CFI Interviews families of abducted Christians:
By CFI Field Staff in Cairo
EGYPT — with a population of almost 90,000,000, Christians make up less than 10 percent of the population and are targeted for death and growing persecution from the Sunni Muslim majority who comprise over 90 percent of Egypt’s inhabitants.
Young Child in Coptic neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt
Background
Egyptian President al-Sisi’s authoritarian style of government has to some extent restored the rule of law in Egypt, but also implies a stricter compliance with the relatively restrictive legislation related to religious affairs. This is not in the advantage of the country’s Christian population.
The large Christian minority, while facing important difficulties, has been tolerated because of its historical presence and its demographic size. In recent years this has changed, however, causing historical Christian communities to be targeted as well.
There is a small but growing community of Christian converts (Muslim Background Believers, MBBs), who bear the brunt of persecution, most often from family members.
Egypt had a majority Christian population for a thousand years before Islam became the dominant religion. In May 2012 elections, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood Party gained control of both the legislature and the presidency. As the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood grew, killings, church attacks and abductions of women also increased.
Abandoned Coptic Church in Egypt
Shariah (Islamic law) became the principal source of legislation in 1980, with persecution of Christians most prevalent in Upper Egypt. Since Egypt’s revolution in 2011, nearly 100 Coptic Christians have been killed, more than in the previous 10 years combined. In February 2013, Christian groups came together to form an Egyptian Council of Churches. Radical Muslims angered by Morsi’s removal have retaliated against Egyptian Christians, killing a priest and others.
On July 3, 2013, the elected president, Muhammad Morsi, who was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, was removed from power by the Egyptian military after millions of protesters took to the streets. Egypt has been designated a Country of Particular Concern by the USCIRF.
Muslims have selectively graffitied Christian-owned businesses to indicate potential targets during attacks, and they have warned people not to purchase from Christians. Many Christian shop owners have been forced to close their shops, and Christian women and girls have been forced to stay inside to prevent being attacked or kidnapped.
As a result, many Christians have gone to nearby Libya to find work and to provide for their families. However, in recent years, the situation for Christians in Libya has gotten worse.
The prevalence of targeted abductions and killings of Christians working in Libya has increased since the ouster of Mohammed Gaddafi in 2011. There are a series of reports that document brutal murders, hostages and abductions of Copts for no reason other than their religious identification as well as attacks on their property.
Christians are routinely killed and kidnapped in Libya because of their faith.
The following are interviews with the families of the three Christians and their cousin who were kidnapped in Libya last August 25, 2014:
Three Christian brothers Gamal Matta Hakeem Demian, Raafat Matta Hakeem Demian, Romani Matta Hakeem Demian, and their cousin, Adel Sedky Hakeem Demian were abducted by Islamic Militants on August 25, 2014 in Sirte, Libya during their return home to Assiut, Egypt.
On their way to Egypt, as they passed Sirte City, armed Islamic Militants stopped the microbus they were traveling in and asked the seven passengers to show them their passports, and when they found out that there were four Christians among the seven passengers, they ordered the four Christians to get out of the microbus, took them captive and forced the driver to continue on with the three other Egyptian Muslim passengers.
The three brothers and their cousin are still missing, no word from them.
Manal Rashid Morcos Suriel, 30 years old, the wife of Gamal Matta Hakim Demian, 36 years old, (one of the four who were taken captive in Libya) told CFI:
“I have three children named Christine, 10 years old (student in a grade four of primary school) – Youssef, 6 years old (student in a grade one of primary school) – Yousab, 5 years old. I and my three children left our rented apartment which located in Aboutig city and moved to live with my parents’ apartment which located in the same city also after my husband was kidnapped. Life becomes so bad for us, and full of sadness after the kidnapping of my husband. When my husband was working in Libya before kidnapping him, he was sending us our living expenses every month but now we have become without any income and we are in very great need. I tear when my children say to me that they miss their father so much and want to see him, I ask them to pray to God for his return to us soon. I and my Children pray every day and ask God to return my husband to us. We ask CFI to pray for us.”
Nagwa Gamal Fahim Hbeish, 29 years and 10 months old, the wife of Romani Matta Hakeem Demian,30 years old, (one of the four who were taken captive in Libya), has one daughter named Joneer, 3 years old, she told CFI, “After kidnapping my husband Romani, my life has become full with sadness, I have forgot the taste of happiness after his missing, I cannot sleep nor eat well, my case worsen over time and I feel depression and disappointment. Romani was very kind and good man, and I cannot imagine that I won’t see him again, I cannot live without him, he is all my life. I miss him so much and miss his voice, he was calling me always from Libya to ask about me and our daughter Joneer, when I remember all these beautiful memories, the tears fall from my eyes. I always pray to God for the return of my husband to us and ask all people to pray for us.”
Matta Hakeem Demian, the father of three of those abducted and the uncle of the other one, told CFI, “life has become very bad after abducting my three sons and my nephew, I’m very sad about them. We sent many complaints to many officials but none has answered us nor assured us, one year and eight months have passed since the kidnapping of my three sons and my nephew and still we don’t know anything about them. I’m very worried about them. My desire and hope to be assured and hear their voices. I pray to God to show us the truth and the fate of them. If they are alive We ask God to release them and if they were martyred, we would accept the will of God and would proud of them because they were martyred on The Name of Jesus Christ. My relationship with God and my faith have become very strong since the kidnapping of my sons comparatively the time before that. I ask CFI to pray for us.”
Libya
Persecution of Christians in Libya on the Increase…
In February 2014, seven Christian stone masons by trade, were executed in Benghazi. This is the second time Christians have been targeted in Benghazi. In March 2013, a Christian was tortured to death in a Libyan prison, after being arrested with several dozen other Christians by Benghazi militia for charges of illegal proselytizing.
Places of worship are targeted such as the bomb attack on a Christian church in Libya’s third largest city, Misrata in December 2012, leading up to the traditional New Year’s Eve mass. According to Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, the explosion killed two Egyptian citizens and wounded two others. Further, the Egyptian Coptic Church in Benghazi was set ablaze and two priests assaulted in separate incidents in 2013.
The upsurge in attacks on Christians in Libya since the Obama/Clinton supported ouster of Gaddafi is of grave concern. CFI condemns these abductions, killings and attacks on Christian property in what is becoming an increasingly inhospitable region for Christians. CFI calls for the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene and work with the Libyan authorities. CFI calls for the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protect Egyptians living in Libya in light of the instability and increased risk of persecution.
The Egyptian and Libyan Government must apprehend the perpetrators of these heinous crimes and ensure that there is justice for the victims and their families.
The International Community, in particular the United States, also shares responsibility in this case following the downfall of Gaddafi and the subsequent security vacuum that ensued.
The World Can Never Forget.
The February, 2015, horrific beheadings of 21 Christians in Libya by the group calling itself the Tripoli Province of Islamic State is a war crime and an attack on the fundamental principles of humanity.
A video published online by the media wing of the armed group showed the beheadings of 21 Christians, mostly Egyptians, on a beach in an unknown location in the province of Tripoli.
Nothing could justify the cold-blooded murder of the men who appear to have been targeted solely on account of their faith.
The video titled “A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross” showed a group of men dressed in orange jumpsuits who are paraded on the beach by masked men, then forced to kneel, and then beheaded.
A caption in the video called the captives the “people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian Church.” In the video one of the killers in camouflage declared in North-American English: “Oh people, recently you’ve seen us on the hills of Al-Sham [Greater Syria] and on Dabiq’s Plain, chopping off the heads that had been carrying the cross delusion for a long time, filled with spite against Islam and Muslims, and today we… are sending another message: Oh crusaders, safety for you will be only wishes especially when you’re fighting us all together, therefore we will fight you all together until the war lays down its burdens and Jesus peace be upon him will descend, breaking the cross, killing the swine. The sea you’ve hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood.”
Time for the Killings to Stop…
Egyptian Christians have suffered discrimination for decades, particularly in relation to building and maintaining their places of worship, while the Egyptian authorities have failed to protect the community from numerous sectarian attacks.
Religious minorities have been increasingly targeted in post al-Gaddafi Libya, and have been subjected to abductions, torture and other ill-treatment, and unlawful killings, particularly in Benghazi and Sirte. The Clinton/Obama Administration has turned a blind eye to the plight of persecuted Christians in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere.
It is time for all freedom loving people to speak out on behalf of the persecution of Christians and put an end to the genocide targeting Christians.