Christian persecution in Egypt is on the rise, with young women at higher risk than men.
While millions of Americans are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ this weekend, most will not know that Christian persecution in Egypt is on the rise. According to a report by the non-profit advocacy group, International Christian Concern, young Christian women are at greater risk of being kidnapped, tortured and forced to convert to Islam this year as opposed to the last.
Since the so-called Arab Spring ended in 2011, these incidents have grown in frequency. The ICC and other groups in the region estimate that there have been roughly 500 reported cases of young women, alone, being attacked by Muslim men since then. However, unreported cases are frequent and clearly are not reflected in the report.
The young Christian girls are subjected to assault, rape, kidnapping and forced conversion. Sometimes, they are flat-out killed, according to the ICC.
So, what are officials doing to curb the violence and persecution? According to officials from both the ICC and the Clarion Project, which is a US-based non-profit think tank, the answer is nothing.
“Not only are they turning a blind eye, they are often compliant,” said Issac Six, a spokesman for the ICC. He referenced one incident when a young Christian girl’s father was beat up by one officer for simply asking too many questions about what officials have been doing to investigate the abduction of his daughter.
“It’s pervasive; police at the local level are not stopping the abductions. There needs to be more pressure from the top,” he added. “We have seen cases before where we’ve seen victims returned when the police put pressure on the kidnappers. We know it’s possible, unfortunately, the police are often complacent.”
Six added that the problem is largely ignored by the international community and that the U.S. needs to be more vocal about the issue in its dialogue with the Egyptian government.
Amira Hafez Wahib, a 15 year-old Christian girl living in Luxor, never returned to morning prayer service at the local church after asking her mother to quickly pick up an item from a nearby store..
The next day, Amira’s family went to the local police to report her disappearance, but was met with little cooperation since then.
“We received promises from the police here that they would arrest the accused and return Amira to her family, but there is not any positive step from them till now,” said Rafla Zekry Rafla in the report. Rafla is an attorney handling Amira’s case.
Amira, sadly, is still missing, even though her family believes that they know who her kidnapper is. Yasser Mahmoud, a Muslim man and a soldier who was at one time assigned to protect their church, tried to kidnap Amira just a few months earlier at a Christian store near the church where she worked.
The family even tracked down where the man lived with his family, by themselves. Mahmoud’s family told them that they had not seen or heard from him since the very same day that their daughter disappeared. Yet officials have not moved on any of this information.
And the list goes on and on.
Last year, even the Vatican affirmed in a risky recognition that 100,000 Christians are killed each year in the Middle East. When Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) tried to raise awareness during the Values Voter Summit last year, he was attacked by a Comedy Central comedian Dean Obeidallah in the Daily Beast. Obeidallah, a Muslim of Palestinian descent, accused the Kentucky conservative of “hate speech” for simply recognizing what even Bob Beckel — a devout liberal and co-host of “The Five” — recognizes, which is that Muslims around the globe persecute Christians.
Obeidallah’s attack prompted PPD to report on the reality of Christian persecution in the Middle East, gauging just how “mainstream” the anti-Christian sentiment in various countries truly is. Obeidallah’s claim that Christian persecution really is just a “few isolated actions by a few Muslims in various countries,” was totally debunked.
The ICC report, as well, suggests that minor incidents are on the rise as well, such as the incident that surrounded a young Christian women who was wearing crosses in public having them violently ripped off their necks. The story harkens back to young Maggie Fazaz, a young Christian girl who had her hair cut after she bumped into a Muslim women on the bus without wearing a veil.
Last August, two Christian women working at a Christian school were groped and assaulted by Islamists. The Daily Mail reported, “dozens of churches, homes and businesses owned by Christians have been attacked and razed to the ground.”
A new poll found that nearly 70 percent of Americans believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead three days after his crucification. Remember on this Easter holiday that — in Egypt — that could get you killed.
