The funeral of the two Coptic men killed in Libya was held today, Saturday, at the church in Mar-Girgis (St George) monastery in Sadment in Beni-Sweif where they were then buried.
Nash’at Shenouda Ishaq, 27, and Waleed Saad Shaker, 24, had both been working in Darna, Libya, where they shared a place of living. They were reported missing by Ishaq’s brother who also works in Libya and who was trying to contact his brother or his colleague Shaker but was getting no answer from either. Together with a cousin who is also an Egyptian working in Libya, Joseph Saleeb, they went to look for Ishaq and Shaker, but the police informed them their bodies had been found by a Libyan shepherd boy who reported their death to the police, and were then at hospital in Darna.
Saleeb and his cousin took the bodies and, as they prepared them for burial, found out they had severely fractured skulls. The police said they had been assaulted on attempted robbery, but neighbours said the robbers demanded that the two Copts pronounce the Islamic testimony, meaning they become Muslims; when the Copts refused they were beaten to death.
Ishaq, who comes from Minya leaves behind a widow and two children aged 7 and 3, and Shaker, who is from Beni Sweif, was the sole provider of his aged parents and younger siblings.
Watani International
28 September 2013