Coptic Christians nominated for Nobel Peace Prize, says US group
Coptic Christians have been nominated for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for their refusal to retaliate against persecution from government and terrorist groups in Egypt and elsewhere, according to US-based development organisation Coptic Orphans. In a statement, Coptic Orphans said it had confirmed the nomination which it said may be the first time such a […]
Attacks against Copts “among deadliest acts of religious persecution” – report
World Watch Monitor Attacks by members of the Islamic State group against Egypt’s Coptic Christian community “were among the deadliest acts of religious persecution” last year, according a new report presented in Washington, DC, on Thursday. “Fifty-three per cent of ISIS attacks against the public in 2017 were aimed at the Coptic community,” described by the Islamist […]
Egypt appoints its first ever female Coptic Christian governor
World Watch Monitor For the first time in Egypt’s history a Coptic Christian woman has been appointed as provincial governor. The new governor of northern Damietta, Dr Manal Awad Mikhael, is also the second female governor ever to be appointed in Egypt, reports the BBC. Mikhael, 51, was sworn in before President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on […]
Suicide attack on Coptic church foiled in Egypt
World Watch Monitor A suicide attack on a Coptic church in north Cairo, Egypt, was thwarted on Saturday, 12th August, reports Coptic news site Watani. A man wearing a suicide vest detonated the bomb about 250 metres from the Church of the Holy Virgin in the Mostorod district. He was killed instantly, as was a member of the public, […]
Egypt’s Copts celebrate first mass in new church, seven years since last church’s closure
World Watch Monitor Seven years after their previous church was closed by local authorities because of “security reasons”, the Coptic community in the Egyptian village of Kom El-Loufy, 250 kilometres south of Cairo, held a first mass in their new church on Sunday. Copts in Kom El-Loufy celebrate the first mass in their new church. PICTURE: World Watch Monitor. The 1,600 Copts […]
Mob attack on church in Egypt encouraged by police promise, say sources
World Watch Monitor A mob attacked a church in Minya, Egypt, on 13th July protesting against its legalisation and received a police officer’s approval, World Watch Monitor has learnt from local sources. The only church in Ezbet Sultan Pasha village, where about 20 per cent of the population is Christian, was built in September, 2016. Apart from […]
Copts attacked in Egypt after Facebook post showing ‘contempt of Islam’
An attack by a Muslim mob on Copts in a village in the Egyptian governorate of Minya on Monday has left the Coptic community holed up in their houses, while security forces patrol the streets. A local source told World Watch Monitor the situation is still very tense in the village of Menbal, 225 kilometres […]
Egypt to pay for Coptic bomb attack victim’s surgery in Germany
World Watch Monitor It’s been 18 months since Coptic Christian Samiha Tawfiq was badly injured in the bomb attack on Cairo’s St Peter and Paul Church, which claimed 27 lives and injured 49. It also took away one side of Samiha’s face. Samiha and her husband Koleny were sitting in the respective women’s and men’s sections of the […]
Families of beheaded Copts finally reunited with remains of loved ones in Egypt
World Watch Monitor After a three-year wait and a number of broken promises, the Egyptian Coptic families of 20 men beheaded by the so-called Islamic State in Libya in 2015 have finally received their loved ones’ remains. The leader of the Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, accompanied by several bishops, priests and deacons, welcomed the […]
New promise that bodies of 21 beheaded Christians will be returned to families
World Watch Monitor For the third time since February, the families of the 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian beheaded three years ago in Libya by the so-called Islamic State have been promised the imminent return of their loved ones’ remains. The head of investigations at the Libyan Attorney General’s Office, Siddiq Assour, ordered […]