Seven Christians arrested in Egypt

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Seven Coptic Christians, including two priests, were sentenced to prison for allegedly being involved in a brawl in connection with a dispute over the purchase of a property by the Coptic Orthodox Bishopric of Delga and Deir Mawas, 270 KM from Cairo.

According to the Assyrian International News Agency the Misdemeanor Court in Mallawi upheld a verdict passed by the First Instance Court in April, 2007. The Rev Maximos Talat and Rev Bolah Nassif - priest of St George's Church were sentence to one week in prison and fined 200 Egyptian Pounds, "based on claims made by the 'aggressors' and without any legal basis," according to the their lawyer, Amgad Lamei.

In 2007 an adjacent property was legally acquired by the Bishopric from the Selim family. The dispute ensued after another neighbour, the Shaker family, said they have "right of first refusal" as they are cousins of the Selims, and subsequently occupied the property. The Bishopric obtained an eviction order from the Attorney General.

Read it all.


Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Middle East • Egypt • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Coptic Church

3 Comments
Posted January 6, 2010 at 6:32 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Doug Martin wrote:

Nice headline but it is not apparent from the story that their being Christians had anything to do with it.

January 6, 8:37 am | [comment link]
2. Katherine wrote:

There are some conflicts in which being Copts doesn’t have anything to do with it, but far more often than not it’s a religious thing, especially outside the Cairo area.  If the complainants’ story was believed contrary to the statements of multiple witnesses who all are going to prison, you can be pretty sure that the complainants are Muslim.  This is a frequent problem in Egypt.

January 6, 3:50 pm | [comment link]
3. Fr. J. wrote:

Dhimmitude is a real and current issue throughout the Muslim world—and perhaps soon in the West. 

To learn more:  http://www.jihadwatch.org/

January 6, 4:24 pm | [comment link]
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