Al Qaeda-Affiliated Website Threatens Copts

An Al Qaeda-affiliated website has listed the names of more than a hundred Coptic Orthodox Christians in Canada, together with their addresses and phone numbers, whom it claims have sought to convert Muslims to Orthodoxy. On the website's forum participants spoke of forcing those named to 'return to Islam' (a foreign faith to Egypt and especially to its native Copts) and of beheading them if they refused to do so.

Nearly a hundred other Copts living in other parts of the world were also listed on the website. Copts living in Canada said they had no one to fear save God and have already begun talking with the Canadian police, but also stated that they were concerned for those Copts named on the website who live in Egypt, where the government's commitment to their security is nominal at best. More here.

Pictured is a Coptic Orthodox church in Canada.

Muslim Brotherhood Defends Coptic Orthodox Church

Muslim religious leaders in Egypt have issued statements in support of the Coptic Orthodox Church following threats against the Copts from an Al Qaeda affiliate in US-occupied Iraq. The Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist movement in Egypt, said that it was "stressing to all, and primarily [to] Muslims, that the protection of holy places of all monotheistic religions is the mission of the majority of Muslims," whilst the leader of Egypt's famous al-Azhar University said that the threats undermined Egyptian national unity. The threats were issued after the wives of Coptic Orthodox priests kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam were rescued and returned to their families, with Al Qaeda claiming the rescues were against the women's wills. The full story here.