From Delga to MCN: Defendants who dragged Coptic citizen not arrested yet From MCN
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Minya (Upper Egypt), 5 March /MCN/
Fr. Ayoub Youssef, priest of the Catholic Church in Delga village, Deir Mawas, Minya (Upper Egypt), said the reason seven Muslims raided the house of Kamel Saleh, 62, last Sunday and attacked him was a dispute over a piece of land owned by Saleh. The assailants had earlier demanded that Saleh sell it to them but he refused, so they beat and dragged him.
The Catholic priest told MCN that Saleh filed a police report with Deir Mawas police station after he was threatened for refusing to sell the land, but the report was ignored. Officials urged Saleh to reconcile and he accepted, but when the assailants went to his house, they attacked him, removed his clothes, beat him on the back and shot him in his feet.
"I went to visit him in the Minya General Hospital and he was in a deplorable condition. More hurting was that his feet were bound with chains, although he is the victim, not the perpetrator," Fr. Youssef added.
The priest called on human rights organizations to intervene, because the attackers are known; however, they have not been arrested or held accountable.
Several activists circulated a picture on Facebook Wednesday of the Coptic citizen while he is lying in a hospital and his hands are cuffed with chains and appears in poor health.
Copts have been subjected to fierce attacks by Islamists since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and the breakup of the Muslim Brotherhood’s sit-ins in Rabaa el-Adaweya and Nahda squares on last August 14.
The attacks resulted in burning and looting of 82 churches and Coptic institutions, in addition to homes and shops owned by Copts.
The Delga village, Deir Mawas, have seen several attacks on Copts by Islamist groups, which carried out ongoing attacks against them and imposed tributes on them.