Egypt

A new pioneer report, released Tuesday, sheds light on the often deliberately ignored problem of Christian women in Egypt being abducted, forced into Muslim marriages and coerced into converting to Islam.

Released by Christian Solidarity International and the Coptic Foundation for Human Rights, “The Disappearance, Forced Conversions and Forced Marriages of Coptic Christian Women in Egypt” report documents dozens of real cases of Christian women who were lured and then violently forced into marriage, often after being raped.

Report research was done in Egypt by American anti-trafficking specialist Michele Clark and Egyptian women’s rights activist Nadia Ghaly. Based on research findings, the report contends that the violence against Egypt’s Christian women corresponds to the internationally recognized definitions of human trafficking. more >>

ISTANBUL (Compass Direct News) - A Coptic Christian blogger in Egypt entering his second year of prison without charge is being pressured to convert to Islam in exchange for his freedom, his attorneys said.

On Oct. 3, 2008, Hani Nazeer, a 28-year-old high school social worker from Qena, Egypt and author of the blog “Karz El Hob” (“Love Cherries”), was arrested by Egypt’s State Security Investigations (SSI) and sent to Burj Al-Arab prison. Although police never charged him with any crime, Nazeer has been detained for more than a year under Egypt’s administrative imprisonment law.

Gamel Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), the group representing Nazeer, said Nazeer was arrested unfairly and now is being coerced to abandon his faith. more >>

Clashes broke out in a southern Egyptian village Saturday after Muslim youth began throwing stones at Coptic Christian churches and homes in the area in response to the extended detention four Muslim murder suspects.

The suspects, all related to a girl at the center of the latest Muslim-Christian row, are being probed by police over their involvement in the murder of a Coptic man who was shot dead on Oct. 18 in the village of Attaleen, near the southern city of Assiut.

According to rumors, the ones who had killed Henry Atallah had actually sought to attack his son, who was dating a young Muslim woman and was allegedly distributing explicit pictures of her by mobile phone and CD. more >>

A Coptic Christian man was reportedly arrested, abused and forced to pay a large sum of money for rescuing his 20-year-old daughter from her Muslim husband, who was said to be holding her against her will in Alexandria, Egypt.

Gamal Labib Hanna, along with a few friends, on Oct. 1 went to the apartment where his daughter was being held, according to sources of Compass Direct News. His daughter, Myrna Gamal Hanna, had called her family on Sept. 30 and asked them to save her from her husband.

Her husband, Mohamad Osama Hefnawy, reportedly had attacked the Coptic men with a metal pole during the rescue. more >>

ISTANBUL, Sept. 23 (Compass Direct News) – A funeral for a Coptic Christian gruesomely killed on a village street north of Cairo by a Muslim assailant last week turned into a protest by hundreds of demonstrators in Egypt.

Galal Nasr el-Dardiri, 35, attacked 63-year-old Abdu Georgy in front of the victim’s shop in Behnay village the afternoon of Sept. 16, according to research by a local journalist. Other Copts watched in horror as El-Dardiri stabbed Georgy five times in the back, according to interviews by Gamal Gerges, a reporter for newspaper Al-Youm al-Sabeh.

As Georgy fell to the ground, El-Dardiri took his knife and stabbed him four times in the stomach. He then disemboweled him, slit his throat and began sawing off his head, according to Gerges. The Rev. Stephanos Aazer, a Coptic priest who knew Georgy and saw photographs of his mutilated body, said the victim’s head was attached to the body by a small piece of flesh. more >>