EGYPT: 71 Muslim Brotherhood savages get life sentences for torching Christian church

By BI: An Egyptian court has sentenced 71 Muslims to life in prison for their role in the August 2013 burning of a Christian church in the Giza province village of Kafr Hakim, state news reports.

CNN  The Virgin Mary Church was torched and looted by a mob, some of whom chanted against Coptic Christians and called for Egypt to become an “Islamic state,” one of at least 42 churches and many more businesses and homes targeted that August, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch reports. Others attacked included St. George Church in Sohag, a city south of Cairo on the Nile River, and Prince Tadros Church in Fayoum, which is southwest of Cairo, according to reports.

In addition to those getting life sentences, two minors were sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds (about $1,300), Egypt’s official Egynews reported.

Most of those sentenced — 52 of the 73 defendants — were tried in absentia, with 21 already in prison, according to Egynews.

Some blamed the church and other attacks on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that backed Mohamed Morsy. Morsy became Egypt’s first democratically elected president following the ouster of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Morsy was pushed out by Egypt’s military.

Morsy was sentenced to 20 years in prison earlier this month after being convicted on charges related to violence outside the presidential palace in December 2012. But he was acquitted of murder in the deaths of protesters.

Christian churches across Egypt stormed, torched

This is a partial list:
Churches

 Alexandria

1. Father Maximus Church

Arish

1. St George Church | Burned

Assiut

1. Good Shepherds Monastery |  Nuns attacked
2. Angel Michael Church | Surrounded
3. St George Coptic Orthodox Church
4. Al-Eslah Church| Burned
5. Adventist Church | Pastor and his wife kidnapped
6. St Therese Church
7. Apostles Church | Burning
8. Holy Revival Church | Burning

Beni Suef

1. The Nuns School
2. St George Church | al-Wasta

Cairo

1. St Fatima Basilica | Heliopolis | Attempted Attack

Fayoum (Five churches)

1. St Mary Church | El Nazlah
2. St Damiana Church | Robbed and burned
3. Amir Tawadros (St Theodore) Church
4. Evangelical Church | al-Zorby Village | Looting and destruction
5. Church of Joseph | Burned
6. Franciscan School | Burned

Gharbiya

1. Diocese of St Paul | Burned

Giza

1. Father Antonios
2. Atfeeh Bishopric

Minya

1. Church of the Virgin Mary and Father Abram | Delga, Deir Mawas
2. St Mina Church | Abu Hilal Kebly, Beni Hilal
3. Baptist Church | Beni Mazar
4. Deir Mawas Bishopric
5. Delga Church | Attacked
6. The Jesuit Fathers Church | Abu Hilal district
7. St Mark Church | Abu Hilal district
8. St Joseph Nunnery
9. Amir Tadros Church
10. Evangelical Church
11. Anba Moussa al-Aswad Church
12. Apostles Church

Qena

1. St Mary’s Church | Attempted Burning

Sohag

1. St George Church
2. St Damiana | Attacked and burned
3. Virgin Mary | Attacked and burned
4. St Mark Church & Community Center
5. Anba Abram Church | Destroyed and burned

Suez

1. St Saviours Anglican Church
2. Franciscan Church and School | Street 23 | Burned
3. Holy Shepherd Monastery and Hospital
4. Good Shepherd Church (molotov cocktail thrown)- Relationship with Holy Shepherd Monastery unknown.
5. Greek Orthodox Church

Christian Institutions

• House of Father Angelos (Pastor of Church of the Virgin Mary and Father Abram) | Delga, Minya | Burned 
• Properties and Markets of Copts | al-Gomhorreya Street, Assiut
• Seventeen Coptic homes | Delga, Minya | Burned
• YMCA | Minya| Burned 
• Coptic Homes | Qulta Street, Assiut | Attacked
• Offices of the Evangelical Foundation & Oum al-Nour | Minya
• Coptic-owned shops, pharmacy, and hotels | Karnak and Cleopatra Streets, Luxor | Attacked and Looted
• Dahabeya Nile Boat | Minya| Church-owned 
• Bible Society bookshop | Cairo | Burned 
• Bible Society | Fayoum 
• Bible Society | al-Gomohoreya Street, Assiut