CIRCULATION CODE 3. OPEN. May be circulated to general mailing lists,
outside organisations, and quoted from freely in reports citing “Middle East
Concern” as the source of the information.

Egyptian Christians have requested our prayers following violent clashes
between Christians and Salafi Muslims centred on the church of Saint Mina in
Imbaba, Giza.

On Saturday a group of Salafi Muslims accused the church’s priest of
imprisoning a lady, named as Abeer, who had allegedly converted to Islam.
These allegations add to long-running claims that Churches are holding
several ladies, against their will, who have sought to convert to Islam.
This controversy has been exacerbated in recent days following the
appearance of one of the ladies concerned, Kamilia, on a foreign Christian
satellite TV channel in which she denied that she had converted to Islam.
The allegations regarding Abeer began circulating on Twitter within hours of
that TV appearance.

The priest refuted the claim and invited a few of the group to inspect the
church property to verify that nobody was being held on the site. Meanwhile,
a number of Muslims conducted prayers on unused church property nearby.

As numbers increased, violent clashes ensued. A neighbouring church was
burnt, and a caretaker died in the fire. The fire and mob activity affected
neighbouring Christian owned homes and businesses. 12 people were killed,
including Christians and Muslims, at least 180 injured and at least 190 were
arrested.

Since Sunday there have been ongoing protests in central Cairo against
sectarian clashes. These crowds are demanding that all Egyptians be given
equal rights and that perpetrators of sectarian violence face criminal
prosecution. The Prime Minister, Essam Sharaf, cancelled an official visit
to the Gulf in order to oversee an effective response to the incident and
today (i.e. Monday 9th) the government reaffirmed its determination to
tackle sectarian violence.

Egyptian Christians request our prayers that:

a. The bereaved will know the comfort of Jesus b. The wounded and
traumatised will know the healing touch of Jesus c. Church leaders will
know the Spirit’s enabling as they pastor their congregations and deal with
community leaders d. The authorities will fulfil their commitment to bring
all perpetrators of sectarian violence to justice in this and any future
incidents e. False rumours of people being imprisoned in Church property
will be effectively squashed by community leaders f. All officials involved
will love mercy, act justly, learn about Jesus and choose to follow Him

****
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 107 | Wed 11 May 2011

———————————
EGYPT: CHURCHES ATTACKED IN CAIRO plus Ivory Coast Massacre
———————————

By Elizabeth Kendal

* THE SPIRIT OF JIHAD AND THE SPIRIT OF BELLIGERENCE RETURN TO EGYPT

In the 1980s, thousands of Egyptian Salafi (‘pure Islam’) jihadists went
to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. As the veterans started returning
home to Egypt in the 1990s, domestic terrorism escalated, so President
Mubarak blacklisted some 3000 members of Salafi jihadist groups,
preventing their return to Egypt. However, Egypt’s new ruling military
council recently removed nearly 2000 names from that list. Thousands of
jihadists have returned since to Egypt from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia,

Somalia, Kenya, Iran and London. The spirit of jihad is returning to
Egypt. Furthermore, the new military-led government has pledged to
normalise relations with Iran and to open Egypt’s border permanently with
Hamas-controlled Gaza. Egyptians will go to the polls in September.
Leading presidential candidate, Amr Moussa (74) — a former foreign
minister (1991-2001) and the outgoing head of the Arab League — has
promised that if elected he will ‘reset’ Egypt’s foreign policy regarding
Israel to better ‘reflect the consensus of the people’. The spirit of
belligerence is returning to Egypt. Neither bodes well for Egypt’s
minority Christians.

* SERIOUS ESCALATION AS CHURCHES ATTACKED IN CAIRO

On Friday 6 May some 3000 Salafis, many dressed in Taliban-style Islamic
garb, descended on St Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo demanding to see Camilia
Shehata and Wafaa Constantine, both wives of Coptic clergy, who they claim
converted to Islam. The next day Camilia appeared on Egyptian TV once
again, confirming that she never converted to Islam, but is and always has
been a Christian. Whilst the Islamic narrative — that these women
converted to Islam and are held by the church against their will — has
been proved to be a total myth, it is still being used by Islamists to
incite mob violence against the church.

[Background: IRAQ & EGYPT: al-Qaeda declares war on Christians. Religious
Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 082, Wed 17 Nov 2010
http://elizabethkendal. blogspot.com/2010/11/iraq-egypt-al-qaeda-declares-
war-on.html ]

On Saturday 7 May some 3000 Salafis descended on the Church of St Mina in
the Imbaba area of Cairo at about 5:30pm, demanding the release of a
Christian girl named Abir who they claimed had married a Salafi and was
being detained and tortured inside the church. By 7:30pm the rumour had
drawn a massive crowd of agitated Muslims who were chanting Islamic
slogans, shouting Osama bin Laden’s name and patrolling up and down the
streets. Attempting to dispel the rumour, senior Coptic clergy permitted a
group of Islamic imams to search the church property for the woman. Though
the imams reported to the crowd that the woman was definitely not in the
building, it was to no avail. By 8:30pm the Muslims were rioting, firing
guns and hurling Molotov cocktails at Coptic churches, houses and
businesses. The Church of St Mary & St Abanob and St Mary’s Church were
also torched. The army eventually arrived at 10pm but only to watch, as
they were totally unable (or unwilling) to control the situation. In all,
12 Copts were killed and 240 injured, 65 of whom medical sources report
had been shot.

On Sunday 8 May thousands of traumatised Copts and sympathetic Muslims
marched peaceably to the headquarters of Egyptian TV & Radio and the
Ministry of Information in Maspero. Though the army intervened with tasers
and hostile local Muslims hurled rocks, the protesters pressed on. They
settled down eventually for an indefinite sit-in, demanding the
resignation of Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi and trials for those
involved in instigating sectarian attacks. Hundreds of Coptic Christians
also guarded St Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo as Coptic Pope Shenouda III
delivered his weekly Sunday sermon to nearly 10,000 church members.
Egyptian police and armed forces were also there in force. Pope Shenouda’s
sermon was entitled ‘Forgive’. Meanwhile, senior military officials have
falsely claimed that the Copts fired first from within the church and the
Salafis have vowed to return next Friday (13 May) for another
demonstration to ‘free’ Christian converts to Islam. This is all plain
incitement to violence, cleverly and strategically camouflaged.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO —

* intervene for his Church in Egypt, drawing the Church to prayer and
then delivering the Church in answer to prayer, thereby increasing
faith and glorifying the LORD. ‘. . . we felt that we had received the
sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on
God who raises the dead.’ (2 Corinthians 1:9 ESV)

* use these violent times for his divine sovereign purpose: to sanctify
the Church; to awaken many Muslims to the fundamental differences
between the Mosque and the Church, Islam and Christianity, Muhammad and
Jesus Christ, the Qur’an and the Gospel of grace.

~~~~

SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
———————————————————–

CHURCHES ATTACKED IN CAIRO

On Saturday 7 May some 3000 Salafi Muslims descended on the Church of St
Mina in Cairo, demanding entry to rescue a Christian girl they claimed had
married a Salafi and was being tortured inside the church. The rumour drew
a massive crowd. Though Islamic imams who were granted entry reported to
the Muslim crowd that no girl was being hidden inside, the Muslims kept
rioting, shooting and hurling Molotov cocktails. The Church of St Mary &
St Abanob and St Mary’s Church were also torched. Twelve Copts were killed
and 240 injured, 65 of whom had been shot. Military officials blamed the
church for the violence and the Salafis vowed to return the next Friday
(13 May) to protest yet again. Please pray for Egypt’s besieged and
imperilled Christians.

—————————————————-

* IVORY COAST: UN TO INVESTIGATE MASSACRE AT BAPTIST CHURCH

Abidjan’s last pro-Gbagbo stronghold of Yopougon district fell to Alassane
Ouattara’s Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI) last Wednesday 4 May.
The UN is investigating a reported FRCI massacre at a Baptist Church in
Yopougon which was sheltering more than 2500 refugees. FRCI soldiers
reportedly stormed the church, looted the emergency medical supplies and
seized 54 refugees, dragging them away in the direction of the petrol
station. Please pray for the Christians of Ivory Coast.

[Background: Ivory Coast’s churches filling up — with refugees By
Elizabeth Kendal, 24 April 2011, http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com ]

——————–

We suggest that churches and fellowships using the above Summary might
also provide a copy of the listed prayer points to be used in their
worship by people who are leading in prayer.

For more information, updates and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal’s
blog ‘Religious Liberty Monitoring’ .

This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious
Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international
religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team.
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