ICC Note: Palestinian immigrants threaten to kill Christians in a small city in Egypt. Among the persecuted Christians was Baghat, Marqos’ father, who was shot and killed for refusing to convert to Islam. As a result of his death, Marqos came to know Jesus and is now serving God despite the religious persecution.
09/05/2018 Egypt (Christian Post) – An Egyptian teen embraced Christianity after witnessing the faith of his father, who was brutally murdered by Muslim extremists for refusing to convert to Islam.
Seventeen-year-old Marqos told persecution watchdog Open Doors USA that just a few years ago, his family lived at peace with their Muslim neighbors in El-Arish, a small city on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. Marquos’ father, Baghat, was a veterinarian who had good relations with his Muslim colleagues and friends.
However, everything changed when Palestinian immigrants with a very strict view on Islam moved to the village. Marqos’ mother, Fawziya, recounted how the Muslims began threatening believers by spreading leaflets warning Christians to leave the city or die. In the beginning of 2017, they began to carry out their threats.
One Sunday morning, Baghat woke up early to go to church, and then went to work at the veterinarian clinic of one of his Muslim friends. While Marqos and Fawziya weren’t present at the tragedy that followed, Marqos spoke with a Muslim friend of his father who witnessed the event.
“He told me that two young masked men entered the pharmacy and dragged my father outside,” Marqos said. “They told him to kneel in the street. They put two guns at my father’s head and told him to convert to Islam. But he shook his head. Then they shot him. When I heard he’d died, I couldn’t walk to the morgue.”
Prior to his father’s death, Marquos cared little about Christianity. But Baghat’s unflinching faith in the face of death made him want to know more about Jesus Christ.
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For interviews with Claire Evans, ICC’s Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org.
