ESSAY: MUBARAK’S LASTING LEGACY ON EGYPT’S COPTIC CHRISTIANS
In an article first published on The Conversation, JAMALI RAMAZAN KILINC, associate professor of political science at the University of Nebraska Omaha in the US, looks at the history of the fraught relationships between the Coptic Church and those in power in Egypt…
EGYPT: COPTIC COMMUNITY RIGHTS ACTIVIST ARRESTED AMID HEIGHTENED SURVEILLANCE MEASURES
MINA NADER and JACOB WIRTSCHAFTER, of Religion News Service, report…
Series of fires in Egyptian churches “not a coincidence”, say Copts
World Watch Monitor Three Coptic churches in the Upper Egypt region were hit by fires in the last three weeks which, the Copts say, is “not a coincidence”. On Friday morning, 1st November, a fire started in an adjacent hall of the Mar-Girgis (St George) al-Gyoushi Church in the Shubra district of the capital Cairo; it was […]
Egypt legalises 156 churches with many more still waiting
World Watch Monitor Egypt legalised 156 more churches and service buildings on Tuesday, bringing the total of approved religious venues to 783, reports the Egypt Independent. Since 2016, more than 3,700 churches have applied for legal status under a new law that was designed to make it easier to establish and build churches in Egypt. A cabinet committee […]
Church construction slows under Egypt’s new church-building law
World Watch Monitor A 2016 law designed to make it easier to establish and build churches in Egypt has not eased the bottleneck, according to a new report. The 12th December report, issued by the Project on Middle East Democracy, said approval of church building projects actually has slowed under the new law. The government […]
Eleven men sent for trial for attacking Copts in Egypt
World Watch Monitor Eleven men suspected of an attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt’s capital Cairo a year ago will have to appear before a criminal court, reports Coptic news site Watani. The suspects were caught by police following a double attack on the Mar Mina and Pope Kyrillos VI Coptic Orthodox Church in the Helwan district south of Cairo, […]
Egypt bus attack survivors ask “how could this happen again?”
World Watch Monitor Egypt’s Copts are still reeling from a second bus attack in two years on the desert road to a monastery in Minya and asking why there was no protection for them. It should have been a joyful day. On Friday, 2nd November, a Coptic family had celebrated the baptisms of two little boys, four-month-old Emile and […]
UK Government commits £12 million to championing religious freedom
World Watch Monitor The UK Government has committed £12 million to championing freedom of religion of belief worldwide. The UK’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Lord Tariq Ahmad, said the money “will go a long way in bolstering the work of civil society and NGOs to promote respect, and the value of religious diversity […]
Seventeen people sentenced to death for Coptic church bomb attacks in Egypt
World Watch Monitor Egypt’s military court has handed death sentences to 17 people accused of bomb attacks on Coptic churches in 2016 and 2017, the BBC reports. The 17 people sentenced to death in Egypt were involved in bomb attacks on Coptic churches in Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta in 2016 and 2017. PICTURE: World Watch Monitor. […]
Perpetrators of Minya bus attack and the beheading of Coptic Christians captured in Libya
World Watch Monitor One of the “most wanted” Islamic extremists who is suspected of participating in the gun attack on a bus convoy of Coptic Christian pilgrims in May, 2017, has been captured by Libyan security forces, the BBC reports. The attack killed 28 people, including two children. Twenty-five others were injured. Hisham Ashmawi is the leader of the militant […]