The following report is exclusive to CFI from direct sources.
CAIRO, EGYPT – In recent weeks, open persecution of minority Christians in Egypt has increased alarmingly. Muslims are making it known that the practice of Christianity will not be tolerated. In two separate incidents in Minya province, large violent mobs attacked and destroyed Christian homes and properties simply on the rumor that they were to be used as churches.
On Thursday, June 30, at 12:30 am, a Muslim mob looted and burned four houses owned by Christians in Koum Al-Loofy village after rumors circulated that a Christian-owned house under construction would be turned into a church.
Ashraf Khalaf, a Christian farmer, was renovating his small, one-story house. As he began to rebuild it, rumors spread among Muslim villagers that Ashraf was building a church.
“When I began to rebuild my house, I received many threats from the fanatic Muslims in the village that they were going to attack me and my family if I continued to build it,” Ashraf told CFI.
“I then headed to the village mayor asking him to intervene and protect us from the threats of those fanatic people. He asked me to go to police station and sign a pledge that this building would be used only as a house and not to be used as a church.
Photos provided by our CFI co-worker in Egypt
I immediately took the mayor and my brothers and headed to the police station and signed the pledge,” Ashraf told CFI.
“On Thursday night a Muslim mob gathered in the front of my house shouting Allahu Akbar. They set fire to my house, as they shouted Allahu Akbar.”
“My three brothers and I and our wives and children left our houses and properties and escaped when the mob attacked. The mob broke into the three houses of my brothers, looting all the content of them and they then set fire to them till they were burned down completely while shouting Allahu Akbar as well,” Ashraf said to CFI.
Police arrived on the scene hours after the four houses were looted and completely burned down.
Following the attack, Muslims threatened the Christian families telling them to rescind all complaints with the police. The families were told that their children would be kidnapped and killed if they complained to the police.
Photos provided by our CFI co-worker in Egypt
Christian Pre-School Burned Down
On Friday evening, July 15, a Muslim mob attacked multiple Christian homes and properties after rumors circulated that a children’s daycare in the first level of a Christian-owned house would be turned into church.
The existing village church, called St. Mina Coptic Orthodox church, rented two rooms in house owned by a Christian man to be used as a pre-school/nursery for Christian children of Abou Yaccoub village.
Photos provided by our CFI co-worker in Egypt
Milad Thabet, a Christian resident in Abou Yaccoub village, told CFI, “On Friday evening, July 15, at about 9:10 pm, more than 1000 angry Muslims from our village and other nearby villages gathered in the front of the Christian-owned house which includes the pre-school nursery and were shouting Allahu Akbar. They then broke into the house, looted the contents, and set it on fire till it burned completely. They then broke into four Christian-owned houses adjacent to the house which includes the pre-school nursery and looted the contents of the four houses and set them on fire resulting in burning them completely.”
Photos provided by our CFI co-worker in Egypt
Police arrived on the scene several hours after the houses were destroyed. “When the police arrived at the scene, they confiscated mobile phones from the Christians who were suspected of having captured shots or video footage of the mobbing and fires for documenting their damage,” said Milad Thabet.
CFI urges Christians around the world to “remember the persecuted” in Egypt and to pray for their protection and survival.