Activist raps killing of Christians
Friday, January 08, 2010 ,
Gulf Daily News.
A BAHRAINI women's rights activist yesterday condemned the killing of six Coptic Christians gunned down on the Coptic Christmas Eve, in Egypt.Women's Petition Committee head Ghada Jamsheer called for Arabs to live in peace and harmony regardless of their faith and beliefs.She said that killing people who have a different approach to life was something that no one could agree with, adding dialogue was the only solution to a problem."Killing someone because he is a Copt or from any other religion is unacceptable," said Ms Jamsheer. She also paid tribute to Switzerland-based Copts United leader Adly Abadir Youssef, who died three days before the incident.
Egypt Christians clash with police after murders on Christmas Eve
CAIRO: Clashes erupted yesterday as thousands of Coptic Christians in a southern Egyptian village buried six of their number gunned down on Coptic Christmas Eve by men believed to be Muslims, security officials said.Officials and the local bishop said three men in a car had raked pedestrians with gunfire along a street containing two churches and a shopping precinct late on Wednesday.Six Copts and a Muslim policeman were killed, while at least nine Copts wounded, two of them seriously.More than 5,000 Copts attended the funeral in Nagaa Hammadi, 65km from the tourist city of Luxor.Protesters stoned cars as the dead were buried, and police responded with tear gas. The demonstrators chanted: "With our spirit and blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for the Cross." They said Copts earlier stoned police cars and the hospital in Sohag where the bodies were held before the service, chanting: "No to repression." Sporadic trouble continued after the funerals."We concluded the mass at 11pm and I was heading to the bishopric when I saw a man, in a car, open fire with an automatic rifle at Copts who were walking past the building," the bishop said He said the "author of this crime has a police record and should have been arrested" for past crimes, but is under the protection of prominent figures close to the ruling National Democratic Party.A police probe reported that the gunmen fled to a rural area near the town in Qena province, 700km south of Cairo.Authorities said the main shooter is a town resident identified as Mohammed Ahmed Hussein, wanted by the police.Witnesses linked the shooting to the abduction of a 12-year-old Muslim girl in November who was allegedly raped by a Coptic youth.Kirilos said that for the past week some of his parishioners had received hate calls and threats alleging that Muslims "will avenge the rape of the girl during the Christmas celebrations." Copts, who represent less than 10 per cent of Egypt's 80 million population, are the largest Christian community in the Middle East, but complain of discrimination, harassment and sectarian attacks.In November, hundreds of Muslim protesters torched Christian-owned shops in the town of Farshut, near Nagaa Hammadi, and attacked a police station where they believed the suspected rapist was being held.
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