fayoumy
12-01-2006, 06:07 PM
The following are very disturbing news about Copts being deported from Canada. If you are in Canada, please help our brothers and sisters by contacting your representatives and any concerned organizations to stop these deportations. May God help us all
Coptic Christian deportations underway
By David F. Dawes
THE DEPORTATION of 20 Egyptians from Canada has begun, and advocates for the group insist that they will be placed in severe danger if they are returned to Egypt.
The deportees, all of whom are Coptic Christians affiliated with the Church of Virgin Mary and St. Athanasius in Mississauga, tried unsuccessfully to obtain refugee status in this country.
Meanwhile, some Canadians have taken up their cause. They insist that the claimants will be subjected to discrimination by Egyptian authorities, and will be targeted by some of the country's Islamic extremists.
The case has drawn some prominent media coverage. According to the January 4 National Post, the claimants maintain they are facing a perilous future: "Mina, a refused claimant who asked that his real name not be used, said he was stabbed multiple times in a 1998 confrontation with a group who later burned his welding shop in Alexandria."
A group of Muslims, Mina told the Post, "called me at home, and they said: 'We're going to kill you.'" Further, "[They] told my brother-in-law, 'We know he's coming back soon, and we're ready for him.' I don't know what's going to happen to me, but I know I'm not going back to my home.'"
Such fears are confirmed by Majed El Shafie, who heads the Toronto-based One Free World International. A one-time Muslim, he maintains that he was tortured by Egyptian government authorities some years ago for advocacy on behalf of persecuted Christians.
Please read the rest of the article at
http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/060112coptic
Coptic Christian deportations underway
By David F. Dawes
THE DEPORTATION of 20 Egyptians from Canada has begun, and advocates for the group insist that they will be placed in severe danger if they are returned to Egypt.
The deportees, all of whom are Coptic Christians affiliated with the Church of Virgin Mary and St. Athanasius in Mississauga, tried unsuccessfully to obtain refugee status in this country.
Meanwhile, some Canadians have taken up their cause. They insist that the claimants will be subjected to discrimination by Egyptian authorities, and will be targeted by some of the country's Islamic extremists.
The case has drawn some prominent media coverage. According to the January 4 National Post, the claimants maintain they are facing a perilous future: "Mina, a refused claimant who asked that his real name not be used, said he was stabbed multiple times in a 1998 confrontation with a group who later burned his welding shop in Alexandria."
A group of Muslims, Mina told the Post, "called me at home, and they said: 'We're going to kill you.'" Further, "[They] told my brother-in-law, 'We know he's coming back soon, and we're ready for him.' I don't know what's going to happen to me, but I know I'm not going back to my home.'"
Such fears are confirmed by Majed El Shafie, who heads the Toronto-based One Free World International. A one-time Muslim, he maintains that he was tortured by Egyptian government authorities some years ago for advocacy on behalf of persecuted Christians.
Please read the rest of the article at
http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/060112coptic