Issued by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media - Jordan. Editor-in-chief Fr. Rif'at Bader - موقع أبونا abouna.org

Published on Monday, 22 May 2017
Cairo: 48 suspects on trial for attacks on Coptic churches

asianews.it :

The Egyptian public prosecutor has sentenced 48 suspects for ties with the three attacks on Coptic churches in recent months, where dozens of people died. Defendants must appear before the magistrates of a military tribunal. To date, 31 of these are imprisoned under a custodial order. The remaining ones are still on the run.

In total, since last December, at least 75 members of the religious minority (about 10 per cent of the total population) have been killed by extremists. These include the victims of the explosions at churches last month and the faithful who died in the context of the attack on the Coptic cathedral of St. Mark in Abassiya, Cairo, in December.

In the hours after the attacks, ISIS claimed responsibility and threatened more violence against the minority in the country.

In a statement published on Sunday, May 21, Public Prosecutor Nabil Sadek said that some of the suspects were ring leaders within local ISIS cells. Recently, they had spawned some cells in Cairo and in the southern province of Qena, with the specific aim of striking the Coptic churches. The militants, the magistrate adds, would also be responsible for the deaths of eight police officers at a checkpoint in the Egyptian western desert in January.