Large crowds attended the funeral of 14-year-old Christian, Ishak Nashaat Birwan, on 21 December at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Izziyah village the day after his body was found.
He had disappeared 11 days before, and his body was found in a canal near where he lived in a large Christian village near Manfalout in Asyut. Samir Fekry, Ishak’s cousin, said the body was taken to the morgue for a post-mortem. ‘Ishak’s body had no eyes and there were signs of torture on different parts of his body,’ he said. The hospital is yet to issue the Forensic Medicine Report which establishes the cause of death.
Always had a smile
The church’s pastor, the Revd Adel Rafaat, said: ‘Ishak was a very good young man, he was one of our church members. He was loved by all of us and he loved everybody. He always had a smile. He was targeted and killed because of his faith, because he is Christian. Extremists chose a young man from our village because our village is a big Christian village and their aim was to turn the Christmas joy of the villagers to sadness.’
