Egypt’s Coptic Christian teacher detained over blasphemy released on bail

By Associated Press,

LUXOR, Egypt — An Egyptian Christian teacher detained over charges of insulting Islam has been released on bail on Tuesday, her lawyer said.

A history and geography teacher in the southern city of Luxor, 24-year-old Dimiana Abdul-Nour paid L.E. 20,000 (almost $3,000 dollars) to be freed pending further investigation, the lawyer, Badawi Abu-Shanab said. The decision comes four days after a judge ordered her detained for 14 days during the investigation.

Parents of a student had accused the teacher of showing contempt to Islam while talking to fourth-graders about religion. Three pupils allegedly complained the teacher showed disgust when she talked about Islam, something the family and lawyer of Abdul-Nour denied.

Egypt: authorities should release Coptic Christian teacher detained for 'blasphemy'

24-year-old Dimyana Obeid Abd Al Nour accused of touching her stomach or knee when speaking of Prophet Muhammad

A Coptic Christian teacher detained in Egypt on charges of “defamation of religion” must be immediately released and the criminal case against her dropped, Amnesty International has said.

Dimyana Obeid Abd Al Nour, 24, has been in custody since 8 May when she went to the public prosecution’s office in Luxor to respond to charges of “defamation of religion”. The case against her is based on a complaint lodged by the parents of three of her students alleging that she insulted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad during a class.

The alleged incident took place at the Sheikh Sultan primary school in Tout, Luxor Governorate on 8 April during a lesson on “religious life”. According to information available to Amnesty, some of the students alleged that Dimyana Obeid Abd Al Nour said that she “loved Father Shenouda”, the late Patriarch of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, and touched her knee or her stomach when she spoke about the Prophet Muhammad in class. She has denied the charges, and maintained that she stuck to the school curriculum.

Egyptian Christian Teacher Accused of 'Defaming Islam' Goes on Hunger Strike

(AINA) -- The latest victim in the series of defamation of Islam accusations against Christians is a Coptic school teacher, 24-year-old Ms Demiana Ebeid Abdelnour, who teaches social science at a primary school in Tout, Luxor. Demiana went on hunger strike two days after Luxor prosecution detained her on May 8 for "defamation of Islam." Parents of three school children accused her of defamation of Islam and insulting Mohammad.

Yesterday prosecution extended her detention for a further 15 days. It was reported that she was not allowed to be transferred to hospital from prison based on the report of the prison physician. The teacher's union in Luxor said that all investigations confirmed the innocence of Demiana, and that they have assembled a team of lawyers to defend her.

Police intervene in Upper Egyptian village after Copt is killed

Sectarian fight in a village in Minya leaves one Coptic man dead

Police forces have on Friday evening cordonned off a village in Upper Egypt’s Minya governorate after a Copt was shot dead in a fight with Muslims, according to the Anadolu Turkish news agency.

The victim, Magdy Mounir, was killed during a fight in Deir Pasha village during sectarian tensions which erupted after unknown individuals erased a picture of an imam off a poster titled “Hand in Hand”.

The poster was produced by an anti-sectarian NGO displaying an imam and priest locking arms to signify national unity.

Egypt has been witnessing a rise in sectarian attacks on Copts in recent years.

The most recent sectarian attack involved a mob assault on the Saint Mark Cathedral in Cairo’s Abbasiya in April during a funeral for 4 Copts killed in sectarian clashes in Upper Egypt.

Police also fired teargas at the church complex during the attack, stirring the anger of many Copts.

CAIRO (AP) — Amnesty International has called on Egyptian authorities to release a Coptic Christian schoolteacher held for contempt of Islam.

The rights group on Friday denounced the detention of 24-year-old Dimiana Abdel-Nour, a social studies teacher in a southern village near the famed city of Luxor. She was accused by some students of allegedly showing contempt while talking about Islam in class last month.

Luxor prosecutor issued an arrest warrant against Abdel-Nour this week over allegations of proselytizing and of “defamation of religion.” A court is scheduled to look into her detention on Saturday.

Amnesty’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui says it’s “outrageous that a teacher finds herself behind bars for teaching a class” and that if Abdel-Nour had made a “professional mistake or deviated from the curriculum, an internal review would have sufficed.”

Christians in Egyptian Town Threatened With Violence Over Missing Muslim Girl

(AINA) -- A deadline given by a Muslim family, with support of most Muslims in the area, to all of the Christian Coptic inhabitants of the town of El-Wasta, 90 kilometers south of Cairo, expired today. The Muslim family had given an ultimatum regarding a Muslim girl who disappeared at the end of February, and threatened violent reprisal if the girl was not returned by today.

Fliers were distributed yesterday throughout the town by Muslims, who vowed violence. Muslims visited Coptic businesses and warned them not to open today otherwise they would be torched. Today Copts disregarded this ultimatum and opened their businesses as usual.

Egyptian doctors 'ordered to operate on protesters without anaesthetic'

Exclusive: Leaked presidential report recommends an investigation into the highest echelons of the army leadership

• Jump to comments (219)

Egyptian anti-military protesters evacuate a demonstrator after he was wounded during clashes in the Abbassiya district of Cairo in May 2012. Photograph: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

Senior Egyptian army doctors were ordered to operate without anaesthetic on wounded protesters at a military hospital in Cairo during protests against military rule, according to an investigation commissioned by president Mohamed Morsi. The report into military and police malpractice since 2011 also alleges that doctors, soldiers and medics assaulted protesters inside the hospital.

Four Copts arrested for complicity in Cathedral clashes

Arrests believed to be related to reconciliation meeting between Muslims and Christians

At least four Coptic activists were arrested on Friday dawn for complicity in St. Mark’s Cathedral clashes which erupted outside the cathedral on Sunday as Coptic families were preparing a funeral procession for those who were killed in Al-Khasous the day before.

The Coptic Maspero Youth Union announced that Michael Morqos was arrested on Friday alongside three other activists. The union condemned his arrest, calling it an escalation against Coptic youth and likening it to Mubarak’s violations against Copts where “the violator is free and the victim gets jailed and humiliated”.

Cairo clashes at St Mark's Coptic Cathedral after funerals

One person was reported to have died in the clashes

 Aleem Maqbool BBC News, Cairo

One person has been killed in clashes outside Cairo's main cathedral following the funerals of four Coptic Christians killed in religious violence on Thursday.

Mourners leaving St Mark's Cathedral clashed with local residents.

Police fired tear gas to break up the violence. More than 80 people were injured, the state news agency said.

The health ministry said one Christian man was killed. The ambulance service said he was struck with birdshot.

Mourners inside the church had earlier chanted slogans against Egypt's Islamist President, Mohammed Morsi.

Christian Killed in Attack on Coptic Mourners in Egypt

Rocks, fire bombs, gunfire greet mourners leaving funeral of four slain Christians.

By Our Middle East Correspondent

CAIRO, Egypt, April 7, 2013 (Morning Star News) – Coptic Christians attending a funeral service here today for four Copts killed two days earlier in an anti-Christian rampage were in turn attacked themselves by at least 200 Muslim rioters.

The incident, which started with a few dozen men pelting the mourners with stones, quickly escalated into a massive attack against Christians at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia area of Cairo involving firearms, flash-bang grenades, tear gas, fire bombs and other improvised weapons, besides cars set ablaze.

A Morning Star News reporter observed that police took more than an hour to respond, and when they arrived, they did nothing to stop the attack. Instead, most stood and watched men throw rocks at the Christians gathered at the gates of the cathedral compound or hurl stones over walls at the Christians trapped inside.

Thousands at Egypt Copt funeral prayers after clashes

(AFP)

CAIRO — Thousands of people packed Cairo's main cathedral on Sunday for the funeral prayers of four Coptic Christians killed in sectarian clashes.

"Down, down with Brotherhood rule," the congregation chanted in reference to the ruling Muslim Brotherhood of President Mohamed Morsi.

"Leave!" they chanted as they held up wooden crosses, television footage showed.

One Muslim was also killed in the clashes which flared on Friday night in Al-Khusus, a poor area in Qalyubia governorate, after a Muslim in his 50s objected to children drawing a swastika on a religious institute.

10 Christians, 1 Muslim Killed in Sectarian Clashes in Egypt

By Mary Abdelmassih

Cairo (AINA) -- Clashes between Muslims and Christians erupted yesterday in the Al-Khosous district of Qaliubia province. According to reports, ten Coptic Christians and one Muslim were killed. The violence broke out after swastikas were drawn on the side of a mosque wall. The Muslims claimed the swastikas were drawn by Christian children, but the Qaliubia security forces manager, Mohamad Yousry , said it was two Muslim children who drew the swastikas and that the mosque Imam chided them. But some Christians and Muslims got involved in the incident and it escalated from there. He added that rumors of Christians drawing crosses on the mosque's walls were circulated by Muslims.

5 killed in clashes between Muslims, Christians in Egypt near Cairo

By Associated Press,

Mohammed Nouhan, El Shorouk Newspaper/ Associated Press ) - Onlookers gather at the house of Egyptian Christian, Samir Iskandar which was burned during clashes between Muslims and Christians in Qalubiya, just outside Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, April 6, 2013. Several Egyptians including 4 Christians and a Muslim were killed in sectarian clashes before dawn on Saturday, security officials said.

CAIRO — Clashes between Egyptian Muslims and Christians erupted early Saturday in a town near Cairo, leaving at least five people dead, security officials said.

Investigators said they were waiting for autopsy reports to confirm how the men — four Christians and a Muslim — were killed in the small town of Khosoos, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the capital.

Kidnappers target Christians in Egyptian province

By HAMZA HENDAWI

The Associated Press

The Christian gynecologist says he was bundled into his abductors' vehicle, forced to lie under their feet in the back seat for a 45-minute ride, then dumped in a small cold room while his kidnappers contacted his family over a ransom.

For the next 27 hours, he endured beatings, insults and threats to his life, while blindfolded, a bandage sealing his mouth and cotton balls in his ears.

Kromer's case is part of a dramatic rise of kidnappings targeting Christians, including children, in Egypt's southern province of Minya, home to the country's largest concentration of Christians but also a heartland for Islamist hard-liners.

Egyptian mosque turned into house of torture for Christians after Muslim Brotherhood protest

FoxNews.com

Islamic hard-liners stormed a mosque in suburban Cairo, turning it into torture chamber for Christians who had been demonstrating against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the latest case of violent persecution that experts fear will only get worse.

Such stories have become increasingly common as tensions between Egypt’s Muslims and Copts mount, but in the latest case, mosque officials corroborated much of the account and even filed a police report. Demonstrators, some of whom were Muslim, say they were taken from the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in suburban Cairo to a nearby mosque on Friday and tortured for hours by hard-line militia members.

“There is no longer anything to hold them back. The floodgates are open.”

 

نقل مينا ثابت، عضو اتحاد شباب ماسبيرو، عن أمير عياد، عضو جبهة الشباب القبطى، الذي اختفى خلال أحداث المقطم أمس الجمعة، أن الأخير تم اقتياده مع مجموعة كبيرة من الشباب من قبل شباب الإخوان المسلمين وتم احتجازهم بأحد المساجد، على حد قوله.

وقال ثابت المتواجد بمستشفى الهلال الذي يعالج فيها عياد حاليًا، أنه لا يعرف اسم المسجد الذي تم اقتيادهم إليه، وأنه يتوقع أن يكون مسجد بلال

Egytian Muslims Accuse Priest of Using Black Magic on Muslim Girl

By Mary Abdelmassih

(AINA) -- Hundreds of Muslims marched for the second day through the street of the Egyptian town of El-Wasta, 90 kilometers south of Cairo in Beni Suef Province, to protest the disappearance of a young Muslim girl, Rania Shazli, and accuse the priest of St. George's Church in Wasta of using black magic to lure her to Christianity.

The girl's uncle lead a group of Muslims to force the Copts in town to close all their businesses until the girl is brought back to her family. Coptic owners who refused were forcefully shut down. The Shazli family, supported by local Salafists, threatened to kidnap a Christian girl if their daughter is not brought back and vowed to destroy the church after prayers on Friday, March 22nd.