Three months after the Egyptian army liberated Delga from militant Muslims, Islamists and criminals are terrorising Christians in other towns across Egypt, it was reported in mid-November.
Islamists in the towns are again charging the Jizya — a Koranic fine also known as the ‘submission’ or ‘humiliation’ tax — on non-Muslims, after a lull following the retaking of Delga, said human rights activists within the country. In several towns across Egypt, Muslim extremists and criminals have set up a cottage industry persecuting Christians for profit, the activists said.
Threats
Extortionists using the threat of kidnapping, torture and murder are seizing money, land and other property from Christians throughout the southern part of the country, but mainly in Minya and Assiut Governorates.
‘What you are dealing with now is some criminals attacking Christians – Christians who own shops and things like that’, said Mina Thabet, founding member of the Maspero Youth Union.
He added that in the case of militant Islamists, persecuting Christians is seen ‘as a religious duty’.
Dozens of reports
Although exact numbers of the crimes are difficult to estimate, human rights activists say the attacks are common and widespread, affecting Christians in dozens of towns. Almost every week, there are reports of Copts kidnapped and held for ransom.
‘This past month alone, we had nine cases of kidnapping in Minya, and they all paid their ransom, which was between 100,000 and 250,000 Egyptian pounds [US$14,500 to $36,300] for each case’, said Ezat Ibrahim, director of the Minya branch of the Al-Kalema Human Rights Organisation.
Most of the kidnapping victims have been tortured, Ibrahim said. Many were tortured so severely that when they returned to their families, they were completely broken, unable to talk about their ordeals, much less report the crimes to police.
Ransom money
One victim, who works as a human rights researcher, was kidnapped in an undisclosed town in Minya and severely tortured. The kidnappers tied him up, held an automatic rifle next to his ear and fired it repeatedly. Besides the emotional damage he suffered, the shockwaves exiting the rifle combined with the muzzle blast shattered the Christian’s eardrums and burned his face. The Copt begged his family to gather the ransom money, and eventually they paid the kidnappers some 50,000 Egyptian pounds (US$7,260). He returned to his family shattered and unable to speak of the ordeal until recently.
Most of the attacks are happening in Minya Governorate, 152 miles south of Cairo, with another large share taking place in Assiut Governorate, 200 miles south of Cairo. In Manshat al-Mughlaqa, a village in Minya, a heavily-armed group led by a criminal who goes by the name of Saddam Hussein collects the Jizya by threatening to kill Christians or their children. Many Copts have paid the ‘tax’ with amounts ranging from 25,000 to 250,000 Egyptian pounds (US$3,630 to US$36,300).
Policing and justice failure
The ransom demands are enormous for the average Egyptian, with the amounts based on Muslims’ widespread perception that Copts are wealthy. And those who don’t have the means to pay have to beg for money from family and neighbours, meaning just one kidnapping can terrorise and financially drain an entire community. If victims of extortion attempts fail to submit and happen to own land, their fields and livestock are promptly set on fire.
Lack of initiative by police, perpetrators’ hatred for Christians and failure of the justice system to prosecute people attacking Christians all contribute to the extortion and allow it to continue. There is a perception that Christians can be attacked with impunity.
Thabet said: ‘If you hurt a Christian, no one is going to do anything to you’.
Morning Star News
