II. Sectarian Tension and Violence

7. The Christian-majority village of Izbat Girgis, located in the al-Fashn district of Beni Soueif, witnessed sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians on 3 July 2009 after Christians held prayer services in a building in the village. The violence left at least five Muslims and two Christians injured; in addition, an uninhabited Christian-owned home and tractor were torched.

According to information obtained by EIPR researchers, the incident began when a local Christian decided to use one floor of the religious services building in the village, operated by the bishopric of Biba, al-Fashn and Samsata, as a place for Christians to worship. Father Simaan Shehata Rizqallah, the local priest, told EIPR researchers that the place in which village Christians are allowed to worship is very small—35 meters—and must serve nearly 1,500 Christians, forcing Christians in the village to pray in the street. As a consequence, a few months ago they began to outfit the second floor of the bishopric’s services building for worship services. “But State Security warned us later not to pray in the building, saying that it was very close to one of the village mosques and that Muslims in the Izba refused to allow a Christian place of worship that close to a mosque,” Father Simaan said.

At dawn on Friday, 3 July 2009, a fire broke out in an uninhabited home near the services building owned by a Christian citizen in the village; Father Simaan Shehata resides on the fourth floor of the services building. Villagers managed to put out the fire before firefighters arrived, and Father Simaan accused the guards of the services building of starting the fire. Before noon on Friday, dozens of village Muslims attacked local Christians and their property. Both sides engaged in stone throwing and fights with clubs, ultimately leaving a 15-year-old girl with a head wound. Unconscious and with her nose bleeding, she was taken to the Beni Soueif General Hospital for x-rays and tests. Another Christian and at least five Muslims were also injured.

The same day, security arrested 5 Muslims and 13 Christians, who were immediately brought before a prosecutor and charged with rioting, inflicting physical blows and causing injury; they were all placed under preventive detention. The prosecutor’s office later ordered the arrest of a police guard, Gibrail Ramadan Gomaa, who was charged with hitting, assaulting and injuring the Christian girl; he was placed under preventive detention. The security apparatus set up a cordon around the village for at least one week and monitored people going in or out of the village.

On the evening of 9 July 2009, the two sides convened a reconciliation meeting in the home of a local Christian; the meeting was attended by Judge Ahmed Kamal, the head of the Cairo Economic Court, who hails from the al-Fashn district, as well as several local Muslims and Christians. A reconciliation agreement was drawn up and sent to the prosecutor’s office, which ordered the release of all suspects on 16 July. The security apparatus shut down the services building and placed guards around it, and the building was still closed as of the writing of this report. The security apparatus also prevented EIPR researchers from entering the village the day of the reconciliation meeting. Father Simaan Shehata told the researchers that he had received promises from the governor of Beni Soueif and State Security police that another building in the village would be set aside for Christian worship, but these promises have not yet been fulfilled.

The clashes in Izbat Girgis took place less than two weeks after similar clashes in Izbat Bushra al-Sharqiya, also located in the al-Fashn district only a few kilometers from Izbat Girgis. Those clashes also began after local Christians held worship services in a building in the village (see paragraph 16 of the Second Quarterly Report, 2009).

8. On the evening of 6 July 2009, both parties involved in the case of the attack on the Abu Fana Monastery in May 2008 asked the Attorney-General of the Southern Minya Prosecutor’s Office for permission to enter new statements in the case (no. 3128/2008). The attack on the monastery came against the background of a dispute over ownership rights to the land surrounding the monastery, claimed by both the local monks and the Bedouins residing in the area. Attorneys for both parties filed reconciliation affidavits, signed by the monks of Abu Fana Monastery and Mohamed Miftah Eissa, the father of the Muslim man killed during the attacks. The affidavits contained statements contrary to those given by both parties to the prosecutor at the outset of the investigation. In the new statements, both parties withdrew the allegations they had lodged at the beginning of the investigation and renounced all their civil claims in the case.

On 8 July 2009, the daily al-Masry al-Youm published the reconciliation affidavits of the monks and Arabs in Abu Fana. According to the paper, several monks stated, “Given the circumstances surrounding the incident—a nighttime battle and unclear visibility—and because of our great fatigue and inability to focus, we accused certain people of engaging in abduction, appropriation, theft, attempted murder, injury, vandalism, arson and weapons’ possession, but later, when we saw these people close up, it became clear to us that we could not identify them…This statement was made freely and without material compensation.” The paper also carried the affidavit of the Muslim man whose son was killed during the events; he said that he “heard several gunshots and when [he] looked, he saw [his] son leaving the farm to see what was happening. We found a tractor heading toward us, carrying people who were shooting at us, and my son was killed. Due to the distance, we could not identify who was shooting at us.”

After the reconciliation was concluded and the new statements submitted to the prosecutor, the Ministry of Interior in mid-August 2009 released two Christians and two Muslims who had been under administrative detention since the clashes in accordance with provisions of the Emergency Law.

An earlier report issued by the EIPR stated that the Abu Fana Monastery came under armed assault on 9 January 2008 by nearly 20 people, as a result of which some eight monks’ residential cells were destroyed. A monk was also shot at and injured by shrapnel in his hand (see paragraph 10 of the First Quarterly Report, 2008). A few months later, on 31 May 2008, one Muslim farmer was shot and killed—the source of the gunfire is still unknown—and seven monks from the monastery were injured, among them three monks who were abducted and later released by Bedouins living in the area. A small church near the monastery’s farm was also destroyed along with all of its contents. Several monks’ cells were torched, two bee and mushroom farms were demolished and property belonging to the monastery was stolen, including a tractor, agricultural equipment and a computer (see paragraph 10 of the Second Quarterly Report, 2008).

9. On 9 July 2009, Christians were the target of sectarian violence in the village of al-Sanquriya, located in the Beni Mazar district of Minya, following rumors of a romantic relationship between a Christian man and a married Muslim woman. The attacks left two Christians with light injuries; and a mobile phone shop owned by a Christian man along with several Christian homes in the village were vandalized.

According to information obtained by EIPR researchers, several village Muslims carrying clubs gathered in front of a shop owned by the Christian man. They proceeded to break the door of the shop, enter and steal its property, after which they attacked several Christian homes, inflicting much damage, before security forces arrived and stopped the assault.

The same day, security forces arrested Raafat Sami, the owner of the shop, although he was not present in the village on the day of the attacks. Indeed, he was out of the village pursuant to temporary security directives, issued because of the rumors, according to statements made by Father Philips Ibrahim, the village priest, to EIPR researchers. Security forces also arrested Hamada Eid Ismail and Mohamed Mustafa Mohamed for their involvement in the events. The latter was released by police on 29 September 2009, but the other two men remained in administrative detention as of the writing of this report.

A few days before the assaults, the Muslim woman and her husband had filed a police report in the Beni Mazar police station naming a group of local Muslims as the source of the rumor. The woman denied any relationship between herself and the Christian youth.

10. On the morning of 11 July 2009, the Abaskheroun al-Qallini Church, located in Izbat Basilius in the Beni Mazar district of Minya, was set on fire and a large section of it destroyed; the church’s application for a license is still pending. Local Muslims and Christians accused one another of responsibility for the fire. A Christian eyewitness who lives in a house adjacent to the church told EIPR researchers that she saw two village Muslims (she identified them by name), one of them carrying a can of gasoline, enter the church from the side door. She also saw dozens of village Muslims gather in front of the main door carrying clubs and observing the church burn. The blaze went on for nearly two hours—during which the building’s wooden roof caved in—before firefighters arrived. The witness added that she made this same statement to the prosecutor. At the same time, a village Muslim denied this version of events in his statement to the prosecutor, saying he saw a local Christian named Reda Zaki leaving the church carrying a can of gasoline. The witness said that the prosecutor took statements from five other village Muslims after the fire.

Several hours after the fire erupted, security forces arrested Reda Zaki and brought him before the prosecutor, who charged him with arson and ordered him jailed for 12 days, after which he was released on bail of LE500. Reda Zaki told EIPR researchers that while he was attempting to put out the fire in the church, several policemen arrested him, took him to the police station and charged him with setting fire to the church.

On Friday, 11 September 2009, several villagers convened a reconciliation meeting involving Muslims and Christians. The two parties signed a reconciliation agreement, which, according to Father Anjilius Botros, the church priest, contained three points: “friendship and brotherhood between Muslims and Christians is reinstated; there is no objection to either Christian or Muslim worship; there is no objection to the establishment of a church in the village, but after the necessary government license is granted.”

The security apparatus stationed guards at the burned building and prevented local Christians from repairing or using it.

11. After the Friday prayer on 17 July 2009, some 2,000 Muslims from the village of al-Fuqai, located in the Biba district of Beni Soueif, attacked a building belonging to the Christian Love Association and several homes inhabited by Christians after rumors spread in the village that Christians intended to turn the building into a church. The rumor began to spread in the village after Father Gibrail, the village priest, held church services in the building on 15 July 2009, attended by many people, some from outside the village. During the service, several students were honored.

Information obtained by EIPR researchers indicates that after the Friday prayer some 2,000 local Muslims headed to the association’s building, chanting slogans against Christians and the presence of a church in the village. They began throwing stones at the association building and nearby Christian homes, breaking in and vandalizing some of the homes. Security forces arrived after the assault began, but they did not arrest any of those involved in the attacks. No police report or complaint were filed to the prosecutor. Security forces shut down the association building and prevented Christian villagers from praying in it. The closest church is in the Biba district, some five kilometers from the village.

Father Gibrail told EIPR researchers that Christians in al-Fuqai have been regularly holding religious services in the association building for years, and that State Security police officers and village Muslims are aware of this. “On Wednesday, 15 July, we held a mass,” he added. “During the mass, two cars carrying relatives of local residents and the students who were going to be honored for their outstanding performance arrived from the nearby villages. They attended mass with us and we honored them. After that, security forces warned us that there was some security tension because of the mass, and in those two days, detectives were deployed in the village to monitor the situation. Then on Friday, village Muslims came out of the mosque chanting and attacked the building and a nearby house and stole some of the contents.” A village Christian told EIPR researchers that although the names of some of those who took part in the attack were reported, security forces took no measures against them. The witness said that the chants and stone throwing terrified women and children.

The EIPR learned that a reconciliation meeting was convened on 18 July, attended by the head of the village council and several representatives of Muslim and Christian families in the village; no church representatives attended. The Muslim representatives pledged during the meeting that the incident would not be repeated without addressing the status of the association building, which was still closed as of the writing of this report.

12. On 24 July 2009, after the Friday prayer, many Muslims—newspaper reports estimated some 2,000 people—from the village of al-Hawasiliya, located in the Minya district of the Minya governorate, attacked a building owned by the independent Baptist Assembly and set fire to it. Three Christian homes were also torched, in addition to several livestock pens. The attacks left two Christians injured and several livestock dead. The attack was sparked by local Muslims’ objections to the building of another church in the village, where a Catholic church already stands.

According to information obtained by EIPR researchers, Baptist Christians in the village started construction on the three-story building about a year ago. A committee from the Evangelical Confessional Council in Cairo, of which the Baptists are a part, was scheduled to survey the building on 25 July 2009, but two days before the committee members arrived, Father Milad Shehata, the village priest who lives in the building, was summoned to the police station and questioned about the two plaster crosses that had been added to the building’s facade. A State Security officer asked him to remove the crosses, and when the priest refused, he was referred to the prosecutor’s office, which questioned him on suspicion of building a church without a permit (according to police report no. 7907/2009). The prosecutor ordered his release and he was released later that evening.

The following morning, the priest was again summoned to the police station, where he was detained, after which several security forces vehicles were dispatched to the village. After the Friday prayer, several Muslims headed toward the building chanting slogans against Christians and against the presence of a church in the village; some of them were carrying gas canisters. In the midst of a heavy security presence, the assailants then set fire to the building, nearby houses and livestock pens. The fire moved to a house adjacent to the building owned by a Muslim.

Security forces arrested 40 people from the village, 25 Muslims and 15 Christians, after the incident. They were brought before the prosecutor, charged with vandalism and arson, and detained pending investigations into the incident. On 6 August 2009, the prosecutor ordered the release of the suspects—among them five children—after a reconciliation meeting attended by Muslim and Christian villagers, local leaders and officials. The reconciliation agreement was submitted to the prosecutor’s office, after which it issued the release order. Despite the order, however, security forces arrested and detained 20 of the suspects—12 Muslims and 8 Christians—under the provisions of the Emergency Law; they were still detained as of the writing of this report.

13. On 31 July 2009, a fight between a Muslim and a Christian in the village of Dafash, located in the Samalut district of the Minya governorate, devolved into sectarian clashes between dozens of Muslims and Christians, which left three Christians injured, one of them seriously. Information obtained by the EIPR indicates that the incident began when Mustafa Khamis Farag ran his motorcycle into farm animals owned by Nagi Hanin Fawzi, sparking an argument. News quickly spread that a Christian was assaulting a local Muslim and, in reaction, dozens of Muslims—eyewitnesses put the number at about 100—came carrying clubs and stones to Nagi Hanin’s home. Muslim-Christian clashes erupted, during which Hanin sustained a severe head injury that required medical attention, and he was taken to the Minya University Hospital. His brother, Reda Hanin, also sustained a head injury that required 16 stitches; his uncle, Youssef Fawzi, sustained an injury on his forehead that required 10 stitches.

Security forces arrived in the village after the clashes and took control of the situation, arresting four people: Mustafa Khamis Farag, his brother Ayman, Reda Hanin Fawzi Eskandr and his uncle Youssef Fawzi Eskandr. All four were brought before the prosecutor in Samalut, who placed Mustafa and Ayman under preventive detention and released the other two men. Nevertheless, the latter two men were detained inside the police station until an administrative detention order was issued for them, in accordance with provisions in the Emergency Law, on 13 August 2009; they were still detained as of the writing of this report. On 16 September 2009, the prosecutor ordered the release of Mustafa and Ayman Khamis, but administrative detention orders were issued for them as well and they were still detained as of the writing of this report.

The village of Dafash was the scene of a dispute on 24 September 2008 between a Muslim and Christian that also grew into sectarian clashes (see paragraph 16 of the Third Quarterly Report, 2008). In addition, the village witnessed a demonstration organized by hundreds of Christians on 5 June 2008 in front of a church after a Coptic youth was killed in the village the same day. A local Muslim stabbed him in a field, allegedly as revenge for spying on the home of his brother and wife. The perpetrator was arrested, charged with murder and indicted, but about a week after the incident, a reconciliation meeting was convened, during which the killer’s family agreed to pay an indemnity to the family of the deceased. On 5 October 2008, the Minya Criminal Court sentenced the perpetrator to one year in prison (suspended), after the victim’s family renounced their civil claims before the court (see paragraph 15 of the Second Quarterly Report, 2008).



14. On 8 August 2009, the Emergency Supreme State Security Court rejected an appeal from the Minister of Interior contesting the court’s release order for six people—three Muslims and three Christians—who were arrested following sectarian clashes on 13 May 2009 in the Saft al-Laban area of the Bulaq al-Dakrur district of Giza. The clashes left injuries on both sides and resulted in some property damage (see paragraph 14 of the Second Quarterly Report, 2009). Pursuant to the court order, the following day the six people were moved from the Burg al-Arab Prison to the Bulaq al-Dakrur police station, where they were detained for five days before finally being released on 14 August, according to a statement given to EIPR researchers by one of the detainees.

15. On 28 August 2009, clashes between Muslims and Christians erupted during the Mar Girgis moulid held in the village of Miyyit Damsis, located in the Aga district of Dakahliya.

Six people were injured in the clashes, and two cars and some of the visitors’ tents were vandalized. According to information obtained by the EIPR, sectarian tensions have been running high in the village since early August after news spread that the governor of Dakahliya was banning all moulids and religious festivals in the governorate, including the Muslim moulid of Sidi Mohamed Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, which was scheduled for the first week of August in Miyyit Damsis. The ban was instituted as a protective measure against the spread of the H1N1 virus and came as a response to Ministry of Health directives proposing the suspension of all moulids this year. But the governor made an exception for the Mar Girgis moulid (celebrated by Christians), held on 25-29 August in the village. The daily al-Dustour reported on 15 August 2009 that fliers were distributed to village Muslims decrying the decree and demanding a unified ban, including on the Mar Girgis moulid. The paper warned of “the seeds of a sectarian crisis.”

Father Makari Gabriel, the trustee of the Mar Girgis Monastery in the village, told EIPR researchers that a fight erupted between some Christian visitors and a village Muslim on 28 August. Matters escalated from there, drawing in groups of village Muslims and sparking clashes with some Christians. The security apparatus arrested seven Muslims and five Christians the same day and referred them to the prosecutor’s office for questioning; the prosecutor jailed them pending investigations into the matter. Security forces cancelled the final night of the Mar Girgis moulid, scheduled for 29 August, and the next day, the prosecutor released all the detainees.

It should be noted that a fire erupted in Miyyit Damsis on 19 August, burning 12 of the tents set up to receive moulid visitors, who number more than one million every year.

16. On the morning of 17 September 2009, one Christian was killed and two were injured, one of them critically, by a Muslim man in the al-Bagour district of Monufiya. Statements from the victims and eyewitnesses collected by EIPR researchers indicate that the victims were targeted as Christians.


According to information obtained by EIPR researchers, Abduh Jurji Yunan, 65, was killed on 17 September after Usama Nasr Urban stabbed him several times with a large knife in his chest, on the side and the head. He then cut his throat in the presence of several passersby and neighbors in front of the Sarugi car shop in al-Bagour, which was owned by the victim.

The perpetrator moved on to the village of Bahnay, located four kilometers from al-Bagour, where he entered a shoe store owned by Adib Masiha, 40, and stabbed him several times. Masiha told EIPR researchers (as well as the prosecutor) that the morning of the attack he was standing in his father’s shoe shop in front of the sewing machine with his back to the shop door when he heard a voice say, “You infidel, you Nazarene.” He then felt a stab in his back that brought him to he ground. The perpetrator continued to stab him in the back, his right side and his head; as a result he sustained a skull fracture and was stabbed in his palm. Masiha was taken to the Shebin al-Kom Hospital where he underwent several surgeries to stop the bleeding and stitch his wounds. Masiha told EIPR researchers that there were no disputes or previous incidents between himself and the attacker, adding that he did not know why the man tried to kill him.

Zarif Sidhom Yunan, Masiha’s cousin and an eyewitness, told EIPR researchers that on the day of the attack he and his son Maged were standing in their clothing store, adjacent to Masiha’s shop, when they heard a scream in the street. They went out and into Masiha’s shop and saw Usama Nasr stabbing Masiha with a big knife; Masiha was on the ground in a pool of blood. When Yunan went toward his cousin to help him, the attacker looked at him and said, “You’re next, Zarif.” The assailant then chased Yunan and his young son in the street for quite some time before finally giving up. Yunan told EIPR researchers that when he went to the police station to report the attempted assault, he was told that he had no right to file a police report since he was not injured.

The perpetrator then went to the neighboring village of Miyyit Afif, where he stabbed Hani Barsoum, 30, who was standing in front of the smith shop he owns. Barsoum told EIPR researchers that while he was standing in front of his smith shop the day of the attack, he saw the perpetrator coming toward him on a motorcycle driven by a person named Ragab (who told the prosecutor that he was driving the motorcycle under duress.) Usama Nasr came toward Barsoum and, taking him unaware, stabbed him in the neck before Barsoum’s shop assistant, Mohamed Hassan, intervened. Hassan picked up a piece of iron attempting to save Barsoum, who managed to escape. Nasr then chased him brandishing the knife and saying, “I’m going to kill them all. Bring me that Christian.” Barsoum managed to enter a house and lock the door behind him, after which Nasr got on the motorcycle and disappeared. Barsoum was taken to the Shebin al-Kom Hospital, where he received stitches in his neck.




Usama Nasr Urban was arrested the following day and questioned by the al-Bagour prosecutor. He was charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder, and was detained pending the investigations in the case. He was still detained as of the writing of this report.
Dozens of people who took part in the funeral procession of Abduh Jurji Yunan on Thursday, 24 September, held up signs saying, “We demand a fair trial,” “No to bigotry, no to terrorism,” “Stop the scandal of attacks on Copts,” “No to the neglect of Copts’ rights” and “We seek protection in you, Mubarak, from security’s failure to protect Copts.”

17. A fight between a Christian child and a Muslim child sparked sectarian clashes between some Muslims and Christians in the village of al-Ismailiya, located in the Minya province of Minya, on 17 September 2009. Press reports indicate that the clashes left nine people injured, among them three Christians and six Muslims. After the clashes, security forces arrested 13 people, among them three Christians and 10 Muslims, and brought them before the prosecutor, who questioned them and ordered them detained for four days pending investigations into the case. The prosecutor’s office released seven of the detainees on 19 September, including two children and one woman. On 24 September, the rest of the detainees were released after submitting to the prosecutor an official reconciliation report in which all parties withdrew their complaints.

According to information obtained by EIPR, the fight between the children began when the Christian boy tore down Ramadan decorations put up by the Muslim boy. Members of both families intervened, after which the news spread through the village. Dozens of Muslims and Christians gathered, threw stones at one another and engaged in physical violence with clubs and knives.

18. On 22 September 2009, a fight erupted between a Christian and a Muslim in the village of Girgawi, located in the Matay district of Minya, sparking clashes between dozens of Muslims and members of the Christian family. According to information obtained by EIPR, Zaki Habib Hanin and Mansour Rashid Mohamed began fighting when Mohamed’s son’s ball ended up in Hanin’s house. After news of the fight spread in the village, dozens of Muslims gathered in front of the Christian family’s home chanting religious and anti-Christian slogans. One village Muslim hit Mina, Hanin’s son, injuring him in the head. Hanin also sustained bruising on his arms as a result of the fight. According to eyewitness, police forces arrived about an hour after the clashes began. They broke up the fight and arrested Mansour Rashid, Zaki Hanin and his two sons Mina and Hani, as well as a fourth Christian, Hanna Mahrous.

Following the intervention of the mayor of the neighboring village of al-Tal, the two parties signed a reconciliation agreement in the Matay police station withdrawing their complaints, and the detainees were released the same night. That same evening, the parties convened a customary arbitration meeting in the home of the local sheikh of the neighboring Ali Basha village; the meeting was attended by the mayor of Girgawi and both parties to the dispute. At the end of the meeting, Mohamed wrote a check for LE10,000, which was entrusted to the Girgawi mayor; in the event of a repeated assault, the check will be given to Hanin. It was also agreed that if either party assaulted the other in the future, the assailant would pay LE30,000 to the victim. The two parties both signed checks in this amount as well and turned them over to the mayor of Girgawi for safekeeping.

19. Hundreds of Christians from the village of Dalga, located in the Deir Mawas district of Minya, organized protests and sit-ins on Sunday, 27 September 2009. Earlier the same day, three Muslim brothers killed Hanna Amin Rizq and critically injured his brothers, Maher and Maurice, and nephew Ashraf Maher Rizq following a fight that took place in a parking lot in Dalga. Copts demonstrated in front of the Deir Mawas hospital and staged a sit-in there until the next morning, after which they moved inside the Church of the Virgin and Father Abram. The incident took place less than 50 days after another Christian, Fathi Gayyid Fadallah, was killed in the village, on 10 August 2009, by a Muslim and his nephew following a fight the previous day between the Muslim and Christian’s sons.

Eyewitnesses told EIPR researchers that village Christians continued to protest until 29 September, chanting slogans decrying security failures and holding up signs that said “No to persecution of Copts,” “No to the shedding of Hanna’s blood,” “Hanna is a martyr of sectarian strife,” and “They killed Fathi, they killed Hanna…who’s next?” There were also Muslim-Christian clashes in the village during Hanna Rizq’s funeral procession on 29 September, and several Muslims threw stones at funeral marchers and the Church of the Virgin and Father Abram and chanted slogans about the victory of Islam. Christian youth threw stones as well and began chanting, “With spirit and blood, we will redeem you, O cross.” The clashes left at least three local Christians injured, despite a heavy security presence in the village that was deployed only hours after Hanna Rizq was killed.

The Deir Mawas prosecutor’s office is currently investigating the murder of Fathi Gayyid Fadlallah, having charged Hisham Hamdi Shehata and his nephew, Taha Ahmed Hamdi, with premeditated murder; the suspects are being detained pending the findings of the ongoing investigation.

On 15 October 2009, the Attorney-General with the Minya prosecutor’s office issued an indictment order for Nayil Mansour Sahrab and his brother Alaa, who were brought before the Minya Criminal Court in case no. 11577/2009 regarding the murder of Hanna Rizq and the injury of his two brothers and nephew. The suspects were charged with assault leading to death and causing injury, according to Samir Lamai, the victims’ attorney.