Persecution of Christians in Egypt: we remain in prayer for our brothers and sisters of the Coptic Orthodox Christian Church in Egypt as they are persecuted on a nearly daily basis for their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, often by governing officials who should be protecting them, as in this case. The grief of the Coptic community in this case is manifold: one Christian was killed, two others were injured, and to add insult to injury, Coptic-owned shops were ruined and their livelihood destroyed. Authorities in Egypt are, as in so many other places, unlikely to give them justice.
Not only the Copts, but also our 300,000 Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters in Egypt suffer sporadic persecution, discrimination, and harassment, and as we see so often, frequently Egyptian officials do little or nothing to alleviate their plight.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Egypt, see here.
“Copt stabbed to death, two injured in hate crime in al-Alexandria,” WataniNet, December 14, 2020:
The Coptic man, together with two others who were injured, were victims of a hate crime that shook Egypt, and which took place in the Alexandria district of al-Wardayan. The Senators and MPs attended the funeral service for Mr Hermina, officiated by Anba Illarion. The visibly grieved Bishop then rode in the vehicle carrying the coffin of the deceased to the cemetery. There, the coffin was carried in a deacon procession followed by shocked and grieved family and friends from the gate to the tomb in which he was buried.
Ramsis Hermina had been in his shop where he sells plastics and household goods in Wardayan on the evening of 10 December, when he was attacked by the well known local thug Nasser Ahmed Muhammed who goes by the name Nasser al-Sambo. Sambo and his two brothers Ali and Anwar are famous for their religious fanaticism and hatred of Christians, and have always harassed local Copts, especially the shop owners on the street where they live, with whom they had frequent disputes. Sambo had served time in prison on thuggery and law breaking charges. Once out of prison he escalated his harassment of Copts, claiming they had testified against him and thus secured his prison sentence.
On the morning of 10 December, the mother of the Sambos, who was in poor health, died. A few hours later, Nasser Sambo and one of his brothers left their home in a fit of rage, and headed to the Copts’ shops armed with knives, a sword, and clubs, shouting obscenities and abuse against Christians, and accusing them of being the cause of the mother’s death. Mr Hermina, who was then in his shop, heard the commotion and sensed there would be trouble so proceeded to take in goods that he usually places outside his shop to display to passers-by. But the Sambo brothers were too quick for him; they caught him, the Sambo brother held him tight for Nasser Sambo to stab him in the right abdomen and neck. Mr Hermina fell just as as his brother Adel, 60, who owns a shop next to his, and another Coptic neighbour shop owner, Tareq Fawzy Shenouda, rushed to the rescue. Adel Hermina was stabbed in his left side, while Mr Shenouda was hit on the head with a club and stabbed close to the heart. The Sambos ruined all three shops and the goods in them.
The police was called and the three Copts rushed to hospital. Ramsis Hermina breathed his last, Adel Hermina was treated and discharged from hospital two days later, and Mr Shenouda underwent surgery and was moved to intensive care….
