On Saturday evening, Mar. 16, security forces in Beni Suef imposed a security cordon around police department al-Wāstá and the village church. This was in reaction to continued violence following the disappearance of a Muslim university girl on February 16. The girl, Ranā Hātim Kamāl, is a 16-year-old student of literature at the Beni Suef University. Ranā’s father confirmed that his daughter had contacted him three times, of which the last time was on Thursday, Mar. 14.
Copts have been accused of their involvement in the kidnapping, including the girl’s family who has accused the Church of being behind her disappearance. Security sources have said that police forces have in the last few weeks intensified their efforts to find to the girl. The father has appealed to President Muhammad Morsi (Mursī) to intervene in the case. There is a growing fear that the issue will lead to a sectarian strife.
One of Ranā’s friends from university informed the father that Ranā had recently met a person called Sharīf. Sharīf’s real name is Abrām, but he uses a secret name to hide that he is Christian. In a meeting with the church of al-Wāstá, the girl’s uncle stressed that all of the evidence surrounding the girl’s disappearance indicates that the church has her.
Archpriest Francis Farīd emphasized that the church was not involved in the case, stressing that Copts are participating in the investigation to find her. Investigations have already refuted some of the evidence that allegedly connected the church, and more specifically father Fānūs of Beni Suef Church, to the disappearance of the girl (Hāzim al-Khūlī, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, Mar. 18, p. 6). Read original text in Arabic.
