By Jeremy Reynalds

Egyptian State Security has intensified its intimidation of the Coptic Church and Christians in Nag Hammadi, and neighboring Bahgoura, by carrying out random arrests of Christian youth.

According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih writing for the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), the ongoing campaign against Christians started on Jan. 7 2010.

AINA said numerous members of families have been arrested, mostly at dawn, without warrants. More than 100 Christian youth have been arrested without charge.

AINA said the arrests of rests of Copts after every crime is the usual scenario as a pressure card in the hands of Egyptian State Security to force the church and Copts to accept “reconciliation,” in which Coptic victims give up all criminal and civil charges against the perpetrators.

Because of the reaction in Egypt and worldwide to the Jan. 5 shootings (in which six Christians and a security guard were killed, see (www.catholicnewsagency.com/n... ) , and the role of State Security, AINA said Bishop Kyrollos was asked to issue statements downplaying the negligence of State Security. It is believed the arrests of the Coptic youth is a pressure tactic to force him to recant his accusations.

According to AINA, Anwar Samuel, a head teacher from Nag Hammadi, told Freecopts that State Security came to their home at 4 a.m., looking for his nephew Mohareb, who happened to be in Kuwait.

He said, “Instead they arrested my three other nephews, Fadi, Tanios and Wael Milad Samuel, and took them away in their pajamas.”He said they have been subjected to electric shock torture

AINA said Coptic News Bulletin contacted several families who confirmed that males as young as 16 were taken away by the police. In an interview, families told how the police tricked their sons into going with them, by telling them that Bishop Kyrollos wanted them to do so for their safety.

According to AINA, Habib Tanios was arrested on charges of firing on people who burnt his home in Bahgoura, although he has no rifle.

Families of the arrested Copts congregated all day near police station waiting for news.

AINA said that according to sources close to Freecopts, strict state security instructions were issued to the clergy in the parish of Nag Hamadi. The reason was to suppress any demonstrations by the Copts affected by the events and the families of those killed. The instructions were accompanied by explicit threats that police will be using live ammunition.

According to AINA, after the Jan. 6 Nag Hammadi shooting, in which eight Copts were killed and 15 injured as they came out of Coptic Christmas Eve mass, Bishop Kyrollos criticized the lack of police protection of the church, which is usual during such events. He held State Security responsible especially that he had received death threats, and was the intended target of the shootings.

AINBA said conflict between State Security and Bishop Kyrollos arose due to his insistence on compensation for the Copts of Farshout who lost property and businesses caused by Muslim mob violence against them in Nov. 2009. None of the state officials attended the celebrations at Church, which many took as a sign of their knowledge of the forthcoming shootings.

Assist News Service