Amid the largest protests in his three decades rule, Egypt’s embattled President Hosni Mubarak resigned Friday, February 11, but the future of the country’s Christian minority remained uncertain as there was concern about the growing influence of Islamic hardliners in this mainly Muslim nation.
As the whole world watched Muslims protesting in the streets of Egypt, more than 15 Christians were killed outside Al-Minya, 150 miles south of Cairo.
Egypt on Sunday, January 23, blamed a Palestinian group with links to terror group Al-Qaeda of masterminding a New Year’s church attack in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria that killed as many as 24 Coptic Christians.
An Egyptian court sentenced a Muslim to death for killing six Christians along with a Muslim guarding their church in a drive-by shooting more than a year ago.
After two weeks of torture, Seble Hagos Mebrahtu, 27, died in the military training center in Sawa, Eritrea, on January 1. Reportedly, Mebrahtu was refused medical treatment for malaria and died soon after. Although it was unclear as to how long she was imprisoned in Sawa, sources state she was arrested for reading a Bible in her own bedroom.
Up to 70 Christians have been detained in Iran as part of a government crackdown on evangelical believers, Worthy News established Saturday, January 8. Most of those behind bare are thought to be former Muslims.
Somalia’s minority Christians faced new challenges Thursday, January 6, after their most comprehensive Christian library was reportedly destroyed by Muslim militants who also threatened to continue killing Christians.
Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday, January 1, urged citizens of all faiths, including Christian Copts and Muslims to resist “terrorist acts”, after a church bombing killed at least 21 people and injured nearly 80 others.
Authorities in northern and central Nigeria tried to restore calm Saturday, December 25, after suspected Muslim militants targeted churches and other sites in Christmas Eve attacks that killed as many as 38 people, police and church leaders said.
Some 130 Christian worshipers, including children, remain imprisoned in Egypt, a month after some 2,000 security forces attacked their church under re-construction, killing several people, American and local missionaries told Worthy News.
Rights activists urged Egypt’s government Friday, December 10, to free hundreds of Eritrean and other African refugees, including Christians, who they said have been held as hostages by human traffickers in the Sinai Desert for over a month, and probably sold to other dealers.
Scores of Coptic Christian children are recovering from injuries and nearly two dozen minors remain detained after Egyptian security forces opened fire on unarmed Copts protesting against the authorities’ decision to halt the construction of a church, rights investigators said Thursday, December 9.
There was international concern Friday, November 26, over the situation of 80 Eritrean refugees who rights activists said have been held hostage by people smugglers on the Egypt-Israel border for about a month.
Egypt’s attorney general has reportedly ordered the detention of 156 Christian protesters following deadly clashes with riot police in a suburb of the capital Cairo where authorities halted construction of a church, Worthy News monitored Thursday, November 25.
Thousands of Copts protested against Egyptian security forces as they attempted to stop the construction of St. Mary in Talbiya despite having the necessary building permits.
Fulani Muslims were blamed for a series of attacks on the Christian communities in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
Eritrean government officials arrested 11 Christians on Oct. 20, taking them to undisclosed locations.
Mobs of Muslims were angered following a false Al-Jazeera report that Egypt’s Christians were aligning with Israel and stockpiling weapons.
An Algerian court acquitted two Christians of breaking the Ramadan fast despite the prosecution’s demand that they be punished for “insulting Islam.”
A jailbreak of militant Muslims in northern Nigeria has raised fears that Boko Haram is planning a resurgence in murder and mayhem directed against a state already under seige.