In the village of Mit Bashar in Zaqaziq, east of the Delta, Muslims elders were able to abort sectarian strife yesterday after a Muslim convert accused the Church of kidnapping his missing 16-year-old Coptic daughter.
In the village of Mit Bashar in Zaqaziq, east of the Delta, Muslims elders were able to abort sectarian strife yesterday after a Muslim convert accused the Church of kidnapping his missing 16-year-old Coptic daughter.
Father Girgis Gamil of the church of the Holy Virgin in the village, told Watani that Khalil Ibrahim had converted to Islam three years ago, married a Muslim village woman, and deserted his Coptic wife and children. His eldest daughter was married, but his two other teenage children lived with their mother. Three months ago, Ibrahim’s 16 year-old daughter Rania, went to visit her father and spent three months with him. Her mother says that Rania fled her father’s house two days ago, claiming that he tried to force her to marry a Muslim man against her will. Trying to clear himself, Ibrahim claimed that the Church kidnapped and held his daughter, which led some 20,000 angry Muslims to gather around the village church, crying against Copts, hurling stones at the church and the priest’s home, and trying to demolish the church walls. The church’s façade was destroyed as well as two Coptic owned cars.
The village’s Muslims elders, its mosques’ imams as well as the security apparatus and the Army were able to contain the crowd and to protect the church from the angry mob, said Fr Gamil to Watani. “My Muslim neighbours stood against those who were trying to access my home, and protected my family until the Army’s armoured vehicles arrived and confronted the assailants,” recounted Fr Gamil. He added that the security apparatus tracked down Rania and found her in Cairo at some relatives, before security handed her over to the Zaqaziq Security Head. Rania denied her abduction by the Church.
A cautious calm now reigns on the village amidst extensive security presence, in anticipation of the recurrence of any violence, especially since a number of the village youth threatened to demolish the church.