CAIRO — The lethal conflict between Egypt’s military-backed government and its Islamist opponents escalated on Monday, with an expansion of attacks against government targets, signs that the authorities have failed to secure the streets and that both sides refuse to back down.
Three brazen attacks across the country included a drive-by shooting near the Suez Canal that killed six soldiers, a car bomb that killed three police officers and wounded dozens near the Red Sea resorts area, and the first rocket-propelled grenade launched in the struggle, exploding near an elite enclave of the capital and damaging a satellite transmitter.
The attacks came a day after security forces killed 53 protesters, many shot in the head and chest, in the worst outbreak of street mayhem in Cairo since mid-August. (read more)
Egyptian security forces at the site of a car bombing on a security headquarters in the Sinai town of El Tur on Monday
Egypt erupts in violence as nation celebrates holiday honoring its military
CAIRO — The thudding discharge of tear-gas cannons and the crackle of gunfire echoed through the streets of Cairo on Sunday as renewed clashes broke out between anti-coup protesters and Egyptian security forces on a national holiday fraught with historical symbolism.
At least 51 people were killed and more than 200 were injured, according to the state-run Middle East News Agency.
Sunday was the deadliest day in Egypt since security forces moved swiftly in August to stamp out the remains of an anti-coup protest movement, after the violent breakup of the Muslim Brotherhood’s protest camps. The Brotherhood-led Anti-Coup Alliance called on its followers Sunday to take to the streets again Tuesday and Friday. (read more)
Egypt’s Christians Caught in Cross Fire Seen as supporting the military's ouster of Mohamed Morsi, they're finding churches burned and cars ablaze By Lauren E. Bohn 26 August 2013
Drenched in sweat and covered in ash, 24-year-old Miriam Nagi has spent the past eight days mopping soot inside St. George’s Church.
She’s cleaning up after a fire raged there last week, turning a once gleaming Egyptian spiritual center into a postapocalyptic backdrop of ruin and despair.
“The terrorists tried to ruin my church, my home, my people,” Nagi says, using the edge of her charcoaled sleeve to wipe tears from her eyes. “But God will prevail against the terrorist Muslim Brothers.” (read more)
For Arab World’s Christians, An Uncertain Fate By NPR Staff 25 August 2013
As Egypt plunges into unrest amid the military-backed government's crackdown on demonstrators, the country's Christian minority has been targeted by Islamic extremists.
Dozens of churches have been burned, ransacked and looted since the government began fighting against supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted President Mohammed Morsi two weeks ago.
Video posted on YouTube shows the streets of the city of Minya, 190 miles south of Cairo, by night, an orange glow in the sky. The video shows flames bursting from the arched windows of a Coptic Christian church. Young men toss wooden boards and rocks at the facade.(read more)
Egypt’s beleaguered Christians By Editorial Board 23 August 2013
THE ARAB revolutions have brought hardships as well as opportunities to religious and ethnic minorities across the region, and Egypt’s large Christian community has suffered some of the severest blows. Following a bloody crackdown by the military-backed government against followers of the Muslim Brotherhood last week, scores of Christian churches, schools and private homes were attacked across the country. Many were burned, and Christian groups reported that at least six people were killed. (read more)
Last week saw the worst anti-Christian violence in Egypt in over 100 years. By Christian Solidarity International 23 August 2013
In attacks orchestrated by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic extremists, at least fifty churches across the country were burned down or attacked. Scores of Christian homes and businesses were attacked. Several Christians were lynched or kidnapped, and a 14-year-old boy was shot in the back. Sister Manal, the principal of a Franciscan school in the city of Beni Suef, was having breakfast with several other nuns on the morning of August 14, when a mob broke through the school gate, set fire to the 115-year-old building, and hoisted the flag of al Qaeda above the school.(read more)
Egypt crisis: Churches 'under attack' By John McManus 16 August 2013
At least 25 churches across Egypt have been attacked by arsonists in a wave of anti-Christian violence, a non-governmental group has said.
Homes and businesses have also been targeted, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) says.
Witnesses described the attackers as shouting slogans in support of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
But his Muslim Brotherhood supporters say it is the military regime that is instigating the violence. (read more)
Jubilee Campaign: Coptic Christians Targeted as Egypt Erupts
Dear Friends, We ask you to pray for the safety of the Coptic Christians in Egypt. Violence has erupted in Egypt after the ouster of former President Mohammed Morsi. His supporters have taken to the streets in violent protest. Since August 14th, scores of Christian Churches, businesses, and houses have been ransacked and burned. This latest burst of violence is in reaction to the government's crackdown of 2 camps calling for the reinstatement of Mohammed Morsi and the Brotherhood regime. The violence started in Cairo, the location of the camps, and spread throughout Egypt. (read more)
Egypt and Democracy 16 August 2013 By Dr. Elihu Richter
Last night, France 24 aired a debate between a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and two other Egyptians, one a human rights advocate, another a thoughtful senior professor of Politics and Economics. The first questioned the legitimacy of the military state of emergency and the overthrow of a legally elected president. The other two were strongly critical of the Muslim Brotherhood and the now deposed Morsi and his use of majority rule to amend the constitution to give himself dictatorial powers. (read more)
Egypt's Christians under attack since Morsi's ouster By Sarah Lynch, Special for USA Today 15 August 2013
Rights groups say Egypt not doing enough to stop the violence.
CAIRO – Stained glass windows generated a luminous glow inside a Coptic Christian church one recent morning as prayers were chanted in steady hums and incense wafted through the nave, soothing worshipers.
But the serenity only masked the unease here. Since the July 3 coup that ousted former president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Christians have faced a spike in violent attacks that Egyptian authorities have not prevented, rights groups allege.(read more)
Death Toll in Egypt Clashes Climbs to 525 By David D. Kirkpatrick and Alan Cowell 15 August 2013
CAIRO — The death toll from Egypt’s bloody crackdown on supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, soared beyond 500 across the land on Thursday with more than 3,700 people injured, the Health Ministry said, in a further sign of the extent and the ferocity of Wednesday’s scorched-earth assault by security forces to raze two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo.
Despite the growing tally of dead, however, Muslim Brotherhood supporters of Mr. Morsi urged followers to take to the streets on Thursday, a day after the assault on the camps set off a violent backlash across Egypt and underscored the new government’s determination to crush the Islamists who dominated the free elections over the past two years.(read more)
Egypt’s Christians: Prime Targets for Muslim Brotherhood Violence and U.S. Indifference The Hudson Institute August 14, 2013 By Nina Shea
Egypt’s Copts and their churches are under siege as Islamists react to the military crackdown against pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins. Several monasteries, churches, the Bible Society headquarters, a convent, and a Franciscan school have been burned, demolished or otherwise attacked in greater Cairo, Upper Egypt, Sinai and Suez, the independent MidEast Christian News is reporting in a series of detailed, horrific accounts.
Targets of the rioters are Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical religious houses of worship and other religious sites, as well as private homes and property of the Christian minority. In some cases, Egypt’s security forces have protected the Christians from enflamed Islamist mobs; in many others they are failing to stop the mayhem. Several priests have also reportedly been assaulted. (read more)
Egypt's Shiite Muslims saw the Sunni hatred grow under Morsi Few groups view the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi with as much relief as Shiite Muslims. By Shashank Bengali 10 August 2013
CAIRO — When Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt, Ahmed Helal was locked up four times in Tora prison, officials' favorite detention facility for perceived enemies of the state. Each time, he was arrested in the middle of the night and thrown in with scores of others whose only offense, they believed, was being Shiite Muslims.
But Egypt's Shiite community — a small, reticent minority in a country dominated by Sunni Muslims — would come to view Mubarak's three-decade reign almost as the good old days. (read more)
Egypt Christians on the defensive as Islamists wage hate campaign in south By Associated Press 8 August 2013
ASSIUT, EGYPT- It was nighttime and 10,000 Islamists were marching down the most heavily Christian street in this ancient Egyptian city, chanting "Islamic, Islamic, despite the Christians." A half-dozen kids were spray-painting "Boycott the Christians" on walls, supervised by an adult.
While Islamists are on the defensive in Cairo following the military coup that ousted President Mohammed Morsi, in Assiut and elsewhere in Egypt's deep south they are waging a stepped-up hate campaign, claiming the country's Christian minority somehow engineered Morsi's downfall. (read more)
Refugees face wave of racism in Lebanon, Egypt By Rana El Moussaoul 26 July 2013
BEIRUT: A wave of xenophobia is blighting the lives of thousands of Syrian refugees in countries such as Egypt and Lebanon, where they are often blamed for anything that goes wrong. In Egypt, Syrians are accused of taking sides and interfering in the country’s political crisis, while in Lebanon they are accused of taking the jobs of Lebanese.
Egyptian media have played an instrumental role in spreading anti-Syrian sentiment, accusing them of joining protests in support of deposed Islamist president Mohammad Morsi.(read more)
Egypt: Sectarian Attacks Amid Political Crisis Scant Protection As Christians Attacked in Several Cities By Human Rights Watch 23 July 2013
(New York) – Egyptian Christians have been targeted in several attacks since the military’s ouster of former President Mohamed Morsy. The authorities should urgently investigate the attacks, hold the perpetrators to account, and determine whether the police could have prevented or stopped the violence.
In the deadliest incident, on July 5, 2013, local residents brutally beat to death four Christians inside their home as police and a mob of residents surrounded the house, during a day of violence that erupted after a Muslim was found dead in Naga Hassan, a village 10 kilometers west of the city of Luxor in southern Egypt. Local residents also wounded three others and destroyed at least 24 Christian-owned properties. Witnesses and the police told Human Rights Watch that police did not stop a 17-hour anti-Christian rampage in the village until after the men were killed. Human Rights Watch visited Luxor and Naga Hassan, and interviewed at least 20 witnesses to the violence. (read more)
Updated & Corrected! EGYPT UPDATE NO. 20 CHRONICLES OF THE CONTINUED EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION OF 25 JANUARY 2011 By M. Cherif Bassiouni 17 July 2013
Has the January 25 Revolution failed Egypt's Christians? Sectarian violence has claimed the lives of nearly 60 Coptic Christians over the last two years. According to some estimates, an average of two Copts are killed and 18 are injured each month. With renewed clashes and rising tension between Egyptian Muslims and Christians, we examine the roots of sectarianism in post-Mubarak Egypt and what some activists are doing to fight religious discrimination.
Cairo's religious status
Al Jazeera
23 April 2013
Has the January 25 Revolution failed Egypt's Christians? Sectarian violence has claimed the lives of nearly 60 Coptic Christians over the last two years. According to some estimates, an average of two Copts are killed and 18 are injured each month. With renewed clashes and rising tension between Egyptian Muslims and Christians, we examine the roots of sectarianism in post-Mubarak Egypt and what some activists are doing to fight religious discrimination.
Egypt’s Coptic Christians must be protected from sectarian violence Amnesty International 27 March 2013
A rise in tensions between religious communities in the town of Wasta, about one hundred kilometres south of Cairo, in recent weeks highlights the failure of the Egyptian authorities to protect Egypt’s Coptic Christians, the largest religious minority in the country.
Tensions were sparked in February when a local Muslim young woman was reported “missing” and members of her family and local Salafis – Sunni Muslims who advocate a return to what they consider to be Islam's fundamental principles as practiced by the first Muslims – blamed the Mar- Girgis Church, claiming they had influenced the woman to convert to Christianity – an allegation the Church denies. (read more)
In Egypt, Five Face Charges of Urging Violence in Postings By David D. Kirkpatrick 26 March 2013
CAIRO — Supporters of President Mohamed Morsi on Tuesday defended an arrest warrant for five activists on charges of using social media to incite attacks against Mr. Morsi’s allies in the Muslim Brotherhood that took place last Friday.
One of the five surrendered Tuesday and was released without bail. The others are still at large.
In a Twitter message sent during Friday’s battle that was cited by Morsi supporters, one of the accused, Hazem Abdel Azeem, called Brotherhood members “sheep” because of their pledged obedience to the group and said he would pay “an old shoe” at an auction for Mr. Morsi’s “scalp.” (read more)
Egypt vigilantes hang 2 thieves by feet in public By Aya Batrawy, Associated Press 17 March 2013
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw on Sunday and then hung them by their feet while some in a watching crowd chanted "kill them!" Both men died, security officials said.
The killings come a week after the attorney general's office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police. They are emblematic of the chaos sweeping Egypt and a security breakdown of frightening proportions.
It was one of the most extreme cases of vigilantism in two years of sharply deteriorating security following the 2011 uprising. Gruesome photos circulated quickly on Facebook and other social media outlets, showing images taken by people in the crowd of thousands who watched and recorded the lynchings on cell phone cameras. (read more)
An injured security official is carried from a police officers club in an upscale Cairo neighborhood, after fires were set by protesters angry about death sentences imposed on soccer fans over a deadly riot. (Mohammed Asad/AP)
1 dead as Egypt soccer-riot death sentences spark violence By Yousri Mohamed and Marwa Awad, Reuters 9 March 2013
Egyptian protesters torched buildings in Cairo and tried unsuccessfully to disrupt international shipping on the Suez Canal, as a court ruling on a deadly soccer riot stoked rage in a country beset by worsening security.
The ruling enraged residents of Port Said, at the northern entrance of the Suez Canal, by confirming death sentences imposed on 21 local soccer fans for their role in the riot last year when more than 70 people were killed.
But the court also angered rival fans in Cairo by acquitting a further 28 defendants that they wanted punished, including seven members of the police force which is reviled across society for its brutality under deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak. (read more)
Fifty wounded in Egypt port city as police battle protesters By Yusri Mohamed, Reuters 5 March 2013
Egyptian security forces battled stone-throwing youths in the Suez Canal city of Port Said on Tuesday while in Cairo police took to the streets to protest, reflecting a country beset by discontent over a host of grievances.
By far the most serious trouble was in Port Said, at the canal's northern entrance, where fifty people were wounded in clashes between police and hundreds of protesters in a third day of unrest.
Security forces shot into the air and fired teargas at the protesters gathered in front of a local government building in the city. (read more)
A protester, opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, throws a tear gas canister, earlier thrown by the riot police, during clashes in front of Security Directorate in Port Said city, 170 km (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
A protester, wreathed in dense smokes of teargas, trying to pick up a canister thrown by security forces during clashes with anti-government protests in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura (Tarek UWK – Mansoura)
Injured protesters trapped in building by police: Egyptian Popular Current By Ayat Al-Tawy, Ahram Online 28 February 2013
The Egyptian Popular Current stated on Thursday that security forces have surrounded the group's office in Mansoura, where many injured protesters are sheltering, and are refusing to allow medical aid into the building.
According to a Thursday statement by the opposition group, there are dozens of people inside the office suffering from asphyxiation, due to the numerous volleys of teargas fired Wednesday night during clashes at the building.
Clashes erupted after the Central Security Forces attempted to disperse protesters who had been staging marches across the city to muster support for a planned civil disobedience campaign. (read more)
Egypt to Join the ICC but also Guarantee Bashir Immunity By Mark Kersten, Justice in Conflict 20 February 2013
Many, many months ago, I wrote that Egypt had declared it was set to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). That was back in early April 2011, when the country was in the midst of the ‘Arab Spring’. Nearly two years later, Egypt’s Minister of Justice, Ahmed Mekki has announced that the the country will soon join the Court. But that wasn’t all. Mekki also announced that Egypt will sign an Article 98 Bilateral Immunity Agreement with Sudan in order to prevent Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from being arrested and surrendered to the ICC. Bashir, as readers will know, has been charged by the ICC with crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide for his role in the Darfur conflict.
Back in April 2011, Egypt’s Foreign Minister declared that the country was on the road to joining the ICC:
“Egypt is currently taking the required steps to join all United Nations agreements on human rights and to join the International Criminal Court...I think the events that have taken place in Egypt in recent days and the arrest of senior officials is evidence that the state wishes to follow the rule of law... domestically and internationally.” (read more)
Carsten Koall/Getty Images
Egypt Rights Groups Allege Rising Police Brutality By Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press, ABC News 20 February 2013
Egyptian rights groups alleged Wednesday that police abuse and brutality are on the rise in detention centers and at demonstrations, which have intensified since the second anniversary of the uprising that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
More than a dozen groups charged in a statement that police were reverting back to the systematic torture that prevailed under Mubarak's autocratic regime. "Some of the crimes have even gone beyond that," the statement said.
The groups hold President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first elected leader after Mubarak's ouster, responsible for failing to stop or condemn such practices. They called on him to sack his interior minister, who oversees the police, and try him in connection with the deaths of nearly 60 protesters since last month across Egypt. (read more)
Egypt Country Profile 7 December 2012
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa with over 82 million people. It is dominated ethnically by people who identify themselves as “Egyptian Arab.” There is a ten percent Coptic Christian minority. A variety of ethnic minorities make up the remaining nine percent, including Turks, Greeks, and Berber peoples. Religiously the country is ninety percent Muslim, with a Sunni majority, ten percent Coptic Christian, and the rest Bahai, Jewish, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Greek Orthodox.
Egypt has one of the oldest civilizations on earth. Ruled for thousands of years by powerful Pharaohs, Egypt fell to the Persian Empire in 343 BC and the Roman Empire in 30 BC. It became part of the Byzantine Empire until 639 AD. In 451 AD the Egyptian Coptic Church was established. In the 639 AD Egypt was conquered by the Islamic Caliphate, introducing Sunni Islam to the country. In 1517 Egypt was invaded by the Ottoman Turks and became a province of the Ottoman Empire. A brief French invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte led to collapse of Ottoman power. In 1882 the British defeated the Egyptian Army and took control, but a revolt led to declaration of independence from Britain in 1922. British advisers to King Farouk were expelled in 1952 following the Egyptian revolution led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
In 1953 Egypt was declared a Republic. In 1956, President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. This prompted an invasion by Israel, France and Britain, but the United States and Russia pressured them to withdraw. Israel and Egypt fought three wars that resulted in Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, followed by Anwar Sadat’s rise to Presidency in 1970 and a peace treaty in 1979 in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from Sinai. In 1981 Sadat was assassinated by a fundamentalist soldier and succeeded by Hosni Mubarak.
Mubarak used brutal force against democracy activists, but protected minority groups. Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood supported intolerance against Christians, Sufis, and Shi’a Muslims and were suppressed. In January 2011, national discontent led to a widespread movement to remove President Mubarak from power. Civil resistance demonstrations in Tahrir Square led to his resignation in February, 2012. A constitutional referendum was held in March, 2012, followed by parliamentary elections, and the election of Prime Minister Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, in June 2012.
Egypt’s ten percent Coptic Christian minority has faced discrimination and violence from Islamist extremists since the Muslim conquest of Egypt. Persecution has included beatings, killings, attacks on religious institutions, and the abduction of Coptic women. The Egyptian government has also made it difficult for Muslims to convert to Christianity. Religious intolerance has grown in the past twenty years, resulting in many Christians fleeing the country, especially to the United States.
In November 2012, Mohamed Morsi granted himself extra-constitutional powers, including immunity from judicial review. This has sparked public outrage and resulted in anti-Muslim Brotherhood protests, including the burning of many of the party’s offices. Protesters say the constitutional referendum on December 15 should be postponed because the proposed constitution lacks sufficient checks on executive power. Nightly demonstrations have returned to Tahrir Square. Morsi refuses to compromise. There is a high risk of violent outbreaks between Egypt’s democracy movement and the government, as well as continuing risk of violence against Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority.
Genocide Watch Assessment: Stage 6
Egypt's Pope - Rise of Islamists Does Not Intimidate Us Aswat Masriya AllAfrica 14 November 2012
Egypt's new Orthodox Pope Tawadros II said that he is not afraid of the rise of Islamists in Egypt.
He added that coordinating the relationship between all segments of society is the responsibility of the state, urging the government to listen to the people. Tawdros II, Egypt's 118th Coptic Pope, succeeded Pope Shenouda III who died in March.
"The rise of Islamic Movements does not bother or intimidate us", Tawdros II said in an interview published by a Kuwaiti newspaper.
"From our part, we work with love and respect, we reject violence and of course reject the idea of attacks on property, people, lives and homes", he commented on the tension between Copts and Islamic movements.
He added that there are real issues that the Christian minority faces, arguing that certain groups fabricate false tension to divert the Copts' attention from the constitution.
"The church has three representatives in the constituent assembly who are involved in the discussions. We hope for a constitution that applies the concept of citizenship", the new pope said.
On the appointment of a Coptic Christian as a presidential advisor, the pope said, "Samir Morcos is a respected figure but that does not stop us from questioning why he was chosen precisely. Was he appointed just to complete the image with the presence of a Christian and a woman? If that is the case, it is unacceptable and meaningless. Is he employed to address the Coptic cause? He himself announced that this is not his role."
He also denounced the participation of some priests and monks in demonstrations.
"It is completely unacceptable, a priest leaves matters of the world willingly, if he participates in demonstrations, how will people believe that he is a priest? When a priest takes such an action he brings upon himself suspension and deprivation", he said.
Copyright AllAfrica
Egypt's Coptic Christians pick new pope CNN 4 November 2012
Bishop Tawadros, 60, was named the new Coptic Christian pope in a ceremony in Cairo on November 4, 2012.
Cairo (CNN) -- Egypt's Coptic Christians picked a new leader Sunday, a process that involved a blindfolded boy choosing one of three names in a crystal chalice.
Bishop Tawadros Theodorus II -- the nation's 118th Coptic Pope -- replaces the former leader who died in March. (read more)
Egypt grants citizenship to 50,000 Palestinians' KHALED ABU TOAMEH Copyright Jerusalem 11 October 2012
Security official tells Egyptian paper that Interior Ministry instructed to give citizenship to all Palestinians with Egyptian mothers.
Some 50,000 Palestinians, most of them from the Gaza Strip, have been granted Egyptian citizenship over the past few months, security official revealed Thursday.
The official said that the Egyptian Interior Ministry had been instructed to give Egyptian citizenship to all Palestinians who were mothers.
The official, who was not identified, told the Egyptian newspaper El-Watan that the instructions came from the country’s High Cairo last May. (read more)
Egypt's Copts abandon Sinai homes after threats, attack Reuters 28 September 2012
ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Most Christians living near Egypt's border with Israel are fleeing their homes after Islamist militants made death threats and gunmen attacked a Coptic-owned shop, a priest said on Friday.
The departure of nine families that made up the small Christian community in the border area of Egypt's Sinai peninsula will fuel worries about religious tolerance and the rise of militancy after the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak last year.
"Coptic Christian families decided to leave ... out of fear for their lives after the threats and the armed attack," said Mikhail Antwan, priest at the Coptic Margirgis church in the North Sinai town of al-Arish.
Death threats had been printed on flyers circulating in the desert area, he added.
Two armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire on a Coptic-owned shop in Rafah on Wednesday but no one was injured. (read more)
Egypt to try 7 Copts, US pastor over Prophet film
SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press 19 September 2012
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's general prosecutor issued arrest warrants Tuesday for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor and referred them to trial on charges linked to an anti- Islam film that has sparked riots across the Muslim world.
The case is largely symbolic since the seven men and one woman are believed to be outside of Egypt and unlikely to travel to the country to face the charges. Instead, the prosecutor's decision to take legal appears aimed at absorbing at least some of the public anger over the amateur film, which portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, womanizer and buffoon.
But some Christians and human rights groups expressed concern that trying people on charges of insulting religion, which also occurred to a degree under the secular-leaning regime of Hosni Mubarak, could only increase now that various strains of Islamists are gaining power. The arrest warrants were issued the same day that a Coptic teacher in southern Egypt received a prison sentence for Facebook postings deemed anti-Islamic, charges that predated the amateur film. (read more)
Egypt's Christians face mass slaughter by Islamists
Aaron Klein WND 14 September 2012
Coptic ties to 'anti-Muslim' film used to target minorities NEW YORK – The Coptic Christian community in Egypt now is under threat of mass slaughter from Islamists under the pretense of revenge for a movie that depicts the Quranic figure Muhammad in a negative light, a senior Egyptian military official told WND. The producers of the “Innocence of Muslims” movie reportedly are tied to the Coptic faith. Reports are claiming the movie sparked anti-U.S. attacks in Egypt and Libya, including the killing this week of the U.S. ambassador to Libya. However, some security officials believe the violence to be premeditated. The Egyptian military official said today that Islamic groups are threatening to slaughter “the whole Christian Coptic community” in the city of Naja Hamadi, located about 60 miles from Cairo. Naja Hamadi contains a large Coptic community. (read more)
Egyptian Copts fearful amid anti-Islam film backlash
By Hussein Emara, Joseph BAMAT France24 12 September 2012
Coptic Christians in Egypt Tuesday condemned an anti-Islam film linked to an Egyptian-born Copt in the USA that unleashed a wave of anger in the Middle East and North Africa. Now they fear they will be targeted by angry protesters.
Coptic Christians in Egypt are decrying an inflammatory movie that denigrates the Prophet Mohammad and has sparked riots outside the American embassy in Cairo and a consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, where a top US diplomat was killed on Tuesday.
An Egyptian-born Christian living in the US has been at the centre of the controversy and Copts in Egypt have quickly rejected affiliation to the figure or the views expressed by the film. (read more)
Anti-American Protests Over Film Expand to More Than a Dozen Countries
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, ALAN COWELL and RICK GLADSTONE,
New York TImes
14 September 2012
CAIRO — The violently anti-American rallies that have roiled the Islamic world over a video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad expanded on Friday to more than a dozen countries, with demonstrators storming the American Embassy in Tunisia in a deadly clash and protesters in Sudan’s capital broadening the targets to include Germany and Britain. (read more)
Egypt's Morsi begins forming new cabinet
Aide says president-elect to "declare cabinet soon" after holding talks with military and outgoing prime
26 Jun 2012
Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, is preparing to select his new cabinet amid deep political divisions in the country. The military-appointed cabinet offered its resignation on Monday, state media reported, adding that it would assume caretaker responsibilities until Morsi forms a new cabinet.
In Cairo's Tahrir Square, Muslim Brotherhood cadres pressed on with a days-long sit-in aimed at pressuring the military to repeal decrees granting it many of the disbanded parliament's powers and a broad say in security policies.
The military also has control over the budget drawn up by the outgoing cabinet, which the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated parliament had strongly disputed.
Morsi retains the right to appoint the prime minister and cabinet.
Morsi, who defeated his rival, former Mubarak premier Ahmed Shafiq, with 51.7 per cent of the vote, quickly moved to allay domestic and international concerns over the Islamists' victory in the Arab world's most populous country (read more).
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