In recent weeks, at least nine Christians have been killed nationwide, including at least one priest. More than a dozen churches have been attacked and damaged. Coptic-owned businesses have been tagged with graffiti and threatening fliers have been distributed. Rights advocates and community leaders say the wave of persecution has been inflamed by the rhetoric of Islamists angry over the toppling of their leader.
“Copts have always been subject to religious persecution, but what happened this past week was a negative reaction to the [General] al-Sisi statement ending Morsi’s term,” said Ishaq Ibrahim, of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
“Muslim Brotherhood members were spreading rumours since then saying it is a Coptic conspiracy to exclude them from power.”
Across the capital on Friday both defenders and foes of Mr Morsi rallied supporters at competing demonstrations, one in Tahrir Square and the other around the Raba’a al-Adawiya mosque in eastern Cairo.
Some worry that the political rivalry is taking on a sectarian dimension.
Islamist supporters of Mr Morsi have latched on to Pope Tawadros, the Copts’ leader, being at the dais with Gen Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi when the latter announced the president’s ouster. However, the heads of al-Azhar mosque and university, a venerated Muslim institution, and of Nour, the ultraconservative Islamist party, also attended.
Local and international media point out that Naguib Sawiris, a Christian industrialist, allowed the anti-Morsi Tamarrod movement to use the offices of his political group, Free Egyptians. At the same time though, the Dostour party of Mohamed ElBaradei and the Popular Currents movement of Hamdeen Sabahi, both Muslims, played a far more crucial role in pushing for Morsi’s overthrow.
The litany of violence includes the killing of Mina Aboud Sharween, a priest, by unknown gunmen on July 6. The body of Magdy Lamei, a Christian salesman, was found on Thursday days after he was kidnapped and held for a ransom equivalent to $70,000. Both murders took place in the Sinai peninsula where presumed Islamist militants have launched attacks against security forces since June 30.
“I cannot accuse any faction for these crimes. It is the investigative reports that will determine that,” said Father Ayoub Youssef, a priest from the Sinai taking refuge in Cairo after his church was firebombed. “But I am asking the new government to speed up these prosecutions.”
At least four Christians were also killed in the village of Nagaa Hassan, in Luxor province. Police allegedly co-operated with a mob that stormed and burnt down dozens of homes after the death of a Muslim man in inter-communal rioting.
In a mirror-image of the distorted media campaign by secular private media against the Brotherhood and its allies, Islamists have also been spreading misinformation about Christians. In Assiut, south of Cairo, Islamists allegedly distributed leaflets accusing Christians of cursing the Prophet Mohamed during anti-government rallies.
In the town of Marsa Matruh, on the Mediterranean coast, on July 3, just after Gen al-Sisi announced the new government, a Christian house of worship was attacked.
“I heard gunshots outside between Salafis and the armed forces at around 10:30pm,” said Father Bijimi Anba-Boula. “Two hours later, an unknown group was throwing stones violently on the Holy Virgin church. I ran there and called the army for help. They broke windows with stones and burnt down the security guard quarters. I think Islamists are putting us in the same bag with liberals and other Morsi opponents. They simply persecute everybody who is not sharing their ideas.”
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By Borzou Daragahi in Cairo. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013 http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/281e19b6-eaf2-11e2-bfdb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Z3thSWbi