62 Coptic Christian Families Forcibly Evicted by Salafi Muslims

By Asia News
2/12/2012
Asia News (www.asianews.it/)

Islamic Extremists continue their relentance assaults on the Coptic Christians in Egypt

Salafi Muslims in the area of el-Amerya, with the complicity of the police and state authorities, set fire to Christian homes and shops, and forced several families to leave the country under the threat of further violence. On 30 January a crowd of Muslims attacked the village of Kobry- el-Sharbat for the second time, setting fire to three Christian homes

Coptic Christians demonstrating against persecution

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CAIRO, Egypt (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The radical Muslims are trying to forcibly empty a village near Alexandria of its Coptic Christian population - 62 families, on the basis of unfounded allegations against a Copt. The Copts of Kobry-el-Sharbat (el-Amerya) were attacked on Jan. 27 by a crowd of some three thousand Muslims led by Salafi leaders who set fire to the Copts houses and shops.

The violence were sparked by the allegations of a barber Muslim Toemah, who claimed that a Coptic tailor of 34, Samy Mourad Guirgis, had "illegal" photos of a Muslim woman on his cell phone. Mourad has denied the charges, and turned himself in to police in fear of his life. The Muslims set fire to his house and his shop, and his whole family was forced to leave the village. Mourad is still under police custody.

Since then there have been three "reconciliation meetings" in the police headquarters in el-Amerya, attended by representatives of the Coptic Church, the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood. According to police, the woman concerned has denied the whole story, and no compromising photos of any kind were found Mourad's cell phone. But radical Muslims argue that "Muslim honor has been damaged," and at the first meeting, they refused any type of compensation for the Copts who were innocent victims of their violence.

On 30 January a crowd of Muslims attacked the village of Kobry- el-Sharbat for the second time, setting fire to three Christian homes, under the eyes of the security forces. Following this Islamic representatives have requested that a wealthy Coptic merchant, Soliman, be expelled from the village, accusing him and his sons of having fired into the air while their house was being burned. The family of the merchant denies that there were gunshots, and no one was injured. The police, however, has issued an arrest warrant for Soliman's sons.

On 1st February in a "reconciliation meeting" demands were made for a number of Coptic families to be expelled from the village and the forced sale of Soliman's assets, under the supervision of the Salafist Sheikh Sherif el-Hawary. Otherwise Kobry el-Sharbat would be attacked again, and the Coptic houses completely burned.

Soliman signed the agreement. It was called by Father Boktor, who was present at the time, "a complete injustice." Soliman agreed only to avoid further damage to the Copts. Magdy Khalil, head of Middle East Freedom Forum, said that "reconciliation meetings" were totally illegal, and that the complicity of Egyptian authorities is obvious and urged Copts to return to their homes. "If we accept this, we will open the door to an avalanche of forced evictions." And forced deportation is a crime under international law.

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1 - 10 of 11 Comments

Bob
1 year ago
Great comments. Ms./Mr. Bayomi, your comment is so naive. They are Muslims! If you are not Muslim, you are an infidel!!!! They are working towards a Caliphate. Is your church here in the U.S. informing it's congregation? Are you sending letters to your representatives to show your concern? Are you getting educated about Islam? For a start, go to: www.stopshariahnow.org/ http://www.islam-watch.org/
www.jihadwatch.org/ http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/
http://infidelsarecool.com/ http://www.apostatesofislam.com/index.htm
javiervillegasjr
1 year ago
Lets keep them in our prayers! also, does anyone know how to help these christians? i see alot of articles on these issues but i never see a "how to help" section. any information would be appreciated
Kristy Howrd-Clark
1 year ago
Another reason to vote Obama out of the White House for his Muslim/Socialist agenda.
nita
1 year ago
It is so difficult for us in the USA to comprehend that anyone would want to kill a person because they are a Christian, because we have lived all our lives in religious peace. No persecution. We must have more news briefings regarding what is happening to our Christian brothers and sisters around the world and remember them in prayer. Prayer changes things.
Zachary
1 year ago
This is appalling. What happened to the days when the Europeans would intervene on behalf of the Christians in the Middle East? Who do the Copts have to protect them? They'll be swallowed by Islam at this rate.
nadi
1 year ago
the news of your articles does not exist at any news media. .once the egyptian revolution ,copts antcipate a dire future. copts should defend themselves by any means necessry otherwise they will be salughter like sheep.
the salafi and muslim brotherhood can not be trusted and try find any reason to attack christain . the position of coptic church should change and ask people to defend themselves..the government will not defend them. us will not send marine to each villege in Egypt . the best possible action is to defendthemselves
Greg
1 year ago
Welcome to the religion of peace. These so called "muslims" are obviously not following their own Koran teachings. I would love to have an hour in a room with these people to question their logic. Or maybe it doesn't have anything to do with the event and these people just don't like their neighbours? Shame on the police for not inforcing some justice properly and dealing with these rogue crowds. They are no better than the leader they deposed.
Lilian
1 year ago
The United Nations should intervene to protect the Copts and make the Egyptian government make reparations for the losses the Copts continue to suffer in their own country. The Salafis seem to be enjoying the tacit support of the government, and that is not fair.
Bayomi
1 year ago
How unfair!!!! Copts are the original Egyptians .Muslims are converted Copts.how can you do that to your egyptian brothers and sisters?
abey
1 year ago
Worse is the reminder of the "Genocide" in Orissa in the Northern part of India of "Poor Christians" wholly Planned & Engineered by the Religo-Fascist Hindus not long ago & the world did nothing other than lip talk at the time.

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