Ongoing Persecution of Coptic Christians

Over a time period of two weeks, a string of fires struck 11 churches across Egypt and claimed the lives of dozens of Coptic Christians.  A fire at the Abu Sefein Church in Cairo claimed the lives of 41 worshippers, including 18 children.  Most of the victims died of asphyxiation when 5,000 worshippers tried to escape the blaze in a church that lacked adequate emergency exits.  Amir Magdi, a senior researcher with the Human Rights Watch Middle East & North African Division, lay the blame for the church fires on the ongoing systematic persecution that the Coptic Christians are continually enduring in Europe.  

Until the year 2016, Coptic Christians required direct Presidential approval to build new churches or renovate existing ones, a permit that was next to impossible to obtain.  This forced many Christians to hold covert services in commercial or industrial buildings.  After 2016, the Egyptian government permitted local governors to make the decision to issue a permit instead of the President, but the law only applies to Christian houses of worship, not Islamic ones.  In addition, of the governor refuses to grant the permit, there is no appeal.  Amir Magdi believes that the only way to mitigate this ongoing trend is for "Egyptian authorities to amend the church building law of 2016 to remove all discriminatory restrictions and raft a common law for all houses of worship."  This appeal is not unreasonable considering that Egypt has over 500,000 registered mosques, but only 3,000 registered churches.  


However, while the Egyptian authorities are blaming the church fires on "natural" or "accidental" causes, others are not so sure about this.  Some Christians suspect that some of the fires are being caused by arsonists.  This is not an illogical conclusion.  In 2013, Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers burned down 62 Coptic churches.  One also must consider the fact that Christians are reluctant to report arson attacks to Egyptian authorities out of fear of inviting more reprisals from Muslim Brotherhood supporters.  



As churches are continually burning across Egypt, Coptic Christians are also enduring vicious physical attacks across the country.  In the Sinai, two Coptic Christian men, Salama Waheeb and his son, Hany, were murdered by ISIS militants.  These two men are the latest victims of a vicious ethnic cleansing campaign that ISIS militants have been waging in to clear the region of Coptic Christians ever since the Egyptian military drove them into the Sinai mountains in 2013.  Though some activists are now saying that things aren't as bad as they were prior to 2016, persecution is still a way of life for the Coptic Christians of Egypt, and there is no signs of it ending anytime soon.  


Sources:

Habib, Jacky.  "Egypt's Copts Want Changes to Law After Deadly Church Fire."  AlJazeera.  Aug. 20, 2022.  Accessed from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/20/egypts-copts-want-changes-to-law-after-deadly-church-fire.

Ibrahim, Raymond.  "Eleven Coptic Churches 'Catch Fire' Over Two Weeks."  Coptic Solidarity.  Aug. 31, 2022.  Accessed from https://www.copticsolidarity.org/2022/08/31/eleven-coptic-churches-catch-fire-over-two-weeks/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=faab2203-b61e-41a0-944c-389ebe31f1eb.

Watani.  "Two Copts Shot Dead by Islamic Jihadists."  Coptic Solidarity.  Aug. 30, 2022.  Accessed from https://www.copticsolidarity.org/2022/08/30/two-copts-shot-dead-in-sinai-by-islamist-jihadis/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=faab2203-b61e-41a0-944c-389ebe31f1eb.


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