Sectarian Tensions

Tensions remain high following a shooting that left six Copts and one police officer dead on January 6, the eve of Coptic Christmas, in the southern Egyptian city of Naga’ Hamadi. Thousands of Christians in the area clashed with security forces on January 7. The Egyptian parliament discussed the incidents on January 11. The governor of Qena testified that the shooting appeared to be a revenge killing related to the alleged rape and abduction of a young Muslim girl and was not motivated by religious hatred; Coptic parliamentarian Georgette Qillini reportedly called the governor a liar and stormed out. Click here for more on the aftermath of the incident in English, and here for more on the parliamentary discussion in Arabic.

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This commentary, translated from the Arabic by Paul Wulfsberg, is reprinted with permission from the Arab Reform Bulletin, Vol. 6, issue 4 (May 2008)www.CarnegieEndowment.org/ArabReform (c) 2008, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.