“The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.” -Marcus Aurelius
(From Coptic group facebook page)
a mob of extremists muslims have surrounded a church in the ains shams district of Cairo. Egyptian army so far to date has allowed the crowds to gather around the church was was recently re-opened.
Breaking News – Hundreds of Salafies with Weapons have surrounded the Church of St Mary in Ein Shams waiting to attack – Priests and Deacons inside the Church – Army looking On! WHAT DO WE DO
At least 120 people were injured after Egyptian security forces fired tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at pro-Palestinian protesters who were trying to storm the Israeli embassy in Cairo.
Thousands of protesters had massed outside of the embassy in the capital on Sunday to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the “Nakba” or “catastrophe” – the day Israel declared its independence and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes.
Witnesses said a group of demonstrators later tried to storm the entrance of the embassy. Police used rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd. At least 20 people were arrested.
Al Jazeera’s Rob Gilles, who was at the scene, said that some protesters responded by burning tires in the middle of the road and throwing stones.
“The security forces have made a charge outside the embassy to clear the street in front of it and most of the protesters are being forced back,” he said.
‘Determined protesters’
“They’ve sealed off the main area into it but there is still a determined presence here, they are determined not to move, spurred on by the images they’ve seen of the Nakba protests in other parts of the Middle East.
“We’ve seen a few people laid out on the floor mainly suffering from gas inhalation more than anything else.”
Activists had earlier called for marches to start on Sunday to reach the Rafah border crossing between Israel and Egypt.
The incident followed the visit to Egypt by a senior Israeli defence ministry official – the first trip by a top Israeli official since a popular uprising toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in February.
Amos Gilad was to hold talks with several Egyptian officials “to discuss the latest developments in the region, in light of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement”, MENA, Egypt’s state news agency reported on Sunday.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal ended a four-year feud at a reconciliation ceremony in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, earlier this month, which Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu termed “a tremendous blow to peace”.
The long-awaited accord, inked by the two rivals among 13 factions, aims to put a stop to the animosity which has split the Palestinian territories into opposing camps since 2007.
The agreement envisages Hamas and Fatah working to put together an interim government of candidates who are unaffiliated with either faction, who would govern until presidential and legislative elections within a year.
Al Jazeera manages to cover the story of persecution of the Copts, some Coptic peoples resistance to it, demonstrations and shootings yet manages never to say the I word or the M word.
While this is typically sanitized, and ‘sectarian violence’ is referred to, as if somehow the attempted ethnic cleansing at best and genocide at worst of the Christian-Egyptians was ‘sectarian violence’, at least it gives some idea of what Egypt is like now. (Please note that all posts from yesterday were lost in the transfer to the new server VLADTEPESBLOG lives on)
(AINA) — Muslims attacked Coptic Christian protesters at Maspero thrice on Saturday, killing one and injuring over 100. The first attack occurred near midnight when two bearded Muslims wearing Salafist attire attempted to enter the rally via an entrance that was not guarded by security but by the Christian youth who were checking all persons at the entrance. One or both of the Muslims opened fire with guns. One escaped and the other was apprehended by the Christian youth and subsequently handed over to the police. His identity papers showed that he was called Ramadan Abdallah, graduate of al-Azhar high school.
At the same time another Muslim group was attacking the protesters from the bridge overlooking the site where the sit-in is staged. According to eyewitness Emad Abdelmalak from Assuit, who was also injured, a minibus stopped at the bridge overlooking the sit-in site, a dozen men came out of it carrying Molotov cocktails and stones. He said the Salafis were very organized, they came in minibus, attacked and disappeared.
Five Christians were shot, one seriously in the eye, in these two attacks, said Father Mettias Nasr, one of the Rally organizers, to Al Ahram newspaper.
The third attack occurred at nearly 1 AM when the Muslims of Boulak, a poor area near Maspero, came with guns and Molotov cocktails. They surrounded the Christians on all sides and fired guns and threw Molotov cocktails at them. Scores of Christians were severely injured and taken away to the Coptic Hospital. A boat in the Nile belonging to the TV authorities was completely torched.
(video changes to English after 20 seconds)
Hannan, a Copt who was working at the rally canteen, told Coptic activist Mariam Ragy “We were shocked when we heard shots, and Molotov cocktails, empty bottles and stones were hurled at the crowds.” Continue Reading →
(AINA) — The unprovoked attack by Muslim Salafis on Copts in Embaba on May 7, which killed 14, injured 232 and destroyed two churches, was sparked by a Muslim man, Yassin Thabet, allegedly searching for his wife, who he claims was held captive and tortured by a church in Embaba, Giza (AINA 5-8-2011). The woman was later identified as Ms Abeer Talaat, a Christian from Assiut in Upper Egypt, who converted to Islam in September 2010. Although still waiting for the divorce from her Christian husband to come through, she was also unofficially married to Yassin Thabet, a Muslim driver she knew from her village, and lived with him in Benha since her conversion to Islam, according the official Al-Ahram newspaper.
In the last few days a woman claiming to be Abeer Talaat gave several conflicting audio interviews to the media, never in person, except for the first one made with the radical Islamic al-Jamaa Islamia in Egypt.
In Abeer’s first interview she claimed that after her conversion to Islam, her family handed her over to the Church in Assuit, where she was transferred from church to church until she was brought to St. Mark’s Cathedral in Abasiyya, Cairo. “They pressured me to abandon Islam and I pretended to agree because I was afraid they would harm me,” Abeer said. She went on to say she was placed in a special home which was like a prison with iron windows, near St. Mina Church. “Only a nun was to open the door just to provide me with food. They wanted to force me to change my papers in the civil registry to reflect reverting back to Christianity.
She said she called Yassin Thabet to save her.
In all other subsequent audio interviews on TV, she made changes to her original story, confirming she was not tortured in any church, and that she was at St. Mina’s church and left when the fighting took place. In her last interview with Al-Jazeera the interviewer challenged her with questions, especially inquiring whether she stayed at the church by her own free will or not. She refused to answer this question. The full transcript of the interview is below.
“With every interview she wanted to prove, through lies and allegations, that the church abducts Christian converts to Islam, locks them in churches and monasteries and tortures them until they agree to revert back to Christianity,” said Coptic activist Mark Ebeid, “which is what the Salafis have claimed over the last year in their protests for Camelia Shehata, the wife of the Coptic priest (AINA 9-18-2010), as an excuse to search these churches.”
Father Freij Fahmi, priest of St Mina Church denied Abeer’s allegations, adding that “the church does not detain anyone and our doors are always open. Besides if she came out of the church as she claims, why did she not identify herself to those who attacked the church and who were looking for her, so that they would have calmed down and stayed away from the church and all those Christians would not have been killed.”
Ali Abdel Rahman, the governor of Giza, said after investigation “There is no woman held captive in the Saint Mina Church in Embaba.” Mohamed Ali, Imam of al-Toba mosque in Embaba, told elYoum7 on Sunday “the story is a lie.” Ali said he spoke Yassin Thabet before he went to church and he seemed to him “hesitant and illogical.” Yesterday the fact-finding committee of the National Council for Human Rights gave their report on the Embaba violence and among its findings it said that they could not verify Abeer Talaat’s claims.
In an article titled “Never mind about Camelia, take Abeer”, published today Almasry Alyoum, renowned writer Khaled Montasar suggested that after the Islamists lost the case of Camelia Shehata, the priest’s wife who they claimed had converted to Christianity and was being held against her will by the church, they manufactured another “victim” in the person of Abeer Talaat. Camelia came out of her self-imposed seclusion to confirm that she is a Christian and she never converted to Islam.
Yesterday forty six Islamist lawyers filed a complaint with the Attorney against Pope Shenouda III, demanding the Pope open churches and monasteries for inspection to verify of the existence of weapons, and illegal places for the detention of citizens.
This evening it was reported that Ms Abeer Talaat is to be detained for a fortnight, and may be charged, pending investigations, with incitement to sedition, claiming to be unmarried and instigating the events which caused killing of civilians in the clashes that took place between Muslims and Christians.
Here is the video of the Al Jazeera TV show the call came into. Below, the transcript:
Continue Reading →
This is a very important story. If you read back on Vlad, (I will try and dig up the links) over the past couple of weeks, you will see stories of how marches and riots have taken place in Cairo, all because a Christian women, who is said to have converted to Islam to marry a Muslim was supposedly kidnapped by her former Christian community and held in a Coptic church for three months. incommunicado. This is apparently her, speaking to news people at Al Jazeera explaining the situation.
Clearly the news people find her story doubtful and even seem dubious that this is indeed the woman who she claims to be, as she is lacking rather critical knowledge about her own background and circumstances.
The translation comes from Mary Abdelmassih over at AINA.ORG for whom I am deeply grateful for the chance to serve her community, true martyrs to their faith and genuine victims of a hotile resurgent Islam.
Thanks Richard for the tip.
In the wake of bloody Muslim attacks on Egyptian Christians, the New York Times informs us:
“By lifting the heavy hand of the Mubarak police state, the revolution unleashed long-suppressed sectarian animosities that have burst out with increasing ferocity….”
No kidding! Did you think a single Egyptian Christian didn’t know this in February? Why didn’t the media report or the U.S. government understand that this was absolutely inevitable and predictable? But the only mentions of Christians were to claim that they were really enthusiastic about the revolution.
The remaining Christians in most of the Arabic-speaking world may be on the edge of flight or extinction. All of the Christians have left the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip which is, in effect, an Islamist republic. They are leaving the West Bank. Half have departed from an increasingly Islamist-oriented Iraq where they are under terrorist attack. Within a few years they might all be gone.
In Lebanon, while the Christians are holding their own, there is a steady emigration. As for Syria, the community has generally supported the Assad regime fearing a revolutionary Islamist replacement. One dissident recalled that as he was being beaten in a Syrian prison a few years ago, the police yelled at him, “Why are you doing this? You’re a Christian!”
Egypt has more Christians than Israel’s entire population. There have been numerous attacks, with the latest in Cairo leaving 12 dead, 220 wounded, and two churches burned. The Western media generally attributes this to inter-religious battles. Yet Egypt’s Christians, so totally outnumbered and not having any access to the power of the state, have generally kept a low profile.
It is hard to believe that gangs of Christians go out and attack Muslims, especially when the fighting revolves around mobs attacking churches. “How can they say we started it when we are defending our church?” asked one Christian. That makes sense.
For the rest of this very important article please click the link at the top:
(AINA) — Egyptian police and armed forces were heavily deployed around St, Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo yesterday as Coptic Pope Shenouda III delivered his weekly sermon to nearly 10,000 church members. The sermon was also attended by the media and Muslim journalists to show their opposition to the Salafis and the actions against the church. A large number of veiled Muslim women were also in attendance.
Hundreds of Coptic Christians also guarded the Cathedral. The Maspero Coptic Youth Federation announced they will guard the Cathedral until Friday because the Salafis warned they will stage this Friday another demonstration in front of it, to “free” the Christian converts to Islam whom the church detains.
Islamists websites had warned Copts not to attend today’s sermon and had called for retaliatory action against the Cathedral during the sermon in response to the church’s decision not to release Camellia Shehata, who Muslims believe has converted to Islam and is being held against her will.
The Pope’s sermon was titled “Forgive” and stressed the virtue of being good to the offenders. The Pope said every human being sins, even the saints, and “forgive the people so that you are forgiven.”
Thousands of Salafists staged a march to the cathedral last Friday to demand the appearance of Camellia Shehata and Wafaa Constantine, both wives of clergy, whom they claim converted to Islam. The church has denied they converted to Islam (AINA 4-30-2011). The prosecutor requested of the appearance of Camellia to investigate the claims that she was allegedly kidnapped and detained by the Church. She is expected to appear before them in the very near future.
“Camelia said she was 100% Christian, is proud of her religion, has not converted to Islam and never went to AlAzhar for conversion,” said Dr. Naguib Gobraeel, her attorney. “She confirmed that she had had a misunderstanding with her husband, Father Tedaos, and left their home and stayed a few days with some relations, until friends and relatives intervened and reconciled them.” Dr. Naguib Gobraeel said she now lives a quiet and happy life with her husband and her two and half year old son Anton in Cairo.
Gobraeel said he advised Camellia to appear in the media to refute the claims of her conversion to Islam and that she is being held by the church, but she refused. He added that Camellia told him that her biggest wish is to return to the simple life, like any normal Egyptian woman, away from the media and the dispute between Copts and Muslims regarding her.
By Mary Abdelmassih
© 2011, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.
I am reproducing a thread from facebook here, from a Coptic site. I will try and update it as it comes in but for those interested, try and go over and subscribe to this fellows thread, as he seems to have some inside and it’s being updated rapidly.
Peter Tadros 3:57pm May 7
There is bad news filtering in from Egypt. Extremists have surrounded a church in the district of “Imbaba” near Cairo and this time there are reports of casualties.
Fady Nagy 4:11pm May 7
not only this they burned another church in the same district and now they are attacking houses now it is 1 am
Peter Tadros 7:15pm May 7
Egypt’s 12 Millions Copts need leave their houses and go out and defend their country..Otherwise they will be killed inside their houses. The Army needs to take us seriously.
Peter Tadros 9:35am May 8
To Eskarandarani Walahi. “good muslims” have done very little to stop attack on Christians in Egypt. It is true that not all Egyptian muslims agree with the actions of these extremists (and i have a few Muslims as friends who are totally against this)however the majority of Egyptian Muslims seems to support extremism and even Osama Bin Laden – this is true and this was proven last Friday in Cairo when they conducted prayers on Osama Bin Laden. He is a hero to many Egyptian Muslims. This is why Egyptian army and previously under Mubarak regime “Amn Dowla” and Police allow attacks on our people in Egypt because they it is their duty to treat “Kufar” or “Infidels” in such a manner. I just watched CTV channel and watched the footage of the burning church. Apparantly the terrified copts were forced into the church after being deceived only to be firebombed.
Here is the germ of resistance to Muslim total contempt for woman’s rights in Egypt. However it cannot possibly get anywhere in my opinion if the blogger won’t deal with what Mohamed said about women. How women, according to Mohamed, are all about sex all the time and it is all they want and they have to be controlled because of it etc. And of course, if this brave woman does deal with the ‘root cause’ of gang rape of women in Egypt she will likely be killed for blasphemy because she dared challenge the words and beliefs of the founder of Islam, Mohamed someone or other. Even so, this is a very brave and necessary first step and I congratulate her for it.
Lara Logan Breaks Her Silence On "60 Minutes" by marina2984
But aren’t all cultures equally good?
(video of protests at bottom of post)
Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo, vowing not to leave until they know the whereabouts of Coptic women, especially Camilia Shehata (AINA 7-23-2010)) who allegedly converted to Islam but are held against their will by the Coptic Orthodox Church in monasteries and churches. The sit-in was called for by the newly-founded Coalition for the Support of New Muslims.
At the time of the Muslim demonstrations, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III was not present in his residence within the grounds of the Cathedral. The head of security at the Cathedral closed the gates and it was reported that Christians have been asked not to come to the Cathedral to avoid altercations with the protesting Muslims.
The Cathedral was cordoned off by the military police and security forces. Cairo saw today three separate protests staged by Salafis against Pope Shenouda and the church, marching afterwards to the Coptic Cathedral in Abbasiya. The first demonstration was in front of El-Fatah mosque in Ramsis Square, the second in front of Al-Nour mosque Abbasiya Square, and the third came out of the Sharia Association mosque in Ramsis.
The protesters demanded the resolution of the “ten demands”, which they called for last Sunday, during their protest in front of the el-Kayed Ibrahim mosque in Alexandria, mainly the “trial of Pope Shenouda”, ” the release of Camelia Shehata and Wafaa Constantine” and “inspection of monasteries and churches to look for Muslim women held by the church.”
The Muslims chanted “Islamic, Islamic, against your will, Islamic” in front of the Cathedral and “They abducted Wafaa Constantine, By Allah we will not be silent” and “With our souls and blood, we will defend Islam.” They held banners and photos of the alleged Muslim converts who were allegedly abducted by the church, as well as banners calling for an Islamic State (video of demonstration).
At the time of their afternoon prayers, thousands of Muslims prayed with the organizers, who asked the demonstrators to turn their backs to the Cathedral.
Islamic lawyer Mamdouh Ismail gave a speech in which he called for the realization of human rights and the rule of law, pointing out that this sit-in is not directed against the cathedral as a house of worship for Christians, whom he described as partners in the homeland. He also asked the Christians “to participate in the demonstrations demanding the appearance of Camelia.” In the same context, Khalid Al Harbi, director of the “Islamic Observatory against Proselytizing,” said “we will not go and we will not plead with anyone, but we will take our rights with our own hands.”
A difference of opinion emerged between the organizers of the protest about when to end the protest. Renowned Muslim Salafi leaders Dr. Yasser Borhamy, from Alexandria, sent a message to the protesters asking them to disperse, saying the reason behind the protest was to deliver a message and so that no sectarian strife should occur because of the Salafis, while others like Abu Yehia, who claims he was with Camelia when she converted to Islam, wanted to break into the Cathedral. Continue Reading →
Wed Apr 27, 2011 3:20AM
A massive explosion at a gas terminal near Egypt’s border with Israel has leapt huge flames into the air and forced the shutdown of the pipeline.
The blast targeted the al-Sabil terminal near the town of El-Arish on Wednesday, located on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai Peninsula and 344 kilometers (213 miles) northeast of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, the Associated Press reported.
Valves controlling the flow of gas to neighboring Jordan had been shut down as a result of the explosion, according to Egyptian officials.
The attack was the second in kind on the pipeline. On March 27, unknown armed men had placed explosives at the terminal to blow it up, but had failed to carry out their act of terror.
MP/HRF
The article below was sent to me both by the author, and by Asaad Elepty, a Copt who I believe lives in Australia now although I could be wrong about that. Asaad is a dedicated bell ringer for the Christians in Egypt and sends me a lot of good information about truly horrifying events as well as some videos some Copts manage to take of slaughter and carnage perpetated upon them by the Egyptian authorities.
I trust that at some point, the decent people of the world will remember what ‘victim’ and ‘refugee’ really mean and help the Copts and other persecuted minorities in Islamic nations and purge the totalitarian elements out of our own nations, Islamic and otherwise.
Eeyore or Vlad
The below article By Mary Abdelmassih of the AINA news agency is particularly disturbing. The thought of any individual or group of individuals “throwing a grandmother off a 2nd floor balcony” in the name of their Allah raises seriously concern about the entirety of the Islamic faith and the manner it may be interrupted and lived out.
Bear in mind this attack took place during the most sacred time of the christian calender.
Can you Imagine the Islamic reaction if the roles were reversed and such an attack took place during Ramadan?
Such actions are not only barbaric, they are void of any degree of decency or respect for humanity especially an elderly Lady. As the video clearly shows the Islamic vandals, thieves and arsonists are permitted to conduct the attack with no security police or law enforcement. The fire engine is prevented access despite repeatedly blowing its horn.
This is the Islamic treatment of Non Muslims, where is the peace and tolerance of Islam?
Field Marshall Tantawi, where is the justice and protection, SHAME ON YOU AND EGYPT.I am at a total loss as to what the Islamic radicals have to do before western secular governments totally denounce the Barbarism of Islam.
Lord Jesus have Mercy upon us.
Assad elepty
(AINA) — After the death of two Muslims on April 18 sectarian violence broke out in the southern Egyptian town of Abu Qurqas El Balad, in Minya Governorate, 260 KM south of Cairo. One Christian Copt was killed, an old woman was thrown out of her second floor balcony and ten Copts were hospitalized. Coptic homes, shops, businesses, fields and livestock were plundered and torche
Christians lived in terror, anticipating a blood bath on Friday, April 22 because Muslims as announced their intention to avenge the death of the two Muslims. Rumors spread throughout Abu Qurqas of many strangers and of trucks loaded with weapons coming into the village to carry out the threats during the Easter week. The terrorized Christian villagers sent pleas everywhere, asking for protection, even to Coptic groups in Europe and the U.S.
“Muslims threw my old mother out of the second floor balcony and torched my home,” said Adel Abdulllah to Hazem Refaat of Free Copts advocacy. His business and home were torched and his father and three brothers were arrested on suspicion of killing the two Muslims.
Copt Eid Roshdy, was stabbed during the violence and later died in hospital.
According to Bishop Makarious twenty Coptic families had their homes and businesses looted by Muslims then torched, and their livestock was stolen. “One shop was only 50 meters away from the police station,” he said. He also confirmed the story of the mother of Adel Abdullah who was thrown out of the second floor balcony.
Curfew was imposed in the village on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, from 7 PM until 6 AM to control the violence but various sources reported that looting and destruction of Coptic property continued after the curfew, even in the presence of the army and police.
According to the villagers a fight broke out on Monday, April 18 between the two Muslim families, Abdel-Kader and el-Gazzar which resulted in the death of two Muslims. Meanwhile an altercation took place in front of the villa of Coptic attorney Alaa Reda Roushdy between a minibus driver and passengers and the guards of the villa over a speed hump built in front of the residence, which the driver claimed was damaging busses. People congregated and the villa guards shot into the air to disperse the crowd. The Copts were accused of killing the two Muslims.
Bishop Makarious of Minya and Abu Qurqas said the first version of the story was the Muslims were killed during the fight between two Muslim families, then the story changed to accuse the Copts.
Ayad Shaban, a local villager told Al Karma TV the two Muslims were killed in the Eastern side of village where the majority of the Muslims live. “Then the story of the speed hump came and Muslims connected the two together and accused the Christians of the killing. There is no proof the Christians killed the Muslims.” He added that relationship between Muslims and Christians are usually good and believes whoever created this story came from outside the village and incited the Muslims.
In retaliation, Muslims attacked and looted two tourist coffee shops belonging to attorney Roushdy. One coffee shop was turned into a mosque called the “Martyrs” and the second one was destroyed.
Next day during the funeral of the Muslims hundreds of Muslims from neighboring villages joined and notes were distributed among them saying the Christians were the culprit. After burying the dead the Muslim mob shouted for revenge for their two “martyrs” and attacked Christian homes while shouting “Allahu Akbar.” (video shows Muslims looting Coptic property before torching it while chanting “Allahu Akbar.” Army soldiers are seen passing through the looters).
Father Rofail of the Saints Church in Abu Qorqas said “It was terrible, the people who were in the funeral left and started shooting in the air and throwing Molotov cocktails at homes and fields belonging to Copts; some homes were demolished. Anything belonging to Christians was destroyed.”
According to Coptic activist Nader Shoukry, fifteen Copts and eight Muslims have been detained for the murder of the two Muslims. No one has been detained for the attacks against the Copts. “None of the Muslims who looted and destroyed Coptic property was questioned,” said Bishop Makarious. He added it was a miracle that the Copts were not harmed when their homes were torched. “They had to jump over the roofs of the neighboring houses to escape the flames. In one instance a wall had to be broken between two houses to get the people out as they could not escape otherwise.” He criticized the police and the army for not bringing the situation under control. “We expected more from the police and army, but they were not impartial.”
The new Governor of Minya appeared on Egyptian Hayat TV and said the incidents in Abu Qurqas El Balad was not sectarian but a fight over a speed hump which escalated, and denied the loss of property.
Security forces prevented TV stations from filming inside the village and Muslims also attempted to prevent Christians from filming, but many video clips have been uploaded to youtube (video showing Coptic homes after looting).
Coptic attorney Dr. Ihab Ramzy called on Copts who have had their property damaged or lost to file a complaint with the police in order for him to represents them for compensation. He said they had to name the assailants in their report, but this may be not be possible because the victims were threatened by Muslims not to mention their names.
Attorney Roushdy was arrested by the military two days ago and accused of provoking riots which led to the death and injury of citizens. Today the military ordered him to be detained for 15 days pending investigations.
By Mary Abdelmassih