CAIRO, EGYPT (ANS) — Middle East journalist, Mary Abdelmassih, has told the ASSIST News Service (ANS), that the role played by Muslim women in the “abduction and forced Islamization of Christian females in Egypt is on the rise, with continuously changing methods of deception.”

Abdelmassih said, “Victims are mostly minor >>>Continue reading >>>]]> By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST Ministries

CAIRO, EGYPT (ANS) — Middle East journalist, Mary Abdelmassih, has told the ASSIST News Service (ANS), that the role played by Muslim women in the “abduction and forced Islamization of Christian females in Egypt is on the rise, with continuously changing methods of deception.”

Abdelmassih said, “Victims are mostly minor Christian girls, however, one of the most recent abductions was a Coptic Christian family.”

The case she was referring took place on the morning of June 29, 2010, when 37-years old Coptic mother Nagwa Sargios, left her home in the 10th Ramadan district of Greater Cairo, together with her daughter Marina (17 years) and twin sons Mario and Michael (9 years), to visit her mother in hospital, where she was due for a heart operation.

“My sister and her children never arrived as promised, and their mobile phones were switched off. Next day we contacted her land line, and my sister’s husband said that he thought his family was with us all the time,” said Adel Sargios, her brother.

Abdelmassih said that the Sargios family “did their own investigations,” and after talking with neighbors, they were certain, that his sister’s Muslim neighbor and her two daughters Marwa and Asma, all wear Niqabs, (the head-to-toe Muslim veil) were behind Nagwa and her children’s disappearance, with the motive of converting them to Islam.

“They must have deceived and lured her and her family away,” said the brother.

The information he collected about the Muslim neighbor who is divorced, is that “she is a charlatan earning her living by claiming to practice sorcery,” which Muslim women believe in its power and have recourse to it, said the journalist.

The police refused to issue a report as “abduction” as they considered the Christian family to be only “missing.”

Abdelmassih went on to say that after the incident, the Muslim neighbor and her two daughters have abandoned their flat [apartment], empty of all furnishings and belongings.

“The Sargios family did their own investigations again, successfully tracing the whereabouts of the Niqab-clad family,” Abdelmassih told ANS. “The information was relayed to the state security officer who insisted on visiting them alone. However, when he returned to the police station he told the family that the Muslim woman is innocent, and that they should look somewhere else.”

“This way the investigation would deal with it as a ‘missing’ persons case and we have to look further for another culprit,” said Adel Sargios.

Top attorney Dr. Naguib Gobrail, president of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization (EUHRO), who got involved in the case through the Sargios family, contacted state security in the presence of the family. “The officer assured me that Nagwa and her children are with state security, and that she did not convert to Islam,” he said. The officer also told Gobrail that the family could go and collect their daughter and her children the next day.

When the family went to Egyptian state security, with an activist from Euhro, the officer denied having said anything of this sort to Dr. Gobrail, and denied knowing the whereabouts of the missing family.

According to Dr. Gobrail there have been attempts to convert Nagwa Sargios to Islam “by her veiled neighbor, but she rejected these attempt and stuck to her Christian religion,” reported Copts United.

“To our surprise, we learnt from our sources that the abduction of my sister and her family was being planned for since two years,” the brother said.

The three abducted children
Adel Sargios accused the state security of delaying and lying about everything for three weeks. “I am certain that the officer is an accomplice, he is giving time to the abductors to move Nagwa and her family somewhere far,” he commented.

Coptic Activist Medhat Kelada, believes that the Islamization of Copts is a business which represents a permanent source of livelihood for state security officials,

“Especially with the flow of funds from the rich and extremist Wahhabis who try to Islamize the Egyptian Copts with the help of some of the security service officers,” he said.

While looking for his sister and the Niqab-clad woman in the area, “We found tens of Coptic girls abducted from 10th Ramadan district, and they even came back to live there after converting to Islam and getting married to Muslims. Their defenseless Coptic families, who feel humiliated and infuriated, are threatened by state security not to open their mouth,” Adel said.

Abdelmassih stated that the “abduction and forced Islamization of Coptic girls, which has started nearly 30 years ago, is a lucrative business for Muslims, whether they are the brokers, abductors or state security officials, who do their best to protect those involved in the crime.”

She said that the price of a Coptic girl vary according to her looks and her family’s social status. (http://www.aina.org/news/20090718111414.htm)

Magdy Khalil, political analyst and researcher in Coptic affairs believes that abduction of Coptic girls is “an organized crime,” carried out through an organized and pre-planned process by associations and organizations inside Egypt with domestic and Arab funding.

Adel said that his older brother Ashraf has been intimidated by state security and he himself has received numerous threats on his mobile phone not to pursue the matter further or talk about the incident in chat rooms on the internet. “I will never give up, whatever they do. My family has already lost four of its members, it does not matter if they also lose a fifth.”

Abdelmassih concluded by saying, “On July 19, 2010, the Coptic family filed a report with the police officially accusing the Muslim neighbor of abducting Nagwa and her three children.”

PAKISTAN (ANS) – More Christians are starting to face allegations of blasphemy under controversial laws in Pakistan.

According to a story by Aftab Alexander Mughal writing for Minorities Concern of Pakistan (MCOP), Christian families in Lahore were forced to flee for their safety while at the same time thousands >>>Continue reading >>>]]> By Jeremy Reynalds, Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

PAKISTAN (ANS) – More Christians are starting to face allegations of blasphemy under controversial laws in Pakistan.

According to a story by Aftab Alexander Mughal writing for Minorities Concern of Pakistan (MCOP), Christian families in Lahore were forced to flee for their safety while at the same time thousands of Muslim protesters demanded the death sentence for Christians for allegedly committing blasphemy in Faisalabad city.

MCOP said a Muslim “mob” in Faisalabad city, Punjab province, on July 10 and 11 2010 and demanded the death sentence for two Christian brothers, Rashid Emmanuel, 32, a pastor, and Sajid Emmanuel, a graduate student.

MCOP said the brothers were arrested on July 2 on charges of writing a pamphlet with blasphemous remarks about Prophet Mohammad. They were reportedly detained at the Civil Lines Police Station Faisalabad.

Atif Jamil Pagaan, told the Minorities Concern of Pakistan, “The protests were held in Waris Pura locality where more than 100,000 Christians are living. They wanted to attack and burn the area where Emmanuel brothers’ house was located. The protesters chanted slogans, raised weapons and (threatened a) lesson to the Christian community. They also stoned the Catholic Church in Waris Pura and burned tires on the roads to show their anger.”

He added, “Despite the presence of the police the protesters did not disburse but announced to continue their protest. The Christian community in Faisalabad city, especially in Waris Pura, the second biggest slum in the city, was scared and many of them fled to their relatives in other towns and villages.”

The Christian social worker told MCOP the mob threatened that if both Christians were not given a death sentence they would seek revenge from the entire Christian community as well as the two brothers.

Pagaan of Harmony Foundation told MCOP that the charges against the two brothers are false. There is no evidence neither were there witnesses present. The hand written photocopied pamphlet is distributed by unknown individuals, but the names and telephone numbers of Rashid and Sajid are on the booklet.

MCOP reported that area Christians say the situation could become as violent as the incidents from a year ago in Gojra city. There nine Christians were burned alive and more than 120 homes occupied by Christians were burned to the ground by Muslims reportedly wanting to punish Christians for alleged blasphemy charges against a Christian.

In another case on July 5, MCOP said a Christian family from Model Town Lahore, Punjab province, was forced to leave their home for their safety. Yousaf Masih, his wife Bashrian Bibi and their son-in-law Zahid Masih were accused of blasphemy against the Quran. About 2,000 angry Muslims protested against them and tried to burn their house.

MCOP said police have filed a case against them under blasphemy laws because of Muslim pressure. According to local sources the allegation against Christians results from “personal rancor and enmity.”

In yet another situation, MCOP said the family of a Christian human rights activist Saleem Sylvester were also forced to leave their home and live elsewhere to protect themselves from the blasphemy charges. According to Sylvester, unknown individuals threw torn pages of the Quran on his roof on a number of days. Although they discovered the pages quickly, the threat remains.

“To save my family I shifted them to a rented house on July 27,” MCOP said his email message reads.

MCOP said the family is still in jeopardy because they have received a threatening call on their cell phone.

MCOP said while the situation for Christians is quite tense because of the blasphemy laws, two Christians Boota Maish and Riaz Maish, were granted bail under blasphemy laws on July 2. They had both been arrested on Oct. 30 2009, and jailed in Lahore.

MCOP said religious minorities, including Christians, Hindis, Sikhs, Ahmadis and Shias, say that the blasphemy laws, introduced by a military dictator, have been widely misused against them. It appears, MCOP said, that many of the charges under the blasphemy laws stem from such issues including personal enmity, religious rivalry and property disputes.

MCOP said it has repeatedly demanding to the government that these laws should be repealed as soon as possible. Doing so, the group said, would save the lives of innocent people and bring harmony to a society where peace has been shattered since the institution of the laws.