Beheaded Copts’ remains to be returned to families after three-year wait
World Watch Monitor The bodies of the 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian, beheaded by the Islamic State group on the Libyan coast in February, 2015, are due to be returned to their families within the next two weeks, a local source told World Watch Monitor. The families of the victims have designated Fr Maqar Issa, […]
Monks in Egypt want new church in memory of Copts killed in Minya bus attack
World Watch Monitor Following an Egyptian town council’s order recently to demolish a makeshift memorial for the 28 Copts murdered on Ascension Day last year as they travelled towards a monastery, the Governor of Minya has met with a delegation of monks from the monastery to discuss the matter. The memorial was erected on the spot where the Copts’ buses had been […]
Egypt’s Copts flock to see church opened in remembrance of beheaded Christians
World Watch Monitor The first mass held in the Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland on 15th February, 2018. PICTURES: World Watch Monitor. It is a special day for the Coptic community of Minya province, Upper Egypt, as a new church was inaugurated this morning in Al-Our village in remembrance of 20 Egyptian Copts […]
Egyptian church celebrates long-awaited official opening
World Watch Monitor A Coptic church in Minya, Upper Egypt, was officially allowed to open last week for the first time since it was built in 2015, and three months after clashes with local Muslims had forced it to close indefinitely. The Holy Virgin and Mar Girgis church in the village of Sheikh Alaa had […]
Egypt’s human rights move dismissed as ploy to win back US aid
World Watch Monitor Efforts by the Egyptian government to improve its record on human rights are aimed primarily at persuading the US government to reinstate its generous aid package, Coptic activists have said. Last month Egypt announced it would set up 60 human-rights departments across the country to record complaints from citizens of rights violations. […]
After 12 years of delays, new church for Copts in Upper Egypt, who agree to drop arson claims
World Watch Monitor In July, 2017, Christian villagers of Kom El-Loufy met with a number of MPs to discuss the issue of not having a church in their village. PICTURE: World Watch Monitor. Copts in the Egyptian town of Kom El-Loufy, Upper Egypt, 250 kilometres south of Cairo, started the construction of a church this […]
Coptic girl, 16, rescued 92 days after Islamists kidnapped her in Egypt
World Watch Monitor A 16-year-old Coptic Christian girl kidnapped on 28th June to be “converted to Islam, then married off or sold”, was released and returned to her family on 30th September after police found her and arrested her kidnappers in a city just outside Cairo. Marilyn was recovered from a city named 10th of Ramadan, […]
‘Mixed feelings’ for families after IS cameraman reveals where beheaded Copts were buried in Libya
World Watch Monitor The families of the 20 Egyptian Christians beheaded on a beach in Libya in 2015 say they have “mixed feelings” after the cameraman who filmed the beheadings reportedly told the authorities where the bodies were buried. Coptic news site Watani spoke to the families of 13 of the murdered Christians, who were from the […]
Four more Copts killed amid “most aggressive campaign in history of modern Egypt”
World Watch Monitor Coptic Christians in Egypt are reeling from a fresh spate of murders, which they fear are part of a jihadist campaign against them. Three Coptic men were found dead in the space of eight days from the last week of June to the first week of July. A fourth was killed in […]
Gunmen kill 35 Egyptian Christians in Ascension Day bus attack
World Watch Monitor (with DAVID ADAMS) Gunmen opened fire and killed at least 28 Coptic Orthodox Christians – some reports say up to 35 – and wounded about 25 others – who were traveling to Ascension Day services at the Monastery of St Samuel in Minya, southern Egypt. Bishop Ermia, General Bishop and President of the […]