By Bel Trew, The Sunday Times (UK) –
Coptic Christians in Egypt have come under attack in a recent surge of sectarian violence. Khaled Desouki/Getty Images
Dozens of Muslim men armed with Kalashnikovs, shotguns and pistols laughed as they stripped Souad Abdullah, an elderly housewife, and paraded her naked around town.
The Christian grandmother from al-Karm village, in the Egyptian province of Minya, south of Cairo, had tried to file a complaint with the police after her son, Ashraf, 38, was nearly beaten to death for allegedly having an affair with a Muslim housewife. Thieves later ransacked their home. That was before the mob arrived.
“They shot at the house, beat up my husband and forced me out of my home,” Mrs Abdullah, 68, said.
Fifty men encircled her and ripped off her clothes in seconds. They snatched her daughter-in-law and stripped and assaulted her too. They dragged the terrified woman naked down the street before burning down seven homes belonging to other Christians. Yet everyone arrested in connection with the attack in May has been released.
“The whole family was humiliated. I feel broken,” she said, crying.
This was one of ten attacks this year on Minya’s Coptic Christian community, part of a recent surge in sectarian violence against members of the religion. Copts make up about 10 per cent of the Egyptian population. In the past four months Muslims have burnt down Christian houses and churches, stabbed to death a young relative of a priest and kidnapped a teenager. A few weeks ago Christian homes were set ablaze in Abu Yacoub village after a rumour spread that they were turning a kindergarten into a secret church.
The security forces, who have little control over these areas, are reluctant to get involved. “Frequency wise, the attacks have got worse. The violence has spiked since May,” said Bishop Makarios, Minya’s top Coptic cleric, who blames a culture of impunity. According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, not a single Muslim has been convicted of sectarian crimes in Minya since 2011, despite more than 77 documented attacks. Instead, the state favours “reconciliation” meetings, where Christians are pressured to pardon their attackers in exchange for minor compensation.
“It is because the state doesn’t take the issue seriously,” added the bishop, who has been unusually critical of President Sisi and the government. After the last attack he tweeted: “Mr President, a reminder: Copts are Egyptian and Minya is an Egyptian province.”
The ferocity and frequency of the attacks increased after the violent overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood president, in 2013. Many of the country’s nine million Christians welcomed the end of Islamist rule and supported President Sisi overwhelmingly, hoping that a military man in office would mean the attacks stopped and perpetrators were punished.
Noting the recent spike in unrest, Mr Sisi met the Coptic Pope Tawados II last month and vowed to hold the attackers to account. The army has promised to rebuild churches burnt down in 2013 by the end of the year. The government is tabling a new law which claims to ease restrictions on the building of churches, which for the past 100 years has been subject to crippling regulations. The victims fear that nothing has changed and that the new law is too vague.
The Khalaf family, from Kom el-Loufi village, sleep in shifts on the concrete floor of a tiny brick garage because there is not enough space for everyone to lie down. All 24 members have lived there since June, when their homes were burnt down. Ibrahim Khalaf, 36, said that the crowd, incited by a local hardline imam, had accused them of trying to build a church. They have refused to go through the reconciliation process and want to appeal to parliament. “We are living in terror and fear,” Mr Khalaf’s brother, Yunain, 32, said.
____________
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/we-are-living-in-terror-of-muslim-mobs-say-copts-t36z73928
