According to Egyptian judicial sources, on Thursday, the Attorney General referred 102 Islamists to trial in the context of their attacks on Coptic churches and property in the al-Minya province during the month of August, 2013.
Immediately after the military ousted former president Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, Copts and their churches were attacked in “retaliation,” some, including a priest, killed. After the emptying of the Brotherhood “sit ins” in Rabia and elsewhere, the attacks on Copts dramatically increased, seeing some 80 of their churches torched or otherwise attacked.
The trial is set to take place in the same Minya Criminal Court where 683 Islamist supporters of ousted President Morsi sentenced to death, in a move widely criticized by the international community.
Because Islamic Sharia does not treat the Muslim and the non-Muslim (or “infidel”) as equals, and because a Muslim is not to be put to death for killing a non-Muslim, the outcome of this trial promises to be interesting.