ICC Note: Egyptian Christians remain in a state of intense anxiety, not knowing when the next violent attack will come to their door or confront them in the streets. In the context of an extremely unstable state the Christian community has regularly come under attack and security forces appear either unable or unwilling to bring an end to the violence. The current government is implementing harsh crackdowns that have limited the rights of protesters, but in many cases this serves only to increase the intensity of the outrage.

By George Thomas

05/01/2014 Egypt (CBN News) – On August 20, 2013 in the small village of Delga, four hours south of Cairo, Egypt, thousands of radical Muslims went on a rampage.

“We were at work when we heard Muslims were burning churches,” Boutrous, a Christian living in Delga at the time, said. Boutrous’s real name was not given for security purposes.

“Leaders in the mosques were telling Muslims to attack Christians and kill them,” he said.

Boutrous and his father Iskander, both Christians, were in their family barber shop when a mob of Muslims attacked them.

“They broke into the shop, took everything and burned the place down,” Boutrous said.

Caught on Tape

Boutrous managed to escape, but his father wasn’t so fortunate.

“They caught my father and shot him multiple times. Then they dragged his body to the mosque,” Boutrous said.

That afternoon, someone with a cell phone recorded a video of Boutrous’ father’s body, riddled with bullets, being dragged through the streets.

“When they reached the mosque they tied his body to a tractor and dragged him through the village again.”

The mob continued to mutilate his father’s body while chanting ‘Allahu Akbar,’ Arabic for ‘god is great.’

He was buried hours later in a nearby cemetery.

“The next day some people dug up his body and dragged it through the village again. They did this three times that day,” Boutrous said.

Boutrous and his family have since escaped from Delga.

“We have no money, no clothes, no job, our home is destroyed, and our business is destroyed,” he said.

Expect Death at Any Time

Delga is part of the Minya province, center of the worst violence against Christians in seven centuries.

Anba Macarius is head bishop of Minya’s Coptic Church.

“Three hundred homes, 100 businesses, 15 churches and about 10 Christian organizations were destroyed in my province,” he said from his parish in Minya Province, home to the largest number of Christians in Egypt.

Macarius said the killing and arson attacks happened because Christians supported the removal of former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood government.

Since then, more than 100 churches and hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed. The government says it will try to rebuild all the places of worship.

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