Following the execution of 21 kidnapped Christians by fighters of the "Islamic State" (IS), the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) fears that the Islamist extremists will commit even more acts of violence against Copts in Libya. "The Coptic has become a pawn in the deadly power struggle between Egypt and the IS-terrorists," said the STP's Africa-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Monday. "The Copts, who are the losers in this battle, now have to fear for their lives in Libya and in Egypt." IS has announced to take revenge for every air raid by the Egyptian Air Force with new terrorist attacks and by kidnapping members of the Christian minority. "The violence is not about religious belief, but an attempt of IS to take revenge – geared towards the media – for Egypt's military operations in Libya and the Sinai Peninsula. With every attack against the Copts, the Islamists are able to gain international attention."

During the last few weeks, the STP had repeatedly drawn attention to the fate of the Copts who were now murdered. The members of the minority group had been kidnapped on December 30, 2014, and January 3, 2015, in the town Sirte, which is controlled by the Islamists. In December, eight people were abducted at a roadblock when they tried to leave Sirte – and armed fighters abducted another group of 13 Christians from their homes during the night. Ten Christians managed to escape the kidnappers and informed family members of the victims. On January 12, the kidnappers had published photos of the hostages. At least 13 of the victims were from Samalut City in the district of Minya, Middle Egypt.

In the last few months, Egypt had intervened in the power struggle in Libya with air strikes, providing massive support for the anti-Islamist forces. Egypt had also provided military aircraft for the Libyan government (which had fled to Tobruk) to fight the Islamist militias effectively. At the same time, the government in Cairo intensified its measures against Islamist groups in the country, on the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is becoming a more and more important enemy for the IS-terrorists, who are trying to compromise Egypt's President Abd al Fattah as Sisi by attacking Coptic Christians in their home country and abroad.

This was 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 by suspected Islamists in Sirte. Their 13-year-old daughter Catherine was kidnapped, raped and murdered too. Her two younger sisters, aged nine and ten, remained unharmed. Tawfiq had worked as a doctor in Sirte since 2001. In February 2014, seven Copts were literally executed near the city of Benghazi. Also, Islamists have committed several attacks on Coptic churches, causing many Copts to leave the country for fear of their lives.

Before the fall of the Gaddafi regime, there were about 1.5 million Egyptian migrants living in Libya, among them thousands of Copts. Today, there are only about 40,000 Egyptians living in Libya.

Header Photo: Flickr/Mosa'ab Elshamy