21 Copts kidnapped for more than two weeks – No protection for Christians in Libya

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) would like to point out that Christian Copts in Libya need better protection. "In Libya, Coptic people have to fear for their lives. The members of the Christian minority are persecuted, kidnapped and murdered by Islamist extremists who are connected to the 'Islamic State'" said Ulrich Delius, the STP's Africa-consultant in Göttingen on Tuesday. Thus, 21 Copts were kidnapped by Islamists since December 30, 2014. Yesterday, family members of the abductees demonstrated in front of the Office of the United Nations and the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, Egypt's capital, demanding more efforts to free the victims.

The members of the minority group were kidnapped in the city of Sirte – which is in the hands of Islamist extremists – on December 30, 2014 and on January 3, 2015. In late December, eight people were abducted at a roadblock when they tried to leave Sirte – and 13 Christians were abducted from their homes by armed fighters, during the night. A group of ten Christians managed to escape their kidnappers and to inform the deportees' relatives. On January 7, there had been false reports about a release of the hostages, but the young men are still in the hands of their captors. Pictures of them had been published on January 12. At least 13 of the abductees are from the Samalut City in the district of Minya (Middle Egypt).

This is not the first attack on Copts in Libya. On December 23, 2014, the Coptic doctor Magdy Sobhy Tawfiq and his Wife Sahar Talaat Rizk were murdered in Sirte, most probably by Islamists. Their 13-year-old daughter Catherine was kidnapped, raped and then murdered too. Her two younger sisters, aged nine and ten, were not harmed. Tawfiq had worked as a doctor in Sirte since 2001.

In February 2014, seven Copts were executed near the city of Benghazi. Also, radical Islamists had attacked several Coptic churches, causing many Copts to leave the country for fear of their lives.

Before the fall of the Gaddafi regime, there had been about 1.5 million migrants from Egypt living in Libya – among them thousands of Copts who had hoped for lucrative jobs in Egypt's neighboring country. Due to the decline of the economy and the increasing violence, hundreds of thousands decided to return to their home country. Today, there are only about 40,000 Egyptians living in Libya.

Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Africa department, is available for further questions: +49 551 49906 27 or afrika@gfbv.de.

Header Photo: Bischof Damian (3.f.l. sitting), general bishop of the german coptic church, during interreligious meeting at the coptic monastery in Höxter.