EGYPT - The four Coptic students sentenced for allegedly insulting Islam flee to Switzerland

EGYPT - The four Coptic students sentenced for allegedly insulting Islam flee to Switzerland. (Fides).

The four Coptic students sentenced to five years in prison in February for allegedly insulting Islam in a video flee to Switzerland, where they will seek asylum.

The Egyptian Ministry of Justice had promised to reconsider the court case (see Fides 08/03/2016), but then there had been no positive developments.

The boys left Egypt in April, moving to Turkey, where they lived in hiding for five months. In early September - according to what was reported by one of them to Morning Star News - the boys, with the help of organizations engaged in the defense of human rights, obtained a special humanitarian visa and reached Switzerland.

"We are grateful to the Swiss authorities and our partners who helped us to reach Switzerland", said Daniel Hoffman, executive director of Middle East Concern, one of the agencies involved in the expatriation of the four boys.

As reported by Hoffman, Switzerland was "the first and only country" to respond positively to the request - also presented to other nations - to accommodate the boys and prevent them from having to end up in Egyptian prisons.

The contents of Fides are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Video - TV Host Slams Head of Egyptian Community in Paris for Anti-Christian Remarks

"We Are No Longer A Christian Nation"- Anti-Faith Sentiment Growing at Alarming Rate in the U.S. under Pres Obama.

"We Are No Longer A Christian Nation"- Anti-Faith Sentiment Growing at Alarming Rate in the U.S. under Pres Obama.HT: CBN News. By Paul Strand Washington Sr. Correspondent.

WASHINGTON -- Hostility against Christian Americans is growing at an alarming rate, according to a new survey from the Family Research Council and Liberty Institute.

The Liberty Institute's Jeff Mateer noted that while last year's survey was based on 600 cases, "this survey that we're releasing right now is almost 1,200. So we've almost doubled in just one year."

Former NFL running back Craig James found himself a victim of growing anti-faith sentiment when just one hour into a new job as a FOX Sports analyst, he was booted off the air.

James and the Liberty Institute insist it was because a top network manager disapproved of a statement James made about gay marriage 15 months before in a political debate.

"They knew who I was, what I stood for," James told CBN News. "And I'm being punished -- I was fired -- for my religious beliefs."

FOX says James just wasn't a good fit, but Liberty Institute is fighting to get James his job back.

"This is not about Craig James," the former NFL running back said. "This is about an American who had a job and someone came back -- a big corporation -- and said, 'Hey, we can't allow you on our network because of your belief and definition of what marriage is.'"

With some 1,200 cases like these documented in the new Religious Hostility Survey, Mateer says he's frightened for his country.

"The threats are increasing at a dramatic rate, and this survey demonstrates that," Mateer said.

Mat Staver's Liberty Council also fights for the rights of people of faith.

"What we're seeing is instead of religious liberty being protected as it is affirmed by the First Amendment, people of religious faith, particularly Christians, are finding themselves the targets of discrimination," Staver said.

Sgt. Monk says now when Christians facing hostility must hold steady, mostly for other believers.

"They need to see us stand firm in our faith," he told CBN News. "And when they see that, I think we'll see a turn of events."

Mateer noted that when believers fight back, they almost always win. So only by meekly accepting defeat will they let the enemies of religion triumph.

"They've stated their objective is to remove God from our public life. Well, if we remain silent, that's going to happen," Mateer warned. Hmmm........Flashback: "Dems Remove All References to ‘God’ From 2012 Party Platform."

"We Are No Longer A Christian Nation" - US Army Defines Christian Ministry as 'Domestic Hate Group'.

"We Are No Longer A Christian Nation" - US Army Defines Christian Ministry as 'Domestic Hate Group'.(FOX).

Several dozen U.S. Army active duty and reserve troops were told last week that the American Family Association, a well-respected Christian ministry, should be classified as a domestic hate group because the group advocates for traditional family values.

The briefing was held at Camp Shelby in Mississippi and listed the AFA alongside domestic hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam.

A soldier who attended the briefing contacted me and sent me a photograph of a slide show presentation that listed AFA as a domestic hate group. Under the AFA headline is a photograph of Westboro Baptist Church preacher Fred Phelps holding a sign reading “No special law for f***.”

American Family Association has absolutely no affiliation with the controversial church group known for picketing the funerals of American service members.

“I had to show Americans what our soldiers are now being taught,” said the soldier who asked not to be identified. “I couldn’t just let this one pass.”

The soldier said a chaplain interrupted the briefing and challenged the instructor’s assertion that AFA is a hate group.

“The instructor said AFA could be considered a hate group because they don’t like gays,” the soldier told me. “The slide was talking about how AFA refers to gays as sinners and heathens and derogatory terms.”

The soldier, who is an evangelical Christian, said the chaplain defended the Christian ministry. “He kept asking the instructor, ‘Are you sure about that, son? Are you sure about that?’” he said, recalling the back and forth.

Later in the briefing, the soldiers were reportedly told that they could face punishment for participating in organizations that are considered hate groups.

“The American Family Association has received numerous accounts of military installations as well as law enforcement agencies using a list compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which wrongfully identifies and defames AFA,” reads a statement they sent me.

Bryan Fischer hosts a talk show on American Family Radio. He called the Army’s allegations “libelous, slanderous and blatantly false.”

“This mischaracterization of AFA is reprehensible and inexcusable,” he told me. “We have many military members who are a part of the AFA network who know these accusations are a tissue of lies.”

Fischer said their views on gay marriage and homosexuality are not hate – it’s simply a disagreement.

“If our military wasn’t headed by a commander-in-chief who is hostile to Christian faith, these allegations would be laughed off every military base in the world,” he said.

Hiram Sasser, of the Liberty Institute, told me the Army’s briefing is a smear.

He recalled what President Obama said last year when Muslim extremists attacked our diplomatic outpost in Libya.

“Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths,” President Obama said. “We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.”

Sasser said he wished the president and the Army would treat the American Family Association with the same deference and respect they show those who mean to harm us.

“Why must the Army under this administration continue to attack Americans of faith and smear them?” Sasser wondered.

I fear the answer to that question.

Because it appears the Obama administration is separating the military from the American people – and planting seeds of doubt about Christians and some of our nation’s most prominent Christian ministries.Hmmmm......“The instructor said AFA could be considered a hate group because they don’t like gays,”Read the full story here.

ISLAM : According to a pamphlet produced by Al-Fatiha, there is a consensus among Islamic scholars that all humans are naturally heterosexual.  Homosexuality is seen by scholars to be a sinful and perverted deviation from the norm. All Islamic schools of thought and jurisprudence consider gay acts to be unlawful. They differ in terms of penalty:

The Hanafite school (currently seen mainly in South and Eastern Asia) teaches that no physical punishment is warranted.

The Hanabalites, (widely followed in the Arab world) teach that severe punishment is warranted.

The Sha'fi school of thought (also seen in the Arab world) requires a minimum of 4 adult male witnesses before a person can be found guilty of a homosexual act. Al-Fatiha estimates that 4,000 homosexuals have been executed in Iran since their revolution in 1979. 10 public executions of homosexuals have been performed in Afghanistan by the Taliban army.


Hmmmm.....Obama: "I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them…One of the things I think is very important for me to speak out on is making sure that people are treated fairly and justly because that’s what we stand for, and I believe that that’s a precept that’s not unique to America. That’s just something that should apply everywhere.”

"J'y suis, j'y reste" - El-Sissi will not be deterred.

"J'y suis, j'y reste" - El-Sissi will not be deterred.(TOI).

The heavy use of force by Egyptian police has reignited Muslim Brotherhood protests and brought criticism at home and abroad. But the strongman is unmoved, and much of Egypt is with him.

It is still too early to judge whether Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s decision to forcefully remove the Muslim Brotherhood protesters from Cairo’s squares was the right one.

For weeks, Egyptian security forces successfully contained the Muslim Brotherhood’s demonstrations. Although occasional violent incidents resulted in the deaths of nearly 30 people in total, the number of protesters gathering in support of the Brotherhood had declined steadily since late June.

While the first protests in Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda square drew millions of demonstrators, the numbers had dropped to several tens of thousands by earlier this week. The military had successfully drained the enthusiasm from the Brotherhood’s protests against the revolution/coup.

By ordering troops to open fire on the protesters on Wednesday morning, el-Sissi recharged the opposition’s energy. Although the soldiers managed to evacuate al-Nahda and even Rabaa al-Adawiya, the larger square, within hours, the death toll reached at least 525 and thousands were injured.

The military claims that armed Muslim Brotherhood supporters opened fire on the soldiers, killing close to 50 and injuring dozens more. Each side recruited the television channel that supports its agenda. 

The Muslim Brotherhood was backed by Qatar’s al-Jazeera, which broadcast pictures of corpses and injured protesters in an endless loop, while al-Arabiya, which is funded by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which support the Egyptian military, screened a video of supposed Muslim Brotherhood activists wearing masks and firing at unseen targets.

As expected, the bloodshed was condemned by prominent figures in the Arab world and by various political parties in Egypt. Leaders such as Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh — former Egyptian presidential candidate, and a former Muslim Brotherhood activist in his more distant past — who strongly opposed Mohammed Morsi while he was president, criticized the army and their excessive use of violence. Representatives of the extremist al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya organization, the al-Wasat Party and countries such as Qatar, Turkey and Iran, condemned the Egyptian military as well. And to top it all, Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, who was one of the first to stand by the military when protests against Morsi began on June 30, submitted his resignation.

The war for Egypt’s future has returned to international headlines and the Muslim Brotherhood is now demanding that el-Sissi be removed from power in order to restore peace. It is highly unlikely, though, that this will happen any time soon. Right now, Egypt is headed towards the unknown.

There is little chance of the Muslim Brotherhood ending their protests any time soon, and the military has no intention of forgoing its venerated commander, el-Sissi. But as further confrontation looms, the Muslim Brotherhood is at a disadvantage. It has the support of less than half of the Egyptian population, and it must contend with a powerful army, led by revered officers, that enjoys majority backing. The odds are not in its favor. The Brotherhood will be able to continue to disrupt and interfere with developments in Egypt, but there is currently no third revolution or coup on the horizon.

Still, these events are occurring in the new Middle East, where it is nearly impossible to foresee what tomorrow will bring. Back on January 26, 2011, the day after the protests against Hosni Mubarak began, it was nearly impossible to predict that he would be overthrown in less than three weeks.

El-Sissi’s violent action against the protesters was no coincidence. It is simply the next phase of the strategy that the army has employed over the past six weeks, both for handling the internal Egyptian front and for its activity in Sinai and against Hamas. The Egyptian chief of staff seems to be following a policy of zero tolerance against anyone who attempts to undermine the sovereignty of the new regime or Egypt’s national security. The days of Mubarak’s trial-and-error policies and mixed messages are over.

The army has entered a new era of all-out war against Islamic forces in Sinai and against the tunnels connecting the peninsula to Gaza, while at the same time, it is exerting force against the Muslim Brotherhood inside Egypt. The problem is that there are limits to the force and violence that can be applied, as the situation in Syria underlines. The Syrian army has been unable to suppress the opposition against Bashar Assad even as the death toll exceeds 100,000. Unlike in Syria, though, large portions of the Egyptian population support the military’s harsh policies.

Even as violence continues throughout Egypt, the army continues its efforts to destroy Jihadist headquarters in Sinai. Egyptian armed forces attack from the air and the ground and have managed to hit dozens of targets in the last week alone. The problem is that the number of armed activists that identify with al-Qaeda’s ideology is estimated at 3,000. It will be a long time before the Egyptian army will be able to declare victory in Sinai. From the Israeli perspective, this means that the rockets fired at Eilat this week will not be the last.

It would be best for Israel if el-Sissi’s army was able to maintain order in Egypt without more violent clashes that may undermine its authority. Jerusalem sees el-Sissi as an ally, which is why it is so difficult for Israel to swallow the Americans’ onslaught against the Egyptian army, their decision to cancel joint military maneuvers, and their threats to halt foreign aid to Egypt. If Washington has decided to take a stance against el-Sissi and his people, Israel can only hope that it has come up with a better alternative. So far, there is no such alternative anywhere in sight.

Hmmm....."j'y suis, j'y reste" - MAC-MAHON (1808-1893) 08septembre 1855 - Sébastopol siege.Read the full story here.

Egyptians no longer see the authorities as their opponents. "The enemy is now those Egyptians with other views."

Egyptians no longer see the authorities as their opponents. "The enemy is now those Egyptians with other views."(Spiegel).

Just weeks ago, they decried police violence and the heavy-handed state apparatus. Now, after over 600 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were killed on Wednesday, the Egyptian elite is silent. Those who dare to voice empathy are given a hostile reception.

Now, the same police that Salim attacked so vehemently in his book, has responded to demonstrations in Cairo with shocking brutality. At least 623 people, the vast majority of them civilians, were killed in street battles earlier this week.

And what is Salim doing? Sitting in a popular café in the Cairo city center, he says things like this: 

"The Muslim Brothers are a sickness and the police have to eradicate them." And: "The police and the army were only defending themselves." He adds that "the problem will only have been solved when the last Muslim Brother who causes problems is locked away in prison."

When asked about the obvious human rights violations perpetrated on the dead and wounded, he said: "And what about the rights of those who live near the protest camps? What about their right to be able to enjoy their apartment?"

Welcome to Egypt under General Abd al-Fattah al-Sissi. The country is so polarized that people are no longer able to feel any empathy whatsoever for others. It is a country in which the smartest and most critically thinking intellectuals are now spewing little more than propaganda, with people on both sides of the deep political divide displaying a penchant for simplification, vilification and agitation. Those who ask critical questions run the risk of being physically attacked, an experience that many foreign journalists have encountered in recent days.
Wednesday's bloodbath would seem to have done little to bring people to their senses. Tahrir Square, where pro-democracy activists gathered as recently as just a few weeks ago to protest violence perpetrated by the country's security forces, is completely empty. And the Muslim Brotherhood, instead of seeking to limit violence within its ranks, is amplifying its rage. Each day, the country seems to be taking another step toward civil war.
It is, of course, hardly surprising that people on both sides would fall into the propaganda trap. Egypt was deeply marked by the 30 years of autocracy under Mubarak. A healthy mistrust for simplistic sloganeering, as seen in more established democracies, remains rare. It is, however, shocking that even those who see themselves as the country's educated elite are marching in step.
One of them is Khaled Daud, spokesman for the National Salvation Front, a collection of 11 liberal political parties. He says that the attack on the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in camps on Wednesday could definitely not be called a massacre. The protesters could have left of their own free will. By refusing to do so, they hold responsibility for the deaths. "We don't condemn what happened."
Then, however, his conscience did kick in and he added that his comments were merely the party line and that he personally sees things differently. "Nothing can justify the deaths," he said. "You can't simply explain away the high number of casualties. Police used brutal, excessive force. It is a catastrophe."
Daud says though that such views are not widespread.

"The majority of Egyptians think the Brotherhood should be dealt with even more severely," he says, adding that few have understanding for Mohammed ElBaradei, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who resigned from the transition government as a result of the bloodbath on Wednesday. Since then, Egyptian liberals have been blasting him as a traitor.

One of the few who has publicly voiced respect for ElBaradei's decision is Ashrif Arubi. An engineer by profession, Arubi is a co-founder of the April 6 Youth Movement, which played a significant role in the toppling of the Mubarak regime. "ElBaradei has principles and I think that is good," he says. But ever since Arubi posted his view on social media, he has been bombarded by messages of hate.

Arubi and others in his camp would like to organize a demonstration against the kind of violence that took place in Cairo on Wednesday. "We are opposed to the ways the police cleared the camps," he says. But he adds that the timing for such a protest isn't right -- it would be too dangerous. "People are happy that the Brothers were killed. They see it as revenge," 33-year-old Arubi says. He blames the state-controlled media for brainwashing people.

"My greatest fear seems to have come true," the activist says. "The Egyptians no longer see the authorities as their opponents. The enemy is now those Egyptians with other views."

Churches torched across Egypt in anti-Coptic violence by Morsi Muslim Brotherhood loyalists

Churches torched across Egypt in anti-Coptic violence by Morsi Muslim Brotherhood loyalists.(AlAhram).

In case the West forgot: 

Muslim Brotherhood Creed ‘Jihad is our Way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.’

Churches across Egypt came under frenzied attack as the country became convulsed in violent turmoil after security forces forcibly broke up two Cairo protest camps held by supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Incensed by the bloody crackdown that has claimed more than 500 lives, Morsi loyalists orchestrated nationwide assaults on Christian targets Wednesday, wreaking havoc on churches, homes, and Christian-owned businesses throughout the country.

Coptic rights group the Maspero Youth Union (MYU) estimated that as many as 36 churches were "completely" devastated by fire across nine Egyptian governorates, including Minya, Sohag and Assiut — home to large Coptic communities.

The group, alongside media reports, said that many other churches were looted or stormed in ensuing street violence Wednesday.
Egypt's interior ministry told reporters in Cairo Wednesday that at least seven churches had been vandalised or torched by suspected Islamists.
MYU spokesman Antwan Adel said at least two were confirmed dead — in the cities of Minya and Alexandria — during the anti-Coptic attacks. No independent confirmation of this tally has appeared.
Adel deplored what he termed "criminal acts and terrorist perception" of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which deposed president Morsi hailed. "They seek to drive a wedge between Christians and Muslims," Adel told Ahram Online.
"It's Christians in Egypt who pay the price to overthrow tyranny," Adel said, citing sectarian incidents under long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak through until now.
Adel said his group had documented dozens of incidents of violence against monasteries, Coptic schools, Christian homes and shops in different parts of the country on Wednesday. 
The sectarian conflagration has set off fears of deeper polarisation and insecurity amongst Christians in a predominantly Sunni Muslim state. Coptic Christians — Egypt's largest minority — make up some 10 percent of the national population of 84 million.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it had registered until late July at least six attacks on Christians across Egypt since the ouster of Morsi.
The Upper Egypt governorate of Minya was scene of the lion's share of ًWednesday's attacks. The MYU put the number of churches assaulted in the city alone at 11, with some "completely burnt."
Gebrial Dafshan of Minya's Christians Youth Centre (Al-Wady), which was stormed and engulfed by flames, blamed lax security on the part of the government at Coptic facilities.
"There was no security presence. Even when we called the Fire Department for help they said they were themselves being attacked," Dafsahn said.
Morsi's Islamist backers set dozens of police stations ablaze across Egypt and attempted to storm provincal governor offices following Wednesday bloody crackdown. A group of Morsi supporters also set fire to the finance ministry building in Cairo's Nasr City district, a few miles away from a main Cairo protest camp they manned for six weeks.
Some Coptic Christians appear understanding of what they deem was "the inevitable" violence that would result from dealing with Islamist "terrorists." Yet critics say there should have been pre-emptive measures taken by both the army and police for what appeared to be a likely scenario of widespread chaos.
Forty-one people were killed in Minya Wednesday in violence sparked by security forces storming pro-Morsi camps in Cairo, health ministry officials said.
On Thursday, Egyptian authorities referred 84 people from the canal city of Suez — including members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood movement — to military prosecutors on charges of murder and burning churches, state news agency MENA reported.
Egypt's interim premier, Hazem El-Beblawi, condemned the "criminal acts" against Copts in a telephone conversation with Coptic Pope Tawadros II, who threw his weight behind the army's ouster of Morsi on 3 July. El-Beblawi vowed to deal strictly with "terrorism," asserting that "unity between Muslims and Christians is a red line."
Egypt's army chief General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi pledged the military would cover the costs of restoration for all damaged churches.
The attacks was severely censured by the US State Department, with spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying they “risk further aggravating an already fragile atmosphere.”
"We are outraged and deplore in the strongest terms the reprehensible attacks of the past few days against numerous Coptic churches," Psaki said during a Thursday press briefing.
Egypt's health ministry said Thursday that some 525 people were killed and more than 3717 injured across Egypt on Wednesday, leaving the most populous Arab nation in ferment.
The unrest led the interim government to declare a month-long state of emergency, with a daily curfew between 7:00pm and 6:00am in Cairo and 13 other governorates.
Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize laureate who gave his blessing to the ousting of Egypt's first freely elected president, resigned in protest at the use of force instead of pursuing a political resolution to the six-week stand-off between the army-installed government and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt: At least 40 killed, thousands injured as security forces clear sit-ins - Coptic Churches under attack - Live updates.

Egypt: At least 40 killed, thousands injured as security forces clear sit-ins - Coptic Churches under attack  - Live Updates.(TOI).(AlAhram).

CAIRO — At least 40 people were killed Wednesday morning as Egyptian security forces cleared one of two sit-in camps set up in support of the country’s ousted president, Mohammed Morsi, and were attempting to clear the other.

There were vastly conflicting reports on the death toll, with the AFP and Reuters news agencies reporting 43 and the Muslim Brotherhood putting the figure at over 600, with thousands injured.

The ambulance authority said 13 were killed and at least 94 wounded but the Brotherhood put the death toll at 121, citing a makeshift hospital at the Rabaa sit-in. An AFP correspondent said he had counted 43 dead bodies. 

Egypt's state television said two police personnel, an officer and a conscript, were killed and six wounded during the attempt to clear out the two sit-ins.

Two hundred Brotherhood protesters at both camps were arrested for possessing firearms, bladed weapons and gas canisters, state news agency MENA reported.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry announced that a number of Muslim Brotherhood officials have been arrested. Their names have yet to be released.

Egyptian state TV was reporting that the smaller of the two camps, outside the Cairo University campus in Giza, was under police control.

At least two members of the security forces were confirmed to have died in the morning’s crackdown.

Security officials said forces were firing tear gas into the larger of the two protest locations in Cairo, the encampment in the eastern Nasr City neighborhood at the entrances to Rabaa El-Adaweya mosque, where thousands have been protesting for more than 40 days to demand the reinstatement of Morsi, Ahram Online reported.

A spokesman for the group tweeted that snipers were firing at protesters, a report that is unconfirmed.

Regional television networks were also showing images of collapsed tents and burning tires at both sites, with ambulances on standby at the scene. They were also showing protesters being arrested and led away by the troops.

A security official said a total of 200 protesters have been arrested from both sites. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The Egyptian Army has threatened to disperse the protests for several weeks now and has called on the demonstrators to leave peacefully.

Live updates from Russia Today.

Live Updates From AlAhram:

Egypt presidency declares month-long state of Emergency starting from 4Pm today: ara.tv/b4rr3 

14:35 Further attacks on Egyptian churches are being reported. In Al-Arish in North Sinai, unknown assailants have torched the Mar Girgis church, reports Ahram Arabic.
In Minya governorate, Morsi supporters have torched two more churches, Deir Mina and El-Agayby, both located in the city of Minya itself, reports Ahram Arabic.
Ahram Arabic reports three churches torched today in the governorate, while Asway Masriya says that four churches were set on fire and another three others attacked.
14:25 The Brotherhood’s official spokesperson Gehad El-Haddad announced that Asmaa Mohamed El-Beltagi, the 17-year-old daughter of Brotherhood figure Mohamed El-Beltagi, has been killed during the security crackdown on the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in.
14:15 Six security personnel –three officers and three conscripts – have been killed by gunfire while breaking up the Rabaa Al-Adawiya camp, a security source told state news agency MENA.
Sixty-six others were injured in the process.
There are some more official figures for injuries in various governorates. Seven people have been killed and 96 injured in clashes in Beheira, Beni Suef, Suez and Minya governorates, according to official health ministry figures.

13:45 There have been further international statements of concern about the dispersal of the sit-ins.

The Qatar foreign ministry reportedly called on Egyptian authorities to "refrain from the security option in dealing with peaceful protests, and to preserve the lives of Egyptians at protest sites."
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said that "armed intervention on civilians, on people demonstrating" is "completely unacceptable."
Both Qatar and Turkey were strong backers of Mohamed Morsi's government.
Iran, meanwhile, has condemned the "massacre" in Egypt.

13:20 In Suez there have been two confirmed deaths by live fire, a health official told Ahram Arabic. Fifty-three injuries have been reported.

Video of the Attack on St George:

Saint George Church in Souhag Southern Egypt after attack:

13:15 Protests in Alexandria are ongoing; Ahram reports that protesters set fire to a government building in the suburb of Kom El-Deka and clashed with security forces at El-Raml train station located nearby. The demonstrators stormed the government building and set parts on fire.
13:10 UAE media outlet Xpress is reporting on Twitter that its reporter Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz has been "shot dead in Cairo." No further details have been released yet.
13:05 Alastair Beach, a reporter with the UK daily the Independent, is at Rabaa field hospital, where he reports seeing 42 bodies. "Pro-Morsi protesters have barricaded themselves inside upper floors of field clinic as live fire crackles outside" he tweets.
13:00 In Luxor, clashes have been going on since Morsi supporters staged a protest in Abu Haggag Square. During this time the protesters burned a police car, attacked a policeman stealing his weapon and uniform in addition to attacking a number of shops, according to Ahram’s reporter in Luxor, Iman El-Hawary.
Pro-Morsi supporters have also attacked four police stations in the governorate of Giza.
12:55 Al-Azhar, Egypt's leading Islamic institution, said that it was not aware of plans to disperse the sit-ins and that it had learned about them through the media.
Al-Azhar's grand imam Ahmed El-Tayyeb said in a spoken statement broadcast on Egyptian television that Al-Azhar should not be dragged into political conflicts.
He called for "self-restraint" and giving priority to "the national interest", condemning violence and bloodshed.
12:50 In Fayoum in Upper Egypt, pro-Morsi supporters set fire to a Christian youth centre located next to the Muslim youth centre where they had been protesting, reported Ahram Arabic.
The protesters also set fire to a rest house located near the Fayoum-Cairo highway, while security forces blocked roads leading to government headquarters and blocked off the highway.
In Aswan, three people have been confirmed dead at the university hospital, with 22 injured, after clashes between protesters and security forces. Morsi supporters have torched 5 Central Security Forces vehicles and took guns and teargas canisters from inside the trucks, Ahram Arabic reported.
12:45 In a brief televised statement, Egypt's interim government said it would react sternly to any acts of sabotage and attacks on state institutions. The government vowed to safeguard the right to political expression as long as it remains peaceful and stays within the domain of the law.
“The government insists on moving forward with the future roadmap in a way that guarantees that no faction will be excluded from participating in the political process which will achieve a democratic transition,” the statement read.
12:40 The stock market has, unsurprisingly, not reacted well to today’s violence.
The EGX30, the main index of the Egyptian stock exchange, dropped 1.68 percent by 12:40pm to sit at 5,550 points. Trading volume floats at around LE230 million.
The market had neared a six-month high on Tuesday.
12:35 The international community has expressed concerns about the dispersals of the demonstrations.
An European Union spokesman has said that reports that protesters had been killed in a security force crackdown were "extremely worrying" and called for restraint from Egyptian authorities.
The German foreign minister has also called on all sides to "return immediately to negotiations and avert an escalation of violence."
Alistair Burt, the UK foreign minister, wrote on Twitter several hours ago that he was "deeply concerned at events continuing today in #Cairo leading to deaths and injury. Restraint and dialogue more urgent than ever."
12:30 There have been a number of reported attacks by protesters on police stations around Egypt.
An attack on tthe Abu Kurkas police station in Minya left eight dead and at least 30 injured according to a medical source, reported Ahram Arabic.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood have also attacked police stations in Fayoum, Assiut, Helwan, and Sharqiya while a police car was set on fire in Luxor.
12:25 Egyptian state television is reporting that protesters at Rabaa Al-Adawiya threw a Central Security Forces (CSF) vehicle off the nearby 6 October Bridge. The vehicle had five police conscripts inside. The report is unconfirmed.
12:20 The Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya ultra-conservative movement called on supporters of toppled president Morsi to take to the streets to condemn what it termed "coup crimes."
The statement by the hardline Islamist group – a close ally of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood – also urged its loyalists “enraged by police attacks on the Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins,” not to assault “Christians or their religious buildings.”
There have been a number of attacks on churches around Egypt this morning, including in Minya and Sohag.
12:15 Violence continues in the cities on the Suez Canal.
Reports of violence against Christian targets in Suez. Ahram Arabic reports that pro-Morsi supporters threw Molotov cocktails at the Al-Raey Al-Saleh Church and set three military vehicles on fire. Clashes are ongoing between protesters and military forces.
In Ismailiya, a military officer and a conscript were shot dead on the highway connecting the city with Cairo, by unknown assailants reported to have fired from a car. Two other officers were injured, reported Ahram Arabic.
12:10 A BBC reporter has said that gunfire is currently being exchanged between both sides at Al-Nahda Square in Giza after the dispersal of the pro-Morsi sit-in.
Ahram Online reporter Mai Shaheen, who was at the sit-in earlier, confirmed that automatic weapons were being fired by Morsi supporters at police from within Al-Orman Gardens adjacent to the square.
12:05 According to Ahram Arabic, Mohamed El-Zaki, a photographer for Al Jazeera Mubasher news network was injured during clashes at Rabaa. Zaki was shot in the hand while covering the clashes. A reporter for Sky News Arabic was also reportedly shot by live ammunition and is being transported to hospital.
12:00 In a cabinet statement earlier this morning, the government reiterated the interior ministry's claims that the police have been demonstrating "restraint" and using only teargas and water cannon. There have been many reports to the contrary, including an Ahram Online reporter who was caught in the crossfire between protesters and police at Al-Nahda, with live fire being used on both sides.
11:55  Senior health ministry official Mohamed Sultan said in a statement to state news agency MENA that the death toll from the sit-in dispersals had reached 13, five of which were security forces – two officers and three conscripts.
Sultan said the injury toll had reached 98, including many from live fire, shotgun pellets and teargas.
The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said in their latest statement that the Rabaa Al-Adawiya field hospital has over 500 dead and 9,000 injured.
All figures are impossible to verify at the moment, especially as security forces are making in hard for reporters to access the sit-ins. However, an AFP reporter earlier counted 43 bodies at the morgue at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya field hospital.
11:45 The interior ministry says that security monitoring has revealed that leaders of Muslim Brotherhood have "given orders to their members in the governorates to attack police stations."
In a statement published by state news agency MENA, the ministry said that the Brotherhood has already started "implementing the plan in Cairo, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut and Sohag." The ministry's forces are combating these attempts, it said, and warned citizens against approaching "any police facilities."
11:40 There are reports of ongoing protests and clashes all over Egypt.
In Alexandria, hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood are reportedly clashing with security forces on the corniche, the main sea-front road. Brotherhood members have attacked security forces with stones and pellet fire, while the police respond with teargas. Several public buses have also been set on fire by protesters.
In Suez, pro-Morsi protesters fired at an army truck during a march headed to the governorate headquarters and the local security directorate. According to Ahram Arabic, Morsi supporters also set on fire a Franciscan school as well as a number of shops and cars, all located on Al-Geish Street.
In Ismailiya, Ahram’s Khaled Lotfy says that pro-Morsi protesters have been throwing Molotov cocktails at court buildings while security forces attempt to control the fire and secure other governmental buildings in the area.
In Upper Egypt, clashes between protesters and the police continue in Assiut with pro-Morsi protesters throwing rocks and setting a police car on fire in Mahata Square, according to Islam Radwan, Ahram’s reporter in the city.
In Wadi El-Gedid governorate in Egypt’s Western Desert, dozens of pro-Morsi supporters headed to the local post office to close it down and attack security forces there, according to Mahmoud Abbas, a post office manager. He told Ahram’s Khaled Karish that locals in the area stopped the attack and the protesters headed on to the governorate building.
11:35 The Strong Egypt Party has said that it holds the Egyptian authorities responsible for the “deaths of the victims” today. Spokesman Ahmed Imam said that the dispersal of the sit-ins is a "crime" that will lead to more violence. The party, which is Islamist-oriented, took part in the 30 June protests against Morsi but rejected his ouster by the military, describing it as a "coup."
The April 6 Youth Movement blames “the army, interior ministry and the Muslim Brotherhood” for today's bloodshed, saying on its Facebook page that the interior ministry does not mind if people die so long as it “consolidates its control” and that the Brotherhood also do not care about lives but only about “reclaiming power.”
11:30 Clashes continue at Rabaa where security forces are inside the camp, with the sounds of gunfire echoing in the area.
Egypt's interior ministry said protesters on nearby rooftops and inside the camp had opened fire at security forces who continued to take down tents and makeshift barriers erected by pro-Morsi protesters, Aswat Masriya reported
11:20 A priest named as Ihab told Ahram’s Haggag El-Husseini that the Dalga church in Deir Mawat located in Upper Egypt’s Minya governorate is under attack.
The main Coptic Orthodox Church in Sohag city, also in Upper Egypt, has been set ablaze by pro-Morsi protesters, reports Aswat Masriya. It is located close to Thaqafa Square, where thousands are protesting against the sit-ins' disperal.
11:15 Egyptian police on Wednesday morning attacked two large sit-ins being held by supporters of Mohamed Morsi in Greater Cairo.
The smaller sit-in at Al-Nahda Square in Giza was completely dispersed according to the interior ministry, while the larger demonstration at Rabaa Al-Adawiya mosque, across the river in east Cairo, is surrounded by police and under heavy fire. Many key highways around Cairo are blocked off by security forces, particularly those leading to the sit-ins.
The railway authority said it had stopped all train services in and out of Cairo "for security reasons and to prevent people from mobilising".
The death toll from the attacks is hard to ascertain; the health ministry has reported ten dead across Cairo in the incidents, but their reports are based on figures from public hospitals, and do not include those bodies that have yet to reach official healthcare facilities.
At the Rabaa field hospital, an AFP correspondent reported seeing 43 dead bodies.
Egyptian state television has said that two police personnel, an officer and a conscript, were killed and six wounded during the attempt to clear out the two sit-ins.

 There are also reports of violence in the middle-class Giza district of Mohandeseen and in Maydan Al-Giza, in the Giza district, between Morsi supporters and police.

Al-Azhar imam addresses Egypt: Violence and killing against Islam.

Al-Azhar imam addresses Egypt: Violence and killing against Islam.(AA).

Violence or killing a person is prohibited in Islam, said grand imam of al-Azhar institution – which is Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning – as the death toll in Egypt kept rising.

Ahmed al-Tayeb, in a televised address to the nation – said that he hoped the Egyptian people will find a way out of “this ugly strife.”

At least 10 people were killed and 210 wounded in clashes between opponents of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Mursi and those who support him, a health ministry source said on Friday.

Before his TV address, Tayeb demanded the release of political prisoners after the arrests of several leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood following the army’s overthrow of Mursi.

He also called for the release of “prisoners of conscience” and political activists, Reuters reported the state news agency MENA as saying.

Earlier on Tuesday, Tayeb warned that “division will lead the country to a catastrophe, and it must end.”“Unity of the Egyptian people is above all,” he added.

However, the grand mufti - whose moderate religious authority had previously accused the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Mursi hails, of humiliating it - called for “effective steps” to be taken to show “appreciation to the people’s voice.”

He said the “people have surprised and inspired the world through its elegant expression of their peaceful demands.”Read the full story here.

Video - Egyptian Cleric Abu Islam: Egypt's Authority Should Be Divided among Islamist Groups; Flag of Islam Will Soon Fly over White House.

Egyptian Cleric Abu Islam: Egypt's Authority Should Be Divided among Islamist Groups; Flag of Islam Will Soon Fly over White House.

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian cleric Abu Islam, which aired on Al-Kahera Wal-Nas TV on March 18, 2013:

Abu Islam: We have four large Islamic groups: The Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Al-Gama’a Islamiyya. These are the four significant powers.

Is there anyone more qualified to lead the country than the Muslim Brotherhood? Then let the Muslim Brotherhood assume this responsibility.

Who should be in charge of religious affairs in Egypt? The Salafis. Is any group more qualified than the Salafis to regulate ideology? I choose the Salafis to run Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Religious Endowments.

We are left with the army and the police. Which is the best to run the police? The Muslim Brotherhood? No. The Salafis? No. Al-Gama’a Islamiyya is the best for the job. This leaves the army for the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

This is how disagreements can turn into pluralism, and I pray to Allah that this will be accepted by all, and the various powers of the Islamic nation will come together.

[…] Interviewer: What about all the other people? Abu Islam: What people?

Interviewer: All those people who do not belong to these four groups.

Abu Islam: Tell me exactly who you mean. The Communists?

Interviewer: For example…

Abu Islam: They have ruled for a long time. They have had enough. The liberals? They have ruled for a long time and have had enough too. Let’s give Islam a chance for once.

[…] Trust me, very soon we will see the flag of “There is no god but Allah” flying over the White House. They are already holding [Muslim] prayers in the White House. Source: Memri.


MFS Will: "Notice not a word about the Copts, apparently Christians don't excist in this 'man' his world."

Video: Christians rounded up in Benghazi for preaching the Gospel.

HT: WalidShoebat.(JawaReport).Walid has analyzed and confirmed that this video is what it purports to be. Essentially, Christians were proselytizing in Benghazi before being rounded up by objecting Islamists.

Clashes break out at Egyptian church over kidnapping rumors of young Muslim woman that converted to Christianity.

Clashes break out at Egyptian church over kidnapping rumors of young Muslim woman that converted to Christianity.(AO).Clashes have broken out between hundreds of locals outside a church in the city of Kom Ombo in Aswan on Thursday, as reports circulated that a 37-year-old Muslim woman had been kidnapped and forced to convert to Christianity.

The family of the woman, who had been missing for three days when her family were told of her presence in Mar Girgis Church, accuse the church of kidnapping her and forcing her to embrace Christianity. Other eyewitness accounts say that the woman converted of her own free will.

Security forces have formed a human shield around the church, while locals from Kom Ombo have blockaded railway tracks and are throwing stones at the building.

At the time of going to press, teargas was being fired by security forces, and there were reports of clashes between Copts who were protecting the church and local Muslims who were throwing rocks.

“We as Copts will stand by the security and the family of the girl to find her and avoid strife,” Father Johannas Rzeiq of the Mar Girgis church told Al-Ahram Arabic news website, prior to the outbreak of the clashes.
Also on Thursday, in the town of Al-Wasta in the central governorate of Beni Suef, members of the Salafist Nour Party and El-Gamaa El-Salafaya (the Salafist Group) gathered in front of the police station to protest the alleged kidnapping of a 20-year-old Muslim woman who they claim was forced to convert to Christianity.

The Salafist protesters demanded the woman be returned to her family within three days.According to reports, the girl had been missing for almost week. Her family found a number of Christian books in her personal library, which led them to suspect church-involvement in her disappearance.

Following the January 25 revolution, several sectarian incidents occurred in which Salafists besieged churches in cases related to conversion.
In May 2011, clashes erupted in Cairo after a rumour spread among Salafists that a Christian woman who had allegedly converted to Islam was being held hostage at a church in Imbaba in Cairo.
The clashes left at least twelve dead and over 50 injured. Two churches were burnt down. Hmmmm......Perhaps invite Kerry for a speech on Obama's 'world vision'?Read the full story here.

Video - Sharia Shushed: 'Majority of Egypt against Muslim Brotherhood'

Video - Sharia Shushed: 'Majority of Egypt against Muslim Brotherhood' HT: RussiaToday.
Egypt's hardline Islamists, including members of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood party, have gathered in Cairo for a rally calling for peace. That's after three weeks of protests against the government, which started on the 2nd anniversary of the revolution that toppled Mubarak. The rioting has seen tear gas and water cannons used against protesters who've been armed with firebombs.More than 70 people have died in the clashes so far. For more, RT talks to William Engdahl, author of 'Myths, Lies and Oil Wars'.