Egyptian Christians, in mid-December, criticised prison sentences issued in connection with an outbreak of violence against their community.
On December 15, three Christians were jailed – one for 25 years, the other two for 15 years – for the death of a Muslim, while no-one has even been charged over the deaths of five Christians. At least six Muslims were convicted of vandalising churches and Christian property, and each jailed for either three or five years.
The case relates to an attack on the Christian community in al-Khosous in April. It was the worst outbreak of anti-Christian violence during the presidency of the Islamist Mohammad Morsi.
Nothing has changed
Beshoy Tamry of the Maspero Youth Union, a Christian activist group, said it was hoped that Christians would receive more equitable treatment following Morsi’s removal, adding: ‘But today proved that nothing changed. The regime has not changed its system of using the judiciary against Christians’.
