Islam or Death? Egypt’s Christians Targeted by New Terror Group

ICC Note: A new Islamic militant group, which calls itself Jihad al-Kufr, meaning jihad (holy war) against non-believers or non-Muslims, is threatening Christians in Egypt, Fox News reports. According to an Arabic news site, several Coptic Christians were told to convert to Islam or die. Under Sharia law, leaving Islam is punishable by death, and Sharia is cited as a source of law in Egypt’s new constitution that was approved in December. Under Egypt’s new Islamist government, radicals have gained unprecedented freedoms to implement their interpretation of Sharia on Egypt’s streets, as attacks against Christians and their places of worship have increased while offenders roam free without fear of punishment. “This incident caught the attention of the news agencies, but there are worse things happening to the Christians every day in Egypt,” said Adel Guindy, president of Coptic Solidarity and a member of Egypt’s Coptic community.
By Lisa Daftari
2/21/2013 Egypt (FoxNews) –
A group of Christian priests from a local Coptic church in Egypt were told to convert to Islam or face death, according to an Arabic news site.
The incident, which comes in the midst of continued persecution and pressure on Egypt’s Christian community, took place this week in the town of Safaga, near the Red Sea, the El Balad site reported.
According to El Balad, the threats are from a new group in Egypt, Jihad al-Kufr, whose name translates to Jihad against non-believers or non-Muslims. The group targets non-Muslims, and reportedly pressures them to convert to Islam.
“It’s not the first time. This is happening every day,” said Adel Guindy, president of Coptic Solidarity and a member of Egypt’s Coptic community who travels between Paris and Cairo. “This one incident caught the attention of the news agencies, but there are worse things happening to the Christians every day in Egypt,” he said.
Christians have felt increasingly at risk since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, which resulted in the rise of President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
“It has definitely worsened under the revolution. Once the worst part of the society surfaced — the Islamists — the Copts are paying a heavy price. The West doesn’t really feel our pain. It’s a war of attrition,” Guindy said.
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Extremists over the weekend set fire to a Christian Church in the Province of Fayoum, the second such assault against the town’s Coptic population in a month. The attackers ripped down the church’s cross and hurled rocks at church members, injuring four people including the priest, according to a report by Morning Star News.
There have also been several reported cases of rape and harassment of Coptic women. Two women in traditional Islamic headdress cut off the hair of two Christian women on the subway in Cairo in December, the Egypt Independent reported. It was the third such incident in two months.
And last week, an Egyptian court forced two Coptic Christian boys, ages 10 and 9, to face trial for “insulting the Koran,” according to reports. The boys were arrested after playing in a pile of trash, which authorities claimed included pages of the Koran.
Egypt’s Coptic Christian leader, Pope Tawadros II, spoke openly this month when he dismissed the new constitution as discriminatory.
“We are a part of the soil of this nation and an extension of the pharaohs and their age before Christ,” he told the Associated Press. “Yes, we are a minority in the numerical sense, but we are not a minority when it comes to value, history, interaction and love for our nation.”
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