A 62-year-old grandfather, Nabil Habashi Salama, has been executed by Islamic State supporters in north Sinai, Egypt.
Nabil, a Coptic Christian, was kidnapped five months ago in front of his home. As he resisted he was beaten badly before being thrown into a stolen car. Subsequently, he was shot in the back of the head, kneeling. His teeth had been broken as the extremists sought to make Nabil deny his faith.
The Salamas are known as one of the oldest Coptic families in Bir al-Abd on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai Peninsula. Nabil was a jeweller, and also owned mobile phone and clothing shops in the area. His son Peter said ISIS targeted his father for the major part he played in building the city’s St Mary Church.
In a newly-released propaganda video The Makers of Slaughter, which shows Nabil’s execution, a militant quotes the Qur’an to demand the humiliation of Christians and their payment of a tax to ensure their protection. ‘As you kill, you will be killed,’ states the video, which is aimed at ‘all the crusaders in the world’. It warns Egypt’s Christians against placing their faith in the army, and Muslims who support the Egyptian state are called ‘apostates’. Two other Sinai residents – tribesmen who co-operated with the military – are also executed in the video.
Nabil’s daughter Marina paid tribute to her father. ‘I will miss you, my father,’ she wrote. ‘You made us proud during your life with your virtues, and in your martyrdom with your strong faith.’ The Coptic Orthodox Church called Nabil ‘a faithful son and servant’ who ‘adhered to his religion until death’. It also reiterated its support for the Egyptian army and state. Such acts by ISIS, it stated, will ‘only raise our determination … to preserve our precious national unity’.
Earlier this month Egypt announced an additional 82 churches had been legalised, increasing the total to 1,882 since 2016. But the video and executions raise fears of renewed ISIS activity after a relatively long period of quiet. In 2017, the ISIS affiliate opened fire and killed over 300 Muslims whilst they were praying in a Bir al-Abd mosque, in the deadliest terror attack in modern Egyptian history. They also targeted Christians in nearby Arish, driving over 100 families from their homes.
