In the last period, these threats become a nightmare for a lot of Christians in Egypt, especially after targeting a number of churches, kidnapping women, and killing priests, like Coptic Orthodox Father Mīnā ʿAbbūd Shārūbīm (Reviewer's note: the newspaper mistakenly wrote it as Shārūbīl), 39, in al-ʽArīsh. Coptic Orthodox Father Yūsuf Zakī, friend of the deceased priest, said that after the burning of the church in Rafah, families left the city because it was no longer safe, threats were continuous and four priests were kidnapped and released after paying a ransom, but unfortunately one of them was slaughtered. Further, a Christian merchant has been kidnapped by unknown assailants in al-Shaykh al-Zuwayd, released after the payment of a 100 thousand Egyptian pounds, while Majdī Lam’ī, 59, was beheaded after his relatives could not reach the amount of the ransom. Pope Tawadros has been personally threatened of death. These events are not limited to Morsi’s deposition but increased with the anger of extremists for the ouster of the President.
Informed sources in northern Sinai stressed that the majority of these occurrences are carried out by the extremist jihadist called “Jabhat al-Nusrah”, branch of al-Qāʿidah which is leading the jihad against President Bashar al-Assad ’s regime in Syria. Coptic women in Sinai had to wear niqāb fearing of being killed like the rest of them.
Moreover, Bishop Kuzman of North Sinai told al-Sabāh that Christians are not going to leave their homes no matter of threats.
He added that Copts were in the first lines of June 30 Revolution -which led to Muhammad Morsi’s ouster- and they paid a dearly price for the end of the Muslim Brotherhood regime. They keep being targeted in several governorates: an attack occurred on Saint George (Mār Jirjis) Church in Daljā village of al-Minya governorate. Also the day after al-Sīsī’s speech and at the same governorate a number of Islamists put up distinguished marks at Copts' homes to make it easy to target and intimidate them.
Casualties occurred in Qena, where the Armed Forces prevented an attack on the Coptic Orthodox Church in the city of Qena (Qena’s governorate). A number of extremists had gathered in front the Church, removed its metal fences and shot the security unit, leaving six injuries. Additionally, another attack occurred on the Coptic Orthodox Diocese in the center of Luxor, and sectarian tensions were flamed in the village of al-Dab’īyyah of west Luxor, leaving four deaths and 23 houses burned (owned by Christians). Also, intensification of clashes reached Port Said where masked men opened fire against Ava Mina (Avā Mīn) Church, leaving two injuries (Ahmad ‘Atif, al-Sabāh, July 21, p. 5). The article has no link online.
