15 Arrested Following Attack on Coptic Church in Southern Cairo

Egyptian government officials have arrested 15 individuals on suspicion of involvement in an attack on a Coptic church. This Coptic church, reported to be 'unlicensed', is located in a village south of Cairo. According to a report by Reuters on Sunday, a number of Muslims in the village of Kafr al-Waslin attacked the church on Friday after Friday prayers. A statement released by the Deputy Archbishop Atfih indicated that the attackers broke all the windows and then entered the church building, destroying everything inside. The statement noted that this building has hosted Coptic Christians for the past 15 years. Following the law passed in 2016 regarding the licensing and registration of churches, the Coptic Archbishopric of Egypt submitted a request for the legal registration of this church to the government. An Egyptian judicial source told Reuters that the detainees face charges such as 'inciting sectarian strife, endangering national unity, and destroying private property.' This source added that the owner of the church has also been arrested and is awaiting trial on charges related to the operations conducted at this location. Christians make up nearly one-tenth of Egypt's 95 million population, and Egypt has the largest Christian community in the Middle East. Reuters reports that Christians in Egypt have long complained about discrimination against them. The Egyptian government is unwilling to publicly disclose accurate statistics on Christians, and Christians claim that the government consistently underreports the number of adherents to this faith. One resident of the village where the church was attacked, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters: 'Some Muslims do not want this building to be a church because it is located next to a large mosque.' Coptic Christians in Egypt are periodically attacked, and it was reported in October of this year that a Coptic priest in Cairo was killed with a machete in one of the city's impoverished neighborhoods. Over the past year, Islamist and jihadist groups, including ISIS, have claimed responsibility for attacks against Coptic Christians in Egypt, with reports indicating that more than 100 Coptic Christians have been killed in these attacks.