Egyptian Christian ‘Framed’ in Sexual Assault Case
ICC Note: The Egyptian government blames the Nag Hammadi shooting of Coptic Christians on retaliation for an incident of sexual assault against a Muslim girl. However, evidence proves otherwise. The attack can be viewed in no other way than a direct sectarian Muslim attack targeting the Coptic Christian minority.
By Jeremy Reynalds
1/30/2010 Egypt (ANS) – The drive-by shooting of Coptic Christians by extremist Muslims has been condemned by public opinion worldwide.
According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih of the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), the incident, which killed six people and wounded nine, occurred on Jan. 6 after Copts finished celebrating the Orthodox Christmas Eve midnight Mass in the southern town of Nagaa Hammadi.
AINA commented that to contain possible public relations damage to Egypt’s image, and to minimize fallout from the incident, “government spin doctors” went into action. AIMA said they tried to condition public opinion into believing State Security’s explanation: that the killing was “criminal and individual,” rather than “sectarian.”
AINA reported that Egypt’s Interior Ministry said the Nag Hammadi attack was a retaliation for last Nov’s alleged sexual assault of a Muslim girl by a Christian man, Girgis Baroumi Girgis, in the town of Farshout. AINA said the alleged rape was used by security officials, politicians and the media to justify attacks against Copts in Farshout last Nov, as well as in Nag Hammadi.
Egyptian police arrested three suspects responsible for the Christmas Eve shootings; Mohamed el-Kamony, Korshy Aly and Hendawy Hassan, who are convicted felons.
AINA reported that Habib el-Adly, Minister of Interior, said on Jan. 24, in an interview on the Egyptian TV program “City Talk,” that el-Kamony works as an assassin-for-hire. He continued, “He got so upset about the rape and the videos of nude Muslim girls with Christian men, that it triggered the shooting urge in him.”
AINA said that Mustafaal-Sayyed, professor of political science at Cairo University, believes that the theory of a revenge killing does not hold because the three men charged with the killings are not relatives of the raped girl.
“Why would they choose to shoot at Copts on their Christmas Eve?” AINA said he asked.
AINA said well-known activist Fathi Farid told Coptic News in a Jan. 19 interview the authorities are trying to make a scapegoat out of Baroumi to justify the violations against the Copts in Egypt.
He said, “If they can prove that Girgis is guilty then they can say that what happened on Christmas Eve is a reaction to what he did.”
