enlisted the help of Rafaat Girges Habib and at least four other men.

At the apartment, Hefnawy attacked the Copts with a metal pole but Hanna was able to retrieve his daughter, who was six months pregnant. He and his wife hid her at an undisclosed location.

After the rescue, Hefnawy and his neighbors filed a report with local police and the SSI, a powerful Interior Ministry agency accused of various human rights violations. Soon after, Hanna’s brothers, one brother-in-law and his mother-in-law were rounded up, charged with abduction and detained.

According to sources in Egypt, at least one of the family members was tortured until Hanna turned himself in. Authorities also ransacked his apartment.

The sources said security forces pressured Hanna until he agreed not only to hand his daughter back to Hefnawy but also to give him several thousand dollars.

“Cases like this are very common, they happen every day,” said Rasha Noor, an Egyptian human rights activist and journalist living outside of Egypt. “That’s usually what happens when families try to rescue daughters from their kidnappers in most of these kinds of cases.”

As part of terms forced upon Hanna, he is not allowed to see his daughter unless he meets her in a police station and is accompanied by SSI officer Essam Shawky. Additionally, phone calls to his daughter will be monitored.
“Once [a woman] becomes a Muslim, you can’t get her back,” Noor said.

Hanna and the members of his family were released on Oct. 2, but soon after authorities began seeking Habib. Police broke into Habib’s plumbing shop and demolished it.

On Saturday (Oct. 3) they rounded up at least 10 people, most members of Habib’s immediate family. Security forces tortured the men, but sources said Habib’s brother, Romany, bore the brunt of the brutality. When he was released the next day, they said, his clothes and those of the others were smeared with blood.

Habib and at least four other people remain in hiding in Egypt. Sources said authorities will make a third round of arrests in an attempt to flush him out.