Family Of Four Murdered In Jersey City

[Peace4All]

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Last month's grisly murder in Jersey City of Hossam Armanious, his wife, Amal, and two daughters, Sylvia and Monica, remains unsolved. But friends and relatives of the family are convinced the bloody crime is rooted in a growing wave of violence and oppression against Christians taking place in Arab countries.


They may well be right.


The Armanious family was devoutly Coptic Christian — an ancient orthodox Egyptian sect that has long suffered from discrimination and coercion in largely Muslim Egypt. Armanious did something in America that he wouldn't dare try in his native Egypt: He attempted to convert Muslims to Christianity.


That, say members of the local Coptic community, angered Islamic extremists and led to the murder.


New Jersey police say they have no proof it was religious murder and are still considering robbery among the motives, although Armanious was far from rich and family jewelry was found untouched in the house.


Hudson County Prosecutor Edward De Fazio tells me he doesn't believe it was religious murder, although he also won't rule it out.


Local Coptic Christians, understandably, think otherwise. The Armanious family was found bound, gagged and stabbed multiple times — a murder style that follows a Koranic pre******ion for ritual execution, according to Michael Meunier, a representative of the the U.S. Copts Association.


"This was no robbery," a frightened-looking New York City Coptic shopkeeper whispered to me recently. "Arabs did it."


The fears of our country's Coptic community are even more understandable in light of what is happening to Christians across the Arab world.


"Christians, natives of Arab countries, are escaping their countries of origin," says Iraqi columnist Majid Azaza. "The reason is the harassment to which they are subjected by government agencies on the one hand, and extremist groups on the other hand, in countries they have inhabited for thousands of years."


Azaza says that Lebanese Christians — once a solid majority — continue to emigrate by the thousands as a result of the pressures placed upon them by Lebanon's growing Islamic fundamentalists. In Saudi Arabia, organized Christian religious worship is outlawed altogether - even for the oil-rich kingdom's foreign workers.


In Egypt, Copts say their community is subject to new discrimination in work, even violent attacks, and the forceful abduction and conversion of their daughters to Islam. In Palestinian areas, says Azaza, "Christians are becoming almost extinct."


Thirty years ago, 70% of the population of Bethlehem was Christian Arab. Today, the traditional birthplace of Jesus is more than 70% Muslim.


"People are afraid not only of the Arab versus Israeli violence, but of Muslim extremist pressure on us," a Christian businessman told me on a recent visit. "They want our land, they want our businesses, they want our children."


In light of this worldwide persecution, it's time to find out who slaughtered the Armanious family and why.

اضغط هنا لمشاهدة تقرير اخبارى
هناك اعلان فى بداية التقرير

http://cf.wnbc.com/ny/sh/videoplayer...52048&owner=ny

Neighbor, Other Man Charged In Family's Slaying

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- The upstairs neighbor of an Egyptian Christian family found slain in their home in January was charged Friday, along with another man, in the murders.
Edward McDonald, 25, who rented a second-floor apartment above Hossam Armanious and his family, pleaded not guilty to four counts of felony murder. Hamilton Sanchez, 30, faces the same charges and also pleaded not guilty.

Sanchez during a court hearing began ing as he stood before a judge, his hands cuffed behind his back.

"I didn't kill nobody. I didn't kill nobody, man. I didn't kill nobody, people," Sanchez said, as he was led from the courtroom. McDonald stared at the floor during the hearing.

Both men, who were on parole for different drug offenses, were ordered held on $10 million cash bail.

Authorities said Armanious, 47; his wife, Amal Garas, 37, and their children -- Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8 -- were slain three days before their bodies were found Jan. 14.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said the killings took place in the course of a robbery by the two men, who owed a large sum of money to a person whom DeFazio would not identify.

Police went to the Armanious home after relatives were unable to contact the family for several days. All four victims were found bound and gagged with puncture wounds to their throats.

DeFazio said that during the robbery Monica Armanious had managed to loosen the bonds with which she was bound and gagged and recognized McDonald as the upstairs tenant. McDonald killed her out of fear of being identified and Sanchez killed the other three people, DeFazio said.

McDonald was taken into custody Thursday and charged later that night. Sanchez was arrested Thursday night and charged Friday.

Developments in the slayings had intensified in recent days as authorities revealed that thousands of dollars had been withdrawn from Armanious' bank account using his ATM card in the days after the slayings.

McDonald's aunt, who would only identify herself by her first name, Marie, told The Star-Ledger of Newark that he was not involved in the slayings.

"He's innocent," she said in Friday's newspapers. "He's not that kind of person."

The slayings created tension between Christians and Muslims here and in northern New Jersey. The Armaniouses were Coptic Christians, and Hossam Armanious frequented Internet chat rooms, posting opinions under the user name "I Love Jesus."

Friends of the family speculated that he might have angered Muslims with those online posts, and many Coptics in New Jersey and elsewhere blamed Islamic extremists for the killings.

"I'd like to make one thing perfectly clear: The motive for these murders was robbery. This was a crime based on greed, the desperate need of money," DeFazio said.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/4252691/detail.html

[copticpride]

I am not about to challenge the police authority of NJ or their competence, but there are some points that are strange in the last news report posted by admin1:

-

DeFazio said that during the robbery Monica Armanious had managed to loosen the bonds with which she was bound and gagged and recognized McDonald as the upstairs tenant. McDonald killed her out of fear of being identified and Sanchez killed the other three people,

How did DeFazio know this piece of information , if both arrested men did not confess their crime and pleaded guilty innocent to the crime charges? How can he specifically know that Monica (may she rest in peace) was able to recognize the killer? Was there an eyewitness all along the investigations ?

- I am not trying to defend the arrested men, for I do not know them, nor am I insisting on accusing a certain group with murder. It would make no difference for the victims, but if the truth is not out, it will make a great difference for the Coptic society.

- DeFazio, from day one, has seemed to be totally negligent of the religious factors in the case, or unwilling to incorporate them in his theory to solve the case. He might be still right, I am not challenging his work, but other factors greater than him may play a role. Muslims organization have oil money in the States, they have politicial power by buying politicians in their pockets, and they can direct the investigations any direction they want.
Armanios family (may they all rest in peace) were not the most wealthy family in NJ, which would cast many doubts on the robbery motive.
- The bigger picture is:
There is no place in this World that is not in the dominion of the devil, as such, the real believers will be persecuted where ever they go. It will be just different coverage for the crimes against us, from total and outrageous support to crimes by government like the Koshah and Obu Welams incidents, to very slizzy and wishy washy , double faced and politically correct approach in the West. Result is the same.

- I entreat all my brothers to act in a more wise way in political situations, knowing that politics is won by money, power, good presentation and influence rather than loud voice and appealing to a non existent human conscience.

- I liked the effort byMr Micheal Muneer in presenting the point of view of the Coptic society. He did a good job and that is exactly what I am talking about. Politics is a shreud game.

[sammy]

الحادثة كانت واكلة قلبى زيكم واكتر... لكن ماليش أى تعليق عليها فى 11 صفحة... مش أنا أذكى منكم لكن حريص شوية عنكم... وياريت نتعلم بدال ما نبقى زى الجماعة بتوع كير نسبق الأحداث ونتفلسف وبعدين لما تحصل حاجة بصحيح ميكونش لكلامنا اى مصداقية... الله يسامحكم
يارب أعطى شعبك بعض الحكمة لأن معاشرة المسلمين أثرت على عقول الكثيرين...