Copts in Egypt have recently been targeted by a series of “bullying” attacks in which their properties have been confiscated and plundered by attackers. Meanwhile, Egyptian police and security forces standby powerless.
Human Rights activist Izzat Ibrahim Ezzat, branch Manager of Al Kalema Human Rights Center in Minya, has reported a series of cases in which Coptic victims have been held at gun point, their property confiscated and ordered to pay a “ransom” to get their property back.
One such instance concerns a cab driver, Nagy Helmy, whose capturers entered his cab and ordered him to pay 10,000 Egyptian Pounds at gun point in order to get his taxi back. A similar incident happened when another Coptic citizen, Wael Samir, who ended up paying a similar amount.
Perhaps more bizarrely, the Coptic Christians of a village called Baderman have been terrorized by what has been described as the village bully, Ali Hussein Ali (nicknamed Bholako). According to Izzat, Ali has turned the Christian villagers’ life into a living to hell, imposing royalties and plundering their land. It was reported he even murdered a Copt and his son after the two filed a complaint against him. He remains free and hasn’t been arrested, although there is a warrant for this arrest. The same man, Ali, has usurped the land of another Copt, Kamal Iskandar Youssef, and expelled its tenants while building property on the 12-acre-land, and imposed royalties and taxes on tens of people in that village.
Izzat continued by saying that security forces advised the inhabitants of the village to pay Ali so they could get their property back. The Christian villagers are in awe at the security situation that has allowed their “bully” to amass massive amounts of money over the past year and a half.
Translated by Coptic Solidarity; originally published by Free Christian Voice, 8/12/12