From Barnabas Fund:
EGYPT - ORDER TO EVICT CHRISTIAN FAMILIES FROM VILLAGE OVERTURNED
A parliamentary commission has overturned the ruling of a Muslim-led tribunal that ordered the eviction of eight Christian families from an Egyptian village.
The families were forcibly removed from Kobry-el-Sharbat in Alexandria in a “humiliating” agreement made on 1 February to placate Muslims who had twice attacked Christian property there. The violence at the end of January had been sparked by an unsubstantiated rumour that a Christian man, Mourad Girguis, had taken illicit images of a Muslim woman.
At a public meeting in Alexandria on 16 February, the commission nullified the rulings of the tribunal. It called for the safe return of five of the families, who had not been involved in the dispute over the images, to their homes.
The commission referred a decision to the judiciary on the return of the three families related to Mourad Girguis and also the Muslims who burned down the homes of Christians. Mourad was charged and released on bail on 15 February, but there appears to be no evidence against him.
Elsewhere in Egypt, anti-Christian violence rages on. In the village of Meet Bashar in Zagazig, Sharqia province, a church was torched, the church leader threatened with death, and the homes and vehicles of Christians set alight. In Nag Hammadi, a Christian man, Moawad Assad, and his 26-year-old son Assad Moawad were shot dead on 26 January when he refused to pay extortion money demanded by a Muslim racketeer, who has been kidnapping Christians for ransom.
- Give thanks for the overturning of the decision in Kobry-el-Sharbat, and pray that the families will be able to return to their homes in safety. Pray for Mr Girguis, that all charges against him will be dropped. Pray that any harassment directed towards him or his family will cease.
- Pray for the family of Moawad and Assad, that they will find comfort in the Lord Jesus. Pray too for an end to violence against Christians in Egypt.
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