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In post-Arab Spring Egypt, Muslim attacks on Christians are rising
By Sudarsan Raghavan November 13 at 5:39 PM
In Syria and Iraq, Islamic State militants have destroyed churches, abducted Christians and carried out forced conversions. Thousands of Christians have fled their homes in northern Iraq. In Libya last year, Islamic State militants beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians and an additional 31 Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians in two separate attacks. And earlier this year, the Islamic State’s affiliate in Egypt asserted responsibility for the fatal shooting of a priest.
In Egypt, a “disturbing wave of radicalism” has emerged from the uprising and changes in government and as the economy has worsened, said Bishop Angaelos, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom.
Egypt’s Christians, who make up 10 percent of the population of 94 million, have felt besieged for decades. In a nation where Islam is the state religion, successive secular but authoritarian regimes have restricted Christians from practicing their beliefs, even though freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution.
But since January 2011, 77 sectarian attacks have taken place in Minya alone, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an activist group.
Nearly half of those attacks occurred in the past three years, after Egypt’s elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was ousted in the military coup led by Sissi in 2013. In the days that followed, mobs of hard-line Muslims targeted Christian schools, businesses and churches in a wave of attacks. Many Islamists accused Christians of conspiring with Sissi against them. Since then, tensions have been raw.
At least 25 sectarian attacks have been reported around the nation this year, activists say.
“When an individual is acquitted after an attack, the community knows they can get away with attacking Christians,” Makarios said.
Before the revolution, Christians were targeted mostly by militant groups and thieves. “Now the violence has a societal element to it, with Muslim and Christian citizens turning against each other,” said Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at EIPR.
As Egypt’s economy struggles, calls for protests against Sissi grow louder]
Muslims say they have no problems with their Christian neighbors. Some noted that in Asem they are a minority, and so cannot afford to antagonize Christians.
Unemployment and illiteracy are high in Minya, and government services are limited. Radical Islamists have filled the void, influencing people with anti-Christian rhetoric, community leaders and activists say. The province is a stronghold of extremist Islamist groups, in particular Gamaa Islamiya, which the United States and its allies consider a terrorist organization.
In June, a crowd of Muslims stabbed a Christian death. That came days after a mob torched the houses of Christians over a rumor that they wanted to convert buildings into churches.
A month earlier, a Muslim mob forced a 70-year-old Christian woman to strip naked and parade down the street of their village after rumors spread that her son had had an affair with a Muslim woman. The rumor proved to be false.
Her assailants were arrested but swiftly released on bail. The case has gone nowhere, though Bishop Makarios and other leaders asked Sissi to intervene.
“The president pledged to follow up on the case, but sadly the judicial system did not follow,” Makarios said.
An Egyptian woman holds a sign with Arabic that reads, “the demands are not only for Christians but for all Egyptians,” during a protest in Cairo in August. (Nariman El-Mofty/AP)
‘We remain worried’
It wasn’t the first time the law had let them down.
Local officials often pressure Christians into mediating disputes instead of going to court and coerce them into changing their testimony, activists say.
“These kinds of reconciliation sessions replace the rule of law,” Makarios said.
“In most cases, the Christian victims are asked to give up their rights.”
That’s what happening in Asem today.
Othman and other Muslim leaders blamed Muslims for the attacks but also say they weren’t sectarian. Speaking on his cellphone, Othman instructed a Muslim community leader to say the attack was not motivated by religion, a conversation heard by two Washington Post reporters seated in the room during the call.
Two hours later, the community leader, Anwar Osman, said: “It was not sectarian. It was a childish prank.” The Christians were just trying to get the public to “sympathize with them,” he said.
Local officials and lawmakers insist that life is back to normal. “We all now talk to each other and visit each other,” Osman said. “Reconciliation has already happened.”
But Christians say that is not true.
“They claim that things are back to normal and we reconciled, just to make the public feel they have ended the crisis,” said Ishak Sobhy, Gamal’s brother. “We expected life to be better under Sissi for our community. But it’s actually getting worse.”
Some Christians said they no longer walk in the village at night because they are afraid of being attacked.
Others no longer trade in livestock, fearing they could be targeted in the fields.
But Ishak Sobhy said his family refuses to drop the case. Gamal is still visiting doctors and recently learned that he has a detached retina. The Muslim man accused of instigating the clashes turned himself in but is out on bail, authorities said.
“Life goes on,” Ishak Sobhy said. “But we remain worried.”
Heba Mahfouz contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...0a18e2-84fc-11e6-b57d-dd49277af02f_story.html
By Sudarsan Raghavan November 13 at 5:39 PM
In Syria and Iraq, Islamic State militants have destroyed churches, abducted Christians and carried out forced conversions. Thousands of Christians have fled their homes in northern Iraq. In Libya last year, Islamic State militants beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians and an additional 31 Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians in two separate attacks. And earlier this year, the Islamic State’s affiliate in Egypt asserted responsibility for the fatal shooting of a priest.
In Egypt, a “disturbing wave of radicalism” has emerged from the uprising and changes in government and as the economy has worsened, said Bishop Angaelos, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom.
Egypt’s Christians, who make up 10 percent of the population of 94 million, have felt besieged for decades. In a nation where Islam is the state religion, successive secular but authoritarian regimes have restricted Christians from practicing their beliefs, even though freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution.
But since January 2011, 77 sectarian attacks have taken place in Minya alone, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an activist group.
Nearly half of those attacks occurred in the past three years, after Egypt’s elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was ousted in the military coup led by Sissi in 2013. In the days that followed, mobs of hard-line Muslims targeted Christian schools, businesses and churches in a wave of attacks. Many Islamists accused Christians of conspiring with Sissi against them. Since then, tensions have been raw.
At least 25 sectarian attacks have been reported around the nation this year, activists say.
“When an individual is acquitted after an attack, the community knows they can get away with attacking Christians,” Makarios said.
Before the revolution, Christians were targeted mostly by militant groups and thieves. “Now the violence has a societal element to it, with Muslim and Christian citizens turning against each other,” said Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at EIPR.
As Egypt’s economy struggles, calls for protests against Sissi grow louder]
Muslims say they have no problems with their Christian neighbors. Some noted that in Asem they are a minority, and so cannot afford to antagonize Christians.
Unemployment and illiteracy are high in Minya, and government services are limited. Radical Islamists have filled the void, influencing people with anti-Christian rhetoric, community leaders and activists say. The province is a stronghold of extremist Islamist groups, in particular Gamaa Islamiya, which the United States and its allies consider a terrorist organization.
In June, a crowd of Muslims stabbed a Christian death. That came days after a mob torched the houses of Christians over a rumor that they wanted to convert buildings into churches.
A month earlier, a Muslim mob forced a 70-year-old Christian woman to strip naked and parade down the street of their village after rumors spread that her son had had an affair with a Muslim woman. The rumor proved to be false.
Her assailants were arrested but swiftly released on bail. The case has gone nowhere, though Bishop Makarios and other leaders asked Sissi to intervene.
“The president pledged to follow up on the case, but sadly the judicial system did not follow,” Makarios said.
An Egyptian woman holds a sign with Arabic that reads, “the demands are not only for Christians but for all Egyptians,” during a protest in Cairo in August. (Nariman El-Mofty/AP)
‘We remain worried’
It wasn’t the first time the law had let them down.
Local officials often pressure Christians into mediating disputes instead of going to court and coerce them into changing their testimony, activists say.
“These kinds of reconciliation sessions replace the rule of law,” Makarios said.
“In most cases, the Christian victims are asked to give up their rights.”
That’s what happening in Asem today.
Othman and other Muslim leaders blamed Muslims for the attacks but also say they weren’t sectarian. Speaking on his cellphone, Othman instructed a Muslim community leader to say the attack was not motivated by religion, a conversation heard by two Washington Post reporters seated in the room during the call.
Two hours later, the community leader, Anwar Osman, said: “It was not sectarian. It was a childish prank.” The Christians were just trying to get the public to “sympathize with them,” he said.
Local officials and lawmakers insist that life is back to normal. “We all now talk to each other and visit each other,” Osman said. “Reconciliation has already happened.”
But Christians say that is not true.
“They claim that things are back to normal and we reconciled, just to make the public feel they have ended the crisis,” said Ishak Sobhy, Gamal’s brother. “We expected life to be better under Sissi for our community. But it’s actually getting worse.”
Some Christians said they no longer walk in the village at night because they are afraid of being attacked.
Others no longer trade in livestock, fearing they could be targeted in the fields.
But Ishak Sobhy said his family refuses to drop the case. Gamal is still visiting doctors and recently learned that he has a detached retina. The Muslim man accused of instigating the clashes turned himself in but is out on bail, authorities said.
“Life goes on,” Ishak Sobhy said. “But we remain worried.”
Heba Mahfouz contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...0a18e2-84fc-11e6-b57d-dd49277af02f_story.html
. The international community needs to help him reform Egypt in this regard.
