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Egyptian government compensates Christians for property damaged in sectarian attacks

Written by Associated Press

Wednesday, 26 December 2007

The government has compensated 17 Coptic Christians whose property was damaged by angry Muslims last week in a southern Egyptian town recently rife with sectarian conflict, a local official said Tuesday.

Authorities distributed 1,265,000 Egyptian pounds (US$230,000, €160,000) to 17 owners of cars and shops that were damaged in the town of Isna following reports that two Coptic Christians pulled down the veil of a Muslim woman in a car park, said Magdy Ayoub, the governor of the surrounding Qena province.

Police detained 15 people suspected of taking part in the attacks, but many, if not all, of them were subsequently released.

Earlier this month, dozens of Muslims went on a rampage in Isna, located some 560 kilometers (350 miles) south of Cairo, following rumors that Coptic Christians attempted to abduct and sexually assault a teenage Muslim girl. The rioters hurled stones and smashed windows of a pharmacy where they suspected the Copts forced the girl to have sex with them.

Police later arrested two Coptic Christians suspected of taking part in the girl's abduction. They were ordered detained for 15 days on charges related to sectarian tensions.

Governor Ayoub said prominent Muslim and Christian figures in Isna plan to meet Wednesday in an attempt to reconcile the recent sectarian tension.

Muslim-Coptic tensions are commonplace in southern Egypt, mostly over land or church construction disputes.

On New Year's Day in 2000, a dispute between Muslims and Copts in the village of Kosheh, 240 miles (390 kilometers) south of the capital Cairo, escalated into a clash with groups of armed villagers shooting at each other, leaving 21 Christians and one Muslim dead.

Coptic Christians make up an estimated 10 percent of Egypt's 76.5 million people and generally live in peace with the Muslim majority. The government is highly sensitive to public discussions of its treatment of the Coptic minority, insisting Christians enjoy the same rights as the Muslim majority.