• Copts
  • January 11, 2010
  • 7 minutes read

Letters accusing armed Coptic militias of Nagaa Hammadi’s incident

Letters accusing armed Coptic militias of Nagaa Hammadi’s incident

 

The Prosecutor-General Chancellor Abdel Magid Mahmoud decided to detain the three suspects who were arrested after killing six Copts and one Muslim security guard last Wednesday. The suspects will remain detained in custody for 15 days pending investigations.

 

The Chancellor called the investigating bodies to find out quickly the motivations behind committing this crime.

 

Meanwhile, there are doubts about the Copts involvement in the crime following the existence of Copts from the Matraneya in Naga Hammadi along with the frequent letters – from an unknown source- which accuses Coptic organizations of taking part in the ambiguous crime in order to cause sectarian tensions between Muslims and Copts.

 

General Fouad Allam, Former Head of the State Security Investigations received around 100 messages on his mobile pointing out the involvement of armed Coptic organizations in the recent clashes in Naga Hammadi to increase the sectarian tension; however he considered these messages as “vague accusations with no relevant evidence". He called on those who have any evidence to submit it to the General Prosecution.

 

He pointed out to the possibility of the involvement of foreign bodies in these incidents in order to affect the national security of Egypt, illustrating that Egypt, similar to other countries in the region, is targeted, by international bodies which strongly seeks to cause internal unrest and to use sectarianism as a means to penetrate these countries referring to incidents in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan.

 

Security Services announced that the three persons who were suspected to be involved in the incident have surrendered on Friday morning after they hid themselves on nearby farms following the incident. It also added that they have previous criminal records.

 

One of the defendants denied his involvement in the incident; however the security expert stated that this is not considered as proof of innocence and the fate of defendants cannot be predicted at this stage. He also added that defendants are fortunate since there are witnesses, involved in the investigations and a gun found at the scene and the Prosecution has facilities and means to find the evidences and identify the identity of the criminal.

 

General Magdy Yacub, Governor of Qena governorate, who is a Coptic Egyptian, stated in press releases that one of the possibilities which caused this incident was the incidents which took place in Fartoush city last November where a Christian young man named Gerges Gerges had sexually assaulted Yosra, a 12 year old Muslim girl.

 

For his part, the Christian researcher and writer Dr. Rafiq Habib ruled out the involvement of an extremist Coptic organization, supported by foreign bodies, in the incident, because it is not logical that Coptic organization kills Copts in order to escalate sectarian tension. He described the incident as a random act which comes in continuation of the series of incidents between Muslims and Christians as he linked it with the violent acts in Fartoush city.

 

Habib also expressed his astonishment of the voices which accused Islamic organizations generally and the Muslim Brotherhood in particular of being the reason behind the sectarian tension in the country.

 

He described these voices as irrational and inaccurate in its analysis to the incident since the Islamic movements which are politically active in politics are peaceful movements adding that "armed Islamic movements have also given up arms" in addition to this all movements are isolated and have no chance to work in politics and are groups which represent political trends but are not however responsible for the general atmosphere and does not generate it.