By Shady Negm, Special to The Tablet
CAIRO, Egypt – An ISIS-affiliated group kidnapped a Coptic Christian man traveling in a communal taxi from Ismailia Governorate to Al-Arish, the capital of North Sinai Governorate, northeast of Cairo, his family told The Tablet.
An Islamic militant group wearing military uniforms reportedly stopped a minibus Jan. 17 around 9 a.m. Adeeb Yassa, 55, was on that bus headed to Al-Arish to visit his sister and relatives.
According to one of Yassa’s relatives, who spoke to The Tablet on condition of anonymity for reasons of safety, the militants checked passengers’ national identity cards. When they saw that Yassa is a Christian, they asked him to get out, the Muslim driver and others told his family.
Egyptian national identity cards state the religious affiliation of its citizens.
Yassa, who lives in El Qantara in the west Ismailia Governorate, returned from Iraq only four years ago, having lived there for 15 years and working as a trader.
According to his family, the driver and other Muslim passengers said that “Yassa resisted the gunmen, and when one of them was to kill him, the commander refused and said: ‘Bring him as a prisoner. We will need him later.’”
Egypt’s Coptic Christians have been targeted heavily by militants since July of 2013. When the military ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, whose one year in office proved divisive, the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic groups in different governorates of Egypt, poured out their anger against the Copts, who account for more than 10 percent of the country’s 100 million people. Groups affiliated with ISIS signaled their intent to wage a war by slaughtering Christians in their homes, businesses and places of worship in retaliation for the Muslim Brotherhood being overthrown from power.
On Dec. 11, 2016, 29 worshippers were killed in a suicide attack on St. Peter and St. Paul’s Coptic Church, also known as El-Botroseya Church.
In twin suicide bombings on Palm Sunday, April 9, 2017, at least 45 people were killed and 126 injured at Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo and St. George’s Church in the northern Egyptian city of Tanta on the Nile Delta. On Dec. 29, 2017, gunmen opened fire on worshippers leaving St. Mina Church, a Coptic Orthodox church on the southern outskirts of Cairo, killing nine people.
On May 26, 2017, gunmen attacked a Coptic Christian convoy on the way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor in Minya Governorate, south of Cairo, killing 35 people. The attack was repeated last fall when terrorists killed seven people after opening fire on a bus carrying worshippers home from the same monastery.
Despite the government’s relentless war against terrorists in Egypt, ISIS still able to strike. In February 2017, dozens of Christian families fled in droves from their homes in Al-Arish after militants affiliated to the Islamic State, massacred seven Christian people, in a series of attacks, including the slaughter of a father and son as the mother watched inside their home.
“I no longer feel safe,” said George, 11, after his uncle was kidnapped by militants in Al-Arish and his family fled to Ismailia in February of 2017. “We used to hear the sounds of explosions and shooting,” he said, and that was the hardest time he and his family had experienced.
Now George lives with his family in Ismailia, where he enjoys his life. He does not want to leave Egypt but hopes to return to his home in Al-Arish, where he spent his early childhood and dreamed of becoming an engineer. George asks Christians around the world to pray for his family and other families who have fled their homes due to terrorist threats.
For Bishoy, a 15-year-old from Al-Arish, the most difficult moments of his life were during an armed attack on a government facility close to his home. He could hear the sounds of explosions and gunfire, especially during the night.
Bishoy feels a great responsibility toward his family because his father does not live with them for health reasons. As the oldest among his brothers, he feels responsible to protect them. After fleeing their home in Al-Arish and moving to Ismailia, he spent his summer vacation in working in a factory.
“I left Al Arish because all of the people are dying,” said Maria, a five-year-old girl who fled with her family to Ismailia. “I’m happy here in Ismailia and I want to go to school here. I do not want to go back to Al Arish …They kill all people.”
Maria said this to Joussour program on the SAT-7 Christian channel, and sent a statement about the future of those families who are living in fear and persecution.
