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| Africa North | ||
| At least 20 Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya | ||
| 2015-01-04 | ||
| Masked gunmen in central Libya kidnapped 13 Coptic Christians on Saturday after seven were abducted days earlier, said a witness and a priest, in a new wave of assaults against Egypt’s Christians working in the war-torn North African nation plagued with extremists. Witness Hanna Aziz said that the gunmen in the Libyan city of Sirte went room to room in their residence at 2.30am on Saturday and asked for identification papers to separate Muslim workers from Christians. Aziz says the gunmen handcuffed the Christians and drove away with them. “They were 15 armed and masked men who came in four vehicles. They had a list of full names of Christians in the building. While checking IDs, Muslims were left aside while Christians were grabbed,” Aziz said, adding that he survived simply because he didn’t open his door. “I heard my friends screaming but they were quickly shushed at gunpoint. After that, we heard nothing,” said Aziz who said he has three relatives among the hostages. “I am still in my room waiting for them to take me. I want to die with them,” he added. Abu Makar, a Coptic priest in the workers’ hometown of Samalout in southern Egypt, confirmed the abduction took place. He said seven other Coptic Christians from Samalout were taken while trying to escape Sirte a few days earlier. Sirte has become a safe haven for extremist groups like Ansar Al Shariah, blamed for the September 2013 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi that killed US ambassador Chris Stevens. The abduction came on the heels of the killing of a Coptic couple — who used to work as doctors in Sirte— and their daughter. There was no immediate comment from the Egyptian government.
In March 2013, dozens of Coptic Christians were tortured inside a detention centre run by a powerful militia in Benghazi. The men, who were suspected of proselytizing, were rounded up in a market by gunmen who checked their right wrists for tattoos of crosses, a common mark worn by many Egyptian Christians. Egyptians became a top target for the militias after the Egyptian government began supporting the Libyan army battling militants. “We are witnessing a pattern of persecution against Christians in Egypt; I fear for the lives of the hostages,” said Magdi Malak, a Cairo-based activist involved in the case. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |