Category Archives: Coptic persecution

Fatwa on Fawzi, a Canadian Copt activist.

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It needs to be mentioned as well, that unlike the whole worlds utterly gutless news media when the Danish cartoon riots took place, SUN TV and the Michael Coren show flash scenes from the movie that is alleged to have caused this particular set of ‘days of rage‘ all through this and every show dealing with the issue. Why? Because the trailer is what Obama and the worlds Muslims insist all the rioting, killing, and destruction is about.

Therefore, any news program that doesn’t show it is guilty of depriving you of the information you need to decide for yourself the nature of the events.

The only media that has had the guts to show any of the materials that the Islamic world has blackmailed the rest of us into not daring to mass print in newspapers or show on TV etc. is SUN in Canada, and South Park (Otters bless their agnostic souls)

Muslims Order Christians Out of Their Village in Egypt

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AINA:

(AINA) — Copts in the North Sinai border town of Rafah have started leaving their homes after receiving an ultimatum from Islamists to leave “within 48 hours” or be killed. According to confirmed reports 9 Coptic families have left the town. The remaining 23 Coptic families are still there, waiting to leave. “it is difficult for us to leave as most of us are shop-owners and have property, so it is not easy just to leave everything and go,” said one Copt who is still with his family in Rafah. The Copts are all confined to their homes, afraid to venture out.

However, two days ago. masked men on motorcycles sprayed Coptic stores with bullets, but no one was hurt.

The nine Coptic families who left Rafah were government employees and the Governor of North Sinai offered to transfer them to neighboring Sinai Province capital, Al-Arish, to take posts there instead.

About three weeks ago a Coptic shop owner received a hand-written threat that “all Christians should leave Rafah within 48 hours, otherwise they will be killed.” Copts reported these threats to security but were told not to take the threats “earnestly,” because threats were during the time of the YouTube clip mocking Mohammad. “We thought the writers of these threats were just being vindictive against the Copts since it was claimed that a US Copt is responsible for it [the film],” said a Copts resident of Rafah.

Coptic families went with church representatives and met with the Governor of North Sinai asking for protection, he promised none, but just transferred nine government employees to work in Al-Arish.

The Coptic Church issued a statement this afternoon, after a meeting of the Holy Synod, signed by acting Patriarch Anba Pachomios, condemning the forced displacement of the Copts from Rafah, demanding that the “responsible state agencies address those that are trying to undermine the state authority and show it unable to protect its citizens.”

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Islamists Threaten To Exterminate Egypt’s 10 Million Coptic Christians Over Film

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H/T EDL Buck:

From the Inquisitor:

Egypt's 10 Million Copts Face Extermination Over Film

Egypt’s 10 million Coptic Christians have been threatened with mass extermination by Islamists in retaliation for the rumored involvement of a Copt in the making of the anti-Islamic film, “Innocence of Muslims.” The film touched off rioting throughout the Muslim world, due to claims that it insulted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, leading to attacks on several American Embassies, and the murder of the American Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens.

After the American flag was torn to shreds at the Cairo Embassy by the enraged mob, the crowds began to focus their anger on the Christian community. Islamist leaders and clerics have fueled their rage by telling the faithful at Friday prayers that the film was made by Copts living in America as part of a deliberate attack on the faith of Muslims. Calls have gone out for the collective punishment of all of Egypt’s Christians.

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U.S. ignores abuse of Christian women in Egypt

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Times 24/7
U.S. ignores abuse of Christian women in Egypt

Coptic Christians chant angry slogans as they protest attacks on Christians and churches, in front of the state television building in Cairo, Egypt, in May 2011. Photo Credit:AP Photo/Khalil Hamra

Nadia Ghaly’s cousin disappeared 40 years ago. She was introduced to a Muslim man as a young woman, subsequently vanished and resurfaced later three months pregnant wearing a hijab. She was the victim of a forced marriage.

She is not alone. Coptic Christian women are routinely victimized and forcibly converted by Muslims in Egypt, Miss Ghaly says.

In its annual Religious Freedom Report, released July 30, the U.S. State Department acknowledged the problem, but at the same time appeared to downplay it. The report described forcible conversions as “disputed,” asserting that while there were “occasional claims” of Muslim men forcing Coptic women (and sometimes girls younger than legal age) to convert to Islam, these accounts “often included inflammatory allegations and categorical denials of kidnapping and rape.”

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Riot leaves an Egyptian village without Christians

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By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press – 20 hours ago

DAHSHOUR, Egypt (AP) — When the angry mob was rampaging through town, storming her home and those of other Christians, the 70-year-old woman hid in her cow pen, pushing a rock against the door. There she cowered for hours, at one point passing out from tear gas being fired by police that seeped in.

When Sameeha Wehba emerged just before dawn, she found she was the only Christian left in this small Egyptian village just south of Cairo.

Dahshour’s entire Christian community — as many as 100 families some estimate — fled to nearby towns in the violence earlier this week. The flock’s priest, cloaked in a white sheet to hide him, was taken out in a police van. At least 16 homes and properties of Christians were pillaged and some torched and a church damaged.

The violence was ultimately rooted in a dispute over a badly ironed shirt that escalated into a fight in which a Christian burned a Muslim to death, in turn sparking the rampage by angry Muslims.

“It was a devil’s moment,” Wehba said Thursday at the home of her Muslim neighbors, who have taken her in. “Whoever caused this was the devil’s son.”

The unprecedented exodus underscores how sectarian divisions that festered under decades of Hosni Mubarak’s rule are taking a turn to the worse, complicated by the problems of post-revolution Egypt, a country where 10 percent of the population are Christian.

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Muslim-Coptic Violence Resumes in Egypt

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Voice of the Copts:

Details
Category: News
Created on Friday, 03 August 2012 07:25
Chana Ya’ari – Arutz Sheva

violence against Copts

violence against CoptsMuslims attacked a Coptic church in a village near Cairo Wednesday in the first such incident since Mohamed Morsi became president.

At least 16 people were wounded in the melee, among them 10 police officers, authorities said.

The Muslim rioters were intent on torching the church in the village of Dahshur, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Cairo. They were stopped by police who fired teargas at the mob.

Instead, the Muslim rioters attacked other Christian properties, setting them ablaze, and torched three police cars as well.

The mob “looted and torched shops, including a jewelry store … they terrorized the local community, forcing them to leave their homes,” according to office of the local Coptic Archbishop of Giza.

The cleric’s office reported that the entire Christian population had fled the village of Dahshur.

Muslim attacks on the Coptic minority are not unusual in Egypt; Coptic Christians comprise only 10 percent of the population of some 80 million people in the country.

Before the latest elected parliament was dissolved, it was entirely controlled by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s new president is a member of the same party.

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Muslims attack church in Egypt

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Christian Today:

Posted: Thursday, August 2, 2012, 9:09 (BST)

Muslims attack church in Egypt Many Copts are concerned about their future in the new Egypt AP

 

Muslims have attacked a church and Christian homes in a village close to the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

The BBC reports that at least 16 people were wounded in the unrest in Dahshur, around 40km (25 miles) south of Cairo.

The attack was triggered by the death of a Muslim man as a result of wounds sustained in clashes on Friday.

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120 Christian Families Flee Egyptian Village Following Death of a Muslim

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AINA.Org

Posted GMT 8-1-2012 0:24:33

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(AINA) — The sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians which took place last week in the village of Dahshur has prompted over 120 Christian families to flee their homes today after news that a Muslim man who had suffered 3rd degree burns in the incident died this morning in a Cairo hospital. Before his death, the father and brother of Moaz Hassab-Allah told the media yesterday that should he die, “the whole village will avenge his death.”

Coptic villagers were terrorized today after a Muslim Brotherhood cleric roamed the village vowing that the village church of St. George will be burned down, its pastor and all the entire Christian inhabitants killed and their homes torched after the burial of Moaz tonight, reportd Coptic activist Maariam Ragy.

Coptic professional garments presser Sameh Samy accidentally burned the shirt of his Muslim client Ahmad Ramadan. “They agreed to meet after the Muslim breaks his fast and settle the damage,” said father Takla of St, George’s church to MidEast Christian News, “however, Ramadan came back before the appointment.” He added that after breaking their Ramadan fast nearly 2000-3000 Muslims congregated; Mr. Samy locked his launderette and his home.

Fighting broke out between the Muslims and Sameh’s family, during which Molotov’s cocktails, firearms and knives were used. The priest explained that Sameh faced this huge mob in “self-defense,” threw a Molotov’s cocktail which hit the passer-by Moaz.

“This made the villagers extremely angry and they torched his home and his launderette and his brother’s home after they looted the contents, a loss of nearly 400,000 Egyptian pounds. They prevented the fire brigade from reaching the fire,” said Takla. The mob wounded Sameh, his father, his cousin and another Copt. Father Takla said that over 500 moderate village Mulims stopped the Salafist mob from storming the church, until security forces arrived and secured it.

Prosecution ordered the arrest of five Muslims, while Sameh Samy, his father and brother were detained pending investigation on charges of attempted murder and possession of explosives. Today, prosecution renewed their detention for 15 days and changed the charged to contemplated murder. No Muslim has yet been arrested.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Firebombs in fight between Christians and muslims in Egypt

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H/T Richard

From AP:

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian security official says Muslim and Christian villagers hurled fire bombs at each other south of Cairo after a Christian laundry worker burnt a Muslim’s shirt.

The official says Muslim villagers set fire to Christians’ homes on Friday, prompting authorities to deploy forces at the village of Dahshour in Giza province. One man was injured and several from both sides were detained. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

It is the first incidence of sectarian violence since the election of Egypt’s first civilian President Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Coptic Christians, who make up nearly 10 percent of Egypt’s 82 million people, fear the Islamists rise to power after last year’s uprising may further curtail their rights.

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Egypt court gives 12 Christians life sentences in case set off by religious tension

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WAPO:

(Hasan Jamali/ Associated Press ) – An Egyptian street vendor sells fruits in front of a wall filled with defaced posters of presidential candidates in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, May, 21, 2012. The May 23-24 presidential election is the first since last year’s ouster of longtime authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak.

By Associated Press, Published: May 21

CAIRO — An Egyptian court sentenced 12 Christians to life in prison and acquitted eight Muslims on Monday in a case set off by religious tensions in the country’s south.

The Christians were found guilty of sowing public strife, the possession of illegal weapons and shooting dead two Muslims in April of last year in Minya province, about 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of Cairo.

The religious tension in Minya spilled over into violence last year when a Muslim microbus driver, angered by a speed bump outside a wealthy Christian man’s villa, got into a scuffle with security guards who beat him.

After returning to his village of Abu Qurqas that evening, he rounded up the villagers who then gathered outside an ultraconservative Islamist group’s main office there to protest his beating. According to rights researcher Ishak Ibrahim, the Christians nearby thought they were going to be attacked and shot from their rooftops down at the crowd, killing two and wounding two others.

For several days after, angry villagers torched dozens of Christian homes and stores.

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Egyptian Panel Drops Maspero Massacre Case for ‘Lack of Evidence’

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AINA:

 

(AINA) — On April 24 the panel of judges appointed by the Egyptian minister of justice to investigate the Maspero massacre of October 9, 2011 (AINA 10-10-2011), which claimed the lives of 27 Christians and injured 329, closed the case. In his explanation of the verdict, judge Sarwat Hammad said the case was closed for “lack of identification of the culprits” who killed the army conscript Mohammad Shata and nine protesters (all Christians) with ammunition, as well as attempting to break into a government building and assaulting military personnel.

Charges against 28 Christian Copts and prominent Muslim activist Alaa Abdel-Fatah, who were previously detained, were also dropped for lack of evidence, said the judge. According to their defense lawyers, most of the detainees were arrested after October 9, and some were not even at the Maspero protest and were collected from the streets for just being Christians. Three of them were teens under 16 (AINA 11-5-2011).

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Egypt jails Christian student to three years in jail for insulting Islam

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Reuters:

(An Egyptian Copt watches a celebration of the Feast of Assumption in Dronka village, outside Assiut, 400 km (310 miles) south of Cairo August 21, 2008. REUTERS/Amr Dalsh )

An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old Christian boy to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, actions that sparked sectarian violence.

Gamal Abdou Massoud was also accused of distributing some of his cartoons to his school friends in a village in the southern city of Assiut, home to a large Christian population and the hometown of the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda.

“Assiut child’s court ordered the jailing of Gamal Abdou Massoud … for three years after he insulted Islam and published and distributed pictures that insulted Islam and its Prophet,” the court said in a statement seen by Reuters.

The cartoons, published by Massoud in December, prompted some Muslims to attack Christians. Several Christian houses were burned and several Christians were injured in the violence.

Human rights lawyer Negad al-Borai said the jail sentence was the maximum penalty under Egyptian law for such a crime.

Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the country’s 80 million population, have long had a difficult relationship with Egypt’s overwhelmingly Muslim majority.

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Coptic thinker calls for creation of “Christian Brotherhood”

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From People of Shambhala.
Coptic-Christian thinker Michael Fahmy has called for the creation of a “Christian Brotherhood,” to be modeled after Egypt’s controversial Muslim Brotherhood (MB).

The MB was officially outlawed in Egypt in 1950, but existed in semi-secret both in that country and across the globe.

With the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 the MB founded the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) which managed to win almost half the seats in the recent Egyptian elections.

In 2007 Coptic journalist Joseph Nagy suggested the formation of a similar, Coptic movement. However, the proposal was “shot down” by the Mubarak regime and Egypt’s official Coptic Church under recently-deceased Pope Shenouda III.

Fahmy told AhramOnline that “The idea was first proposed years ago, but last year’s revolution encouraged me to revisit it. I would like to emulate the Muslim Brotherhood’s success and its powerful rapport with the masses, which was reflected in the group’s electoral victories in recent parliamentary polls.”

The Proposed Christian Brotherhood:

According to AhramOnline, the proposed Christian Brotherhood would work to… read more.