One Coptic Mother’s Agony at Trauma of Son Who Saw Islamists Kill His Father

On 26 May 2017 a convoy of Copts was travelling to the Monastery of St. Samuel in Minya, 170 miles (270km) south of Cairo, to celebrate Ascension Day. Among them were Ayad and his sons, Marco (14) and Mina (10).

“I remember it was a very hot day, so my husband and two sons left early for work in the monastery. They were working on the church bells there,” remembers 42-year-old mother-of-four, Hanaa.

Their convoy was stopped on the desert road by eight to ten gunmen. They ordered the Copt men to give up their valuables, then all, who would not confess Islam, were shot. The boys were spared “to tell the story”.

“I was having breakfast with my daughters when the phone rang,” Hanaa continues. “It was my son calling from his father’s phone. He was crying. He told me they had been attacked and that his father was in a critical condition.”

“I went as soon as I could, together with some family. The ambulance was late, so my nephew Ehab put Ayad in the back of his minivan. My husband was soaked in blood, it was a terrible sight. On the way to hospital Ayad was transferred to the ambulance, but it was too late: he died on the way.”

Hanaa’s grief was immeasurably deep. But, she said, “along the way God comforted me through the many visits of priests and people who stood with me.”

The support was also good for her 14-year-old son, Marco. Hanaa says he was encouraged by it, and has been very brave like his late father. He is doing well at school, she says. “[He has] started to go to the monastery to make church bells in his father’s place. He has a strong relationship with God. He always goes to church, especially since his father’s death.”

But she worries for Mina. “My big concern is for my youngest son, Mina,” Hanaa admits. “This incident has had a huge negative impact on him. He’s always afraid, especially to go anywhere on his own, even to the bathroom. He also can’t sleep alone, so sleeps next to me.”

The situation for Copts in Upper Egypt has become increasingly difficult. Islamic State released a propaganda video in February last year, vowing to wipe out Egypt’s Coptic Christians and “liberate Cairo”.

Egyptian Christians have long complained that the government does not take their security concerns seriously. For their part, officials blame violent incidents on foreign-influenced extremists.

But Hanaa said: “Even though we are very much persecuted here in Upper Egypt, we love our Muslim neighbours. Because our religion is based on love and our God is a God of love. Having experienced this harsh persecution myself hasn’t changed my view: I still pray for Muslims and love them. Our Lord is stronger than their persecution.”

Nonetheless, the loss of her husband is real. “Ayad wasn’t only my husband. He was my friend and a brother and a father to me. He was everything for me in this life. He was very kind and honest, a man of God, and I am proud he stood by his faith until his last breath. If he could say something to his attackers, I think he’d say: ‘I forgive you and pray that God forgives you, touches your hearts and open your blind eyes to see His way.’ And I would fully agree with him.”

New Iraqi Leader Vows to 'Support Christians'

The Chaldean Patriarch, Louis Sako, has telephoned Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr to congratulate him on his unexpected victory in the country’s recent parliamentary elections. The Patriarchate also said that Sako told Sadr he hoped for a government that promotes the common good of all the Iraqi people. According to the Patriarchate, Sadr thanked Sako for his words and pledged to “support Christians”, the Vatican-linked news agency Fides reported.

Sako has positioned himself of leader of Iraq’s remaining Christians, who are rebuilding their lives, homes and churches since the military defeat of IS last year

No single candidate won anywhere near enough seats to control the majority of the 329-seat parliament, and Sadr’s alliance with the communists won the greatest number, with only 54 seats. The bloc led by Hadi al-Amari, a militia leader who fought against Iraq during its war with Iran, came second with 47 seats. The bloc headed by Haider al-Abadi, Prime Minister since 2014, fared worse than expected, with 42 seats, but won the multi-sectarian province of Nineveh, which includes many Christian towns and the city of Mosul where, under his overall command, Iraqi forces led the military defeat of IS last year.

However Mr. Sadr did not stand as a candidate himself and has said he will not become prime minister, meaning he instead can function as something of a “kingmaker”. Although Christians were killed or forced to flee Baghdad in 2006 and 2007 as his Shia militias sparked furious fighting with Baghdad’s Sunni populations, he has distanced himself from his Iranian former backers, saying he regards their influence in Iraq as destabilising.

Rend al-Rahim, a former Iraqi ambassador to the US, told Al Jazeera that this result “indicates that at least in Mosul province there is renewed hope for a better future and an acknowledgement of the role of Abadi and the Iraqi army in liberating Nineveh.”

According to the New York Times, Sadr favours Abadi to continue as prime minister. Abadi is a moderate Shia who has partnered with the US in the fight against Islamic State. Sadr met both him and Mr Amari at the weekend as part of negotiations for forming a government, and after meeting Abadi he said their meeting showed that the next government “will be inclusive, we will not exclude anyone”.

The Al Monitor news website noted that on 21 May, Sadr tweeted, “I am Muqtada. I am Shiite, Sunni, Christian, Sabean, Yazidi, Islamist, civil, Arab, Kurdish, Assyrian, Turkmen, Chaldean and Shabak. I am Iraqi. Do not expect me to side with any sect against the other to renew enmities and lead to our demise. We are headed toward a comprehensive Iraqi alliance.”

Although the country’s Christians had only five seats to fight over, the results show a significant shift. Fides reports that four of the five successful candidates belong to the Chaldean Church, and that the Assyrian Democratic Movement, the longest-running Christian party, will have no representation in parliament.

Two of the five seats were won by candidates from the Babylon Brigades militia: Aswan Salem Sawa in Nineveh, and Burhanuddin Ishak Ibrahim in Baghdad. In Kirkuk, the seat was won by the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Council’s Rihan Hanna Ayoub, and in Erbil the seat was won by Hoshyar Karadag Yelda, a candidate for the Chaldean coalition.

The only non-Chaldean, Immanuel Khoshaba, of the Assyrian Rafidain coalition, won the seat reserved for Christians in the governorate of Dohuk.

It is thought that since the emigration of around 70 per cent of Iraqi Christians since the US-led invasion of 2003, Chaldean Catholics are now more numerous than Syriacs and Assyrians.

Patriarch Sako, who has been positioning himself as the leader of all the country’s Christians, urged the Christian politicians “to develop a new vision and unite the stances to safeguard our small quota and its independence, which in turn protects our dignity and unity”.

Meanwhile it was announced on Sunday that the patriarch is to be made a cardinal, increasing his recognition in the Western Church. His predecessor, Emmanuel Delly, received the cardinal’s red hat in 2007 at the age of 80, as a sign of Pope Benedict XVI’s “spiritual closeness and affection” for Iraqi Christians then engulfed amid the Sunni-Shia violence that had erupted in Iraq. Sako is to be made a cardinal on 29 June alongside 13 other prelates including Pakistan’s Joseph Coutts, the Archbishop of Karachi and an expert in interfaith dialogue. Asked by the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle if his elevation to cardinal would improve the lot of Christians, who face considerable persecution there, Coutts replied: “Pakistan’s Christians are struggling to be recognised as equal citizens … My selection as cardinal does acknowledge that there is a viable, visible and active Christian community in Pakistan.” But he added that he had no plans as yet to lobby the Pakistani authorities to pardon Asia Bibi, the imprisoned Christian mother of five on death row for blasphemy.

A Hindu Rashtra Is No Less Than a Saffron Pakistan: Julio Ribeiro

After a letter by Delhi’s Archbishop Anil Couto calling Christians to pray and fast before the 2019 general elections, retired Mumbai Police commissioner Julio Ribiero, in his article for The Times of India, said, “A Hindu Rashtra would make my country nothing less than a saffron Pakistan.”

Couto was heavily criticised by the Bharatiya Janata Party for trying to polarise people around religion, after he wrote a letter to all parish priests and religious institutions in the Delhi archdiocese on 8 May.

Ribiero had earlier faced backlashed for his column in The Indian Express in 2017, in which he wrote about his fears of living as a Christian in India. A year later, in a piece for TOI, Ribeiro, while defending the Archbishop, wrote about the shrinking space for dissent in the country, especially for minority communities.

The former police commissioner wrote that there were far too many Christians who had second thoughts about a BJP government, even before the 8 May circular was sent.

"Christians who voted BJP in 2014 – and there were too many of them to count – have had second thoughts much earlier than May 8, when the Rev Anil Couto’s circular was distributed to all the churches in his diocese." - Julio Ribiero in The Times of India

In his letter, the Archbishop had raised concerns over the current “turbulent political atmosphere” which has threatened the democratic institutions and social fabric of the country. However, Ribeiro said, “He is not the only Indian to have raised such concerns. I know countless Hindus, good, solid citizens of our country, who have condemned the covert and overt attempts to demolish institutions, attacks that portend the end of our secular fabric.”

‘What About a ‘Godman’ Becoming Chief Minister?’

Responding to Union Minister KJ Alphon’s statement urging ‘godmen’ to stay away from political comments, Ribiero pointed out that the BJP has appointed a ‘godman’ as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh