Egyptian president vows justice after Muslims attack Christian woman

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has called for the culprits behind a Muslim mob that attacked an elderly Christian woman and ransacked homes to be held accountable and gave the military a month to restore property damaged during the violence, at no cost to the owners.

The mob stripped the woman and paraded her naked on the streets in an attack last week in which seven Christian homes were also ransacked and torched in a province south of the Egyptian capital.

According to the local Orthodox Coptic church and security officials, the assault in the Minya province village of Karama on Friday began after rumors spread that the elderly woman’s son had an affair with a Muslim woman — a taboo in conservative Egypt.

Police have arrested six men suspected of taking part in the violence and are looking for 12 more, the security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

In a statement issued by his office, Sissi says Egypt appreciates the role of “glorious Egyptian women” and that “the rights and the protection of their dignity are a humanitarian and patriotic commitment as well as a legal and constitutional one.”

Anba Makarios, Minya’s top Christian cleric, told a talk show host on the private Dream TV network that the 70-year-old woman was dragged out of her home by the mob who beat her and insulted her before they stripped her off her clothes and forced her to walk through the streets as they chanted Allahu Akbar, or “God is great.”

The woman reported the incident to the police five days later, said Makarios, adding that she had initially found it too difficult to “swallow the humiliation” she suffered and go to the police.

— AP