WATANI International
20 September 2009
In a crime reminiscent of that which took place in Alexandria in April 2006 when a knife-wielding Muslim attacked Coptic worshippers in three churches killing Noshi Attallah, 60; the mid-Delta region of Menoufiya, was the scene of horrific crimes against Coptic shop owners in three neighbouring villages last Wednesday.
At around 10:00am Abdou Gorgi, a 63-year-old Copt who owns a shop for car seat upholstery in the small town of Bagour was opening his shop, cleaning the street in front of it, and setting the place ready for a day’s work. He was approached by Usama Nasr Erban, a 35-year-old Muslim who goes by the name of Usama al-Bouhyagi, on a motor bike. Bouhyagi disembarked and attacked Gorgi, who was then sprinkling the street with a water hose, with a 40-cm long knife. As Gorgi tried to run away Bouhyagi chased him across the street, repeatedly stabbing him and threatening anyone around with his knife. It was Ramadan and there were very few people in the street at this time of the day. Eyewitnesses told Watani that Gorgi finally fell down, bleeding and severely injured. He tried to crawl back into his shop but, before he could reach it, Bouhyagi caught him and stabbed him in the neck, cutting off his head. He took off on his motorbike and fled.
The body remained in the street for a full hour until the police showed up, even though the police station is a mere 600m away. They did not wait for the prosecution to arrive at the scene and investigate as is standard, but directly moved the body to Bagour public hospital. The prosecutor did not arrive at the scene till 3:00pm by which time there was no body on the scene of the crime.
Gorgi’s body was left in the hospital till the following afternoon until the medical after-death investigation team could see it and issue a burial permit. His family and friends had to wait in the street outside the hospital for some 30 hours for the permit in order to conduct the funeral and bury the body. Gorgy leaves behind his widow, and a son and daughter in their mid-thirties who both have families of their own. They live together in the extended family home.
Once Bouhyagi fled the scene of the crime at Bagour he rode into the village of Behmai some 12km away where he attacked another Copt, Adeeb Messeiha Boulos. Boulos is 40 years old and owns a shoe repair shop. Bouhyagi stabbed Boulos three times in the face and twice in the chest, again threatening anyone who attempted to come to Boulos’s rescue, and fleeing. Boulos was moved to Shebin al-Koum public hospital in a critical condition. He has since undergone several surgeries.
The third Copt who fell victim to Bouhyagi’s stab-and-run was Hany Barsoum, a 35-year-old blacksmith in the neighbouring village of Mit-Afeef, 7km away from Behmai. Barsoum was stabbed in the back as he stood in front of his workshop. His young apprentice, however, had the presence of mind to pick up a metal beam and threaten Bouhyagi who quickly fled the scene. Barsoum was moved to the hospital and, fortunately, his injuries are not serious.
Bouhyagi quickly boarded a public microbus and fled. The microbus’s destination was the northern Cairo suburb of Qanater where Bouhyagi hid, but was found on Thursday evening by the police. He admitted committing the crimes then began acting weird and, five hours into the investigation, the prosecutor referred him to the medical authority for an investigation into his mental state.
An Interior Ministry statement issued on Wednesday evening attributed the crimes to ‘fighting over money matters’. This aroused the ire of the entire community; no investigation had then been conducted and Bouhyagi had never been in contact with all three victims.
The three victims are related in no way to one another, live in different villages or towns, and have nothing in common apart from being Copts.