The events in the village of Diljā in Dīr Mawās, Minya since the June 30 Revolution prove that this village is totally without security personnel.

More than 500 armed supporters of the deposed president committed a number of dreadful incidents against the Copts and churches. All the churches in the village were torched (5 churches total), including an ancient church which was built in the fourth century AD. The contents of the churches and 27 houses were robbed and burned. A Christian citizen was killed and his body was dragged and extracted from the grave after burial.

They also committed other crimes outside the village of Diljā, including the attack on Dīr Mawās police station. Assailants stole weapons, released prisoners, burned the courthouse of Dīr Mawās, looted most of the Copts’ shops, and burned the building of the local unit of Mallāwī Center and broke into the Museum of Mallāwī, stealing all of its artifacts.

Al-Ahrām received several calls from Diljā villagers who denounced what was committed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Jamā’ah al-Islāmīyah in cooperation with thugs. Village residents stated that the village is inhabited by about 120,000 people, including about 20,000 Christians and is located is 20 kilometers west of the center of Dīr Mawās near the west desert road.

The people in the village said that the public prosecutor has issued a warrant to arrest 28 people believed to have been involved in the church attacks. The police arrested the registered criminals only, and did not arrest the supporters of Morsi. On Wednesday August 14, the day of the dispersal of Rābaʽah al-‘Adawīyah and the Nahdah square sit-ins, at 8AM, Morsi supporters began targeting the homes of Copts.  They recruited a number of thugs for the attacks, including Salāh Sālih Rāhim, who was later killed during an attack on the Dīr Mawās police station. On this black day 72 houses were robbed and burned.  Iskāndar Sākr, 60, who works as a barber, was killed and his body was dragged to the Mosque of Ibād al-Rahmān then left near the cemetery area. One of the Muslims in the village called Bakr ‘Alī Fahmī Hasanīn buried the body in his family’s cemetery, but the extremists extracted the body from the grave. The wise men from the village re-buried the body in an unknown location so it will not be re-extracted again (Hagāg al-Hussinī, al-Ahram, Aug. 27, p. 9). Read original text in Arabic.

(Ahmed Ibrahim, Intern)