Egyptian Christian tortured to death in Libya

Egyptian ‘missionary’ tortured to death in Libya – human rights lawyer
ICC Note: Yesterday, ICC posted a news article concerning the death of Ezzat Atallah, one of the more than 50 Egyptian Christians arrested in Libya last month, who died in prison reportedly due to health problems. Naguib Guebrayel, a Coptic Christian lawyer, said that Atallah death was not because of his poor health, but a result of “being tortured with other detainees”, RT.com reports. Atallah was one of five Evangelical Christians arrested for allegedly proselytizing and distributing Christian literature. Although most of the Christians have since been released, an Egyptian, a South African, a South Korean and a Swede with a US passport who were arrested in mid-February remain in prison, according to reports.
3/11/2013 Libya (RT.com) – An Egyptian Christian suspected of trying to convert Muslims in Libya was tortured to death while in police custody, an Egyptian human rights lawyer said.
Ezzat Hakim Attallah “died after being tortured with other detainees” in Libya’s second largest city Benghazi, Naguib Guebrayel, a Coptic Christian lawyer who heads the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, told AFP.
Guebrayel’s claim contradicts an Egyptian Foreign Ministry official who said on Sunday that Attallah, who suffered from diabetes and heart ailments, had likely died of natural causes.
Attallah was among five Evangelical Christian Egyptians detained in Libya for allegedly attempting to seek religious converts in the predominantly Muslim nation.
His death follows the March 1 detention of four dozen Egyptian Christians in the city.
“Forty-eight Egyptian traders who worked in the Benghazi municipal market have been arrested based on reports of suspect activities,” a Libyan security official told the agency in Benghazi on condition of anonymity.
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