Massacre in Egypt Said to Cost Government All Credibility

ISTANBUL, November 1 (CDN) — The Egyptian army’s killing of 27 people – including at least 23 Christians – who were protesting the burning of a church building has removed any respect most Egyptians had for the transitional military government, according to Christian human rights activists in the country.

The activists, along with members of Egyptian churches, said that the attack and the subsequent denial of any wrongdoing by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has taken away any credibility the army had among Christians, moderate Muslims and “secularists.”

Instead of assuming any responsibility for the killings, the military instead blamed unidentified
“enemies of the nation.”

Wagih Jacoub, a Coptic human rights activist who was injured during the attack, was enraged at the assault and subsequent denial of responsibility.

“They are absolutely lying,” he said.

Jacoub said the evening of the protest resembled “hell brought down to Earth.” He said he was walking with the protestors when he was hit across his chest with pellets from what he described as a homemade shotgun.

“All of the sudden I was bleeding; my head was bleeding,” he said.

Jacoub recounted that he was also slashed across the top of his head with a knife; he then dropped to the ground, where he faded in and out of consciousness.

“People picked me up and took me to the hospital,” he said.

After being treated for his injuries, Jacoub wandered around the hospital in a state of horror and disbelief. Bodies from the protest had been pouring in, and relatives hovered over the dead, weeping and screaming.

Jacoub noticed that one body looked very familiar. It was his friend, Mina Daniel. Before the attack, Jacoub and Daniel had been walking and joking together as other protestors came up to Daniel to say hello.

“We were laughing and talking in the protest, and then a few hours later I saw him lying in the morgue,” he said. “What did he do to deserve that?”

According to a medical report obtained and released online by his friends, Daniel was shot through the heart. Daniel, who had been injured during the January revolution, was an ardent political activist and a vigorous promoter of Christian-Muslim unity in Egypt. He was 25. 

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