Search Results for: egypt

One Dead, Several Injured in Islamist Attacks on Copts in Egypt

Weekend of violence abetted by impunity.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – One Christian is dead, several others have been wounded and a fire gutted a church building after Muslims across Egypt waged a weekend of violence against Copts. In Tahana El-Gabal village in Minya Governorate, on Sunday night (July 17) Fam Mary Khalaf, 27, was overpowered by a group of Muslims […]

Copt Stabbed to Death in Egypt Less than Week after Islamic State Kills Priest

Islamic month of Ramadan marked by violence.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – A Coptic pharmacist was stabbed to death and then beheaded by a group of Salafi Muslims in Egypt’s Delta region Monday (July 4), the latest in a string of attacks against Copts during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Family members found the body of Magdy Attia, 33, in an apartment […]

Jailed Advocate for Christians’ Religious Rights in Egypt Released on Bail

Accusations remain against activist working against persecution.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – A noted Coptic human rights activist arrested in May and accused of belonging to a terrorist organization was released from prison Tuesday (June 21) after posting bail. A judge in the Al-Wayly Court of Appeals on Saturday (June 18) set a 10,000 Egyptian pound (US$1,125) bail for Mina Thabet, 26, […]

Government in Egypt Fights Efforts to Repeal Controversial ‘Blasphemy Law’

Justice Ministry says any change would be ‘unconstitutional.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – Parliamentary efforts in Egypt to repeal the country’s equivalent of a “blasphemy law” are facing stiff opposition from the Ministry of Justice. The ministry’s representative to parliament, Chancellor Ayman Rafah, this month told the People’s Assembly that the administration opposed efforts to eliminate the constitution’s Article 98F, which criminalizes any […]

Egyptian Crack-Down on Human Rights Defenders Reaches Key Christian Activist

Threatened three times before arrest, he faces life in prison.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – A Coptic human rights activist arrested this month by Egyptian security officials faces the possibility of life in prison on concocted charges because of his efforts to expose persecution of Christians, human rights activists said. Mina Thabet, 26, director of the Minority and Religious Groups Department at the Egyptian Commission […]

Another Suspicious Coptic Christian ‘Suicide’ in Egyptian Military Raises Anxieties

Family demands autopsy.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – The family of another Coptic Christian soldier in the Egyptian army who has died under suspicious circumstances is demanding an autopsy, sources told Morning Star News. On Feb. 17, the Egyptian military informed the family of Michael Gamel Mansour that the 22-year-old conscript from Assuit had committed suicide. Authorities claimed […]

Case Dropped against Christians Arrested for Evangelizing in Alexandria, Egypt

Prosecutors find no evidence of ‘showing disdain’ for ‘heavenly religion.’

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – A regional prosecuting attorney in Egypt has dismissed a case against three Christians arrested last summer and accused of blasphemy during an evangelistic outreach, their attorney said. The three Christians, one of them a minor, were being investigated pending possible charges of “showing disdain” to a “heavenly religion” under a […]

Egyptian Army ‘Suicides’ Raise Specter of Persecution of Christians in Military

Evidence points to murder in soldiers' deaths.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – In a daze, Nataay Boushra made his way out of the morgue and into a hallway of the army hospital in Cairo, Egypt. Lost in grief, he walked through the hallways of the medical facility; past nurses, past doctors and past groups of young soldiers talking to each other, but […]

Christian in Egypt Kept in Prison on False Charge of ‘Blasphemy,’ Attorney Says

Second arrest in one month of a Christian for ‘evangelism.’

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – An Egyptian Christian who was arrested earlier this month for alleged evangelizing of Muslims in suburban Cairo could be held indefinitely in prison on a false accusation of blasphemy, his lawyer said. Medhat Ishak, a 35-year-old Christian from Ebid village in Minya Governorate, was arrested on Aug. 7 while handing […]

Three Christians in Egypt Arrested for Allegedly Showing Contempt for Islam

Angry Muslim forcibly detains evangelist in Alexandria.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – Three Christians in Egypt have been accused of showing disdain or contempt for Islam after an evangelism outreach to Muslims over the weekend in the port city of Alexandria, sources said. The three Christians were arrested on Saturday (July 11) after at least one was stopped for handing out small […]