PERSECU ION International Christian Concern | July 2013
EGYPTIAN MOSQUE BECOMES a HOUSE of TORTURE
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EGYPT’S RISING PERSECUTION UNDER THE BROTHERHOOD’S ISL AMIST RULE B Y A I D A N C L AY
While on his way to a protest in suburban Cairo, Amir Ayad was abruptly stopped by a group of civilians who were checking vehicles for weapons. “I mistakenly thought they were police,” Amir told ICC. “When they saw my ID card they found out that I was a Christian, they hit me on the head from behind and I lost consciousness. I woke up to find myself lying down on the floor of Belal Ibn Rabah mosque in Al-Moqattam.”
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M M II D DD D LL EE EE A A SS TT
The mosque where Amir found himself had been transformed into a torture facility. “Inside the mosque I was tortured, naked, my legs were tied, and my hands were tied behind my waist,” he explained. “They came with thick wooden sticks and metal rods and started to hit my legs and arms in order to break my bones.” The torturers were Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers who converted the mosque in order to intimidate protestors who disagreed with the Brotherhood’s policies. Wagih Yacoub, a Coptic rights activist and friend of Amir’s, said the facility used methods of torture that would be too sophisticated for an unorganized group of criminals to fabricate. “They were very well organized,” said Wagih. “They had stations and one where they made people take off their clothes to search them. They also relied on cell phone lights so no one could recognize their faces. They put
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[the victims’] hands behind their backs and tied up their legs. They lifted their victims’ legs up onto a chair and then they beat them with sticks badly all over their body – on their legs, on their hands, on their back, and on their head.” THANKFUL TO BE ALIVE When new people were brought to the facility, Amir overheard one man tell another, “We have newcomers, but you need to go warm up by hitting the Christian dog in there first.” Six hours after his abduction, however, Amir finally found an opportunity to escape. “The last 20 minutes there was a debate between two groups of people who were torturing us because they had different opinions,” Amir said. “The first was to kill me and the second was to smash my bones and to [cover] my body with scars to be an example to others who decide to protest against the Muslim Brotherhood. “At the end I was in the room with only two men who were torturing us,” Amir continued. “While they were busy I decided to jump out the window. I crawled for around an hour until I reached some people. Then I lost consciousness and I woke up to find myself at El-Hilal hospital in Cairo.”
WE HAVE NEW [VICTIMS], BUT YOU NEED TO GO WARM UP BY HITTING THE CHRISTIAN DOG IN THERE FIRST. -ONE OF AMIR’S CAPTORS
Mosque officials later claimed that they no idea the mosque had been used to torture people. “[We] deeply regret what has happened and apologize to the people of Moqattam,” officials said in a statement. “[We] had lost control over the mosque at the time.” Though Amir reported the incident to local police, he doubts that any ac-
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MIDDLE EAST
tion will be taken. Even so, Amir is grateful to be alive. “After beatings, abuse, and electric shock, it’s a miracle that I’m not dead,” he said. PERSECUTION ESCALATES Shaul Gabbay, professor of international studies at the University of Denver, told Fox News that the situation for Christians in Egypt is bound to get worse. “This has been a longstanding conflict, but now that the Muslim Brotherhood is in power, it is moving forward to implement its ideology—which is that Christians are supposed to become Muslims,” he said. Two weeks after Amir was tortured, hundreds of Christians and sympathetic Muslims gathered outside a funeral procession held at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Abbassia, Cairo Amir, before the attack. on April 7 to denounce the Muslim Brotherhood for failing to protect Christians and to call on President Muhammad Morsi to step down from power. “With our blood and our soul we will sacrifice ourselves for the cross,” chanted protestors. But during the demonstration, Christians were again attacked, this time by Muslim rioters who threw Molotov cocktails and tear gas at Christian mourners attending a funeral inside the cathedral. Two Christians were killed and several dozen were injured. Though anti-Christian violence has escalated significantly following Egypt’s 2011 revolution, the assault on the cathedral was unprecedented in that it was the first time the head of the Coptic Church was directly at-
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tacked. “The church has been a national symbol for 2,000 years. It has not been subjected to anything like this even during the darkest ages,” said Coptic Pope Tawadros II.
WE ARE PASSING THROUGH A DARK TUNNEL OF VIOLENCE... BUT WE ARE COMMITTED TO THE LOVE THAT NEVER FAILS. WE ARE HARD PRESSED ON EVERY SIDE, YET NOT CRUSHED. -BISHOP THOMAS, COPTIC CHURCH
Since Egypt’s revolution, more than 80 Christians have been killed Amir, after the attack. and several churches have been de- Photo credit: MidEast Christian News stroyed in Egypt, prompting thousands of Christians to seek immigration and leave their homeland permanently. The revolution, which hoped to instill democratic change and greater freedoms, has instead given unprecedented freedoms to Islamists—with the Muslim Brotherhood at the forefront—to impose a radical Islamic agenda on Egyptian society. “We are passing through a dark tunnel of violence, feeling grief of death and injustice...” said Bishop Thomas of the Coptic Church. “But we are committed to the love that never fails. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.”
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