D
dzheremi
Guest
From BBC News:
"Egypt has sentenced a man to death for killing six Coptic Christians and a Muslim policeman in January 2010.
Mohamed Ahmed Hussein was found guilty of shooting the group outside a midnight Mass for Coptic Christmas in Naga Hamady, southern Egypt."
(link to full story on BBC website)
As a Christian, I am saddened that the murderous act that already took the lives of seven innocent people in January 2010 will now take an eighth in the form of the life of the shooter. However, I also know that God’s mercy does not preclude His justice, so I must believe that there is some greater purpose here, and I pray that the God of infinite compassion have mercy on Mr. Hussein’s tortured soul.
I am at the same time, if not exactly optimistic, rather less-than-usually discouraged that such a verdict was reached at all. Is this “justice” for the martyrs of Nag Hammadi? That’s not really for me to say. But it does show a marked difference from previous responses to the cold blooded murder of Copts in the past, such as the massacre of 21 Copts by a Muslim mob in el-Kosheh in 2000 for which nobody was convicted. I do not think that this is a victory or justice for Copts specifically (keep in mind that a Muslim was accidentally murdered in both cases, and that in the el-Kosheh massacre this was the only murder for which anyone faced any punishment), but perhaps in a wider sense we may see an assertion of the rule of law over the majority for once (not just over the minority, like when the Copts are hauled off to jail whenever there is any dispute). For that, I thank God greatly, and I pray and hope to see more of that in the future.
Of course, the other side of this, alluded to in the article by Mr. Hussein’s defense attorney, is that the verdict was likely influenced by the recent Alexandria bombing (presumably making it an unfair, politicized verdict). So I think the real test will be to see how the investigation into that incident plays out. This would of course assume that the Islamists could even go a year without shaming their religion with more bad publicity in the form of terrorism and attempted murders. I have already heard reports that just yesterday Anba Mattaios of Der El-Suriyan monastery narrowly escaped a car bomb on a trip to Cairo, the device in question matching in form one that had been placed in a church in El Minia meant to disrupt Christmas services. Luckily, in both cases no one was hurt (though Anba Mattaios did lose his car, I doubt he cares). It is a strange situation when both sides can claim injustice over the same events that are only directed at one side. “I can’t get a fair trial because people in my ideological circles can’t stop trying to murder others for long enough to stop poisoning public opinion against murder!”
"Egypt has sentenced a man to death for killing six Coptic Christians and a Muslim policeman in January 2010.
Mohamed Ahmed Hussein was found guilty of shooting the group outside a midnight Mass for Coptic Christmas in Naga Hamady, southern Egypt."
(link to full story on BBC website)
As a Christian, I am saddened that the murderous act that already took the lives of seven innocent people in January 2010 will now take an eighth in the form of the life of the shooter. However, I also know that God’s mercy does not preclude His justice, so I must believe that there is some greater purpose here, and I pray that the God of infinite compassion have mercy on Mr. Hussein’s tortured soul.
I am at the same time, if not exactly optimistic, rather less-than-usually discouraged that such a verdict was reached at all. Is this “justice” for the martyrs of Nag Hammadi? That’s not really for me to say. But it does show a marked difference from previous responses to the cold blooded murder of Copts in the past, such as the massacre of 21 Copts by a Muslim mob in el-Kosheh in 2000 for which nobody was convicted. I do not think that this is a victory or justice for Copts specifically (keep in mind that a Muslim was accidentally murdered in both cases, and that in the el-Kosheh massacre this was the only murder for which anyone faced any punishment), but perhaps in a wider sense we may see an assertion of the rule of law over the majority for once (not just over the minority, like when the Copts are hauled off to jail whenever there is any dispute). For that, I thank God greatly, and I pray and hope to see more of that in the future.
Of course, the other side of this, alluded to in the article by Mr. Hussein’s defense attorney, is that the verdict was likely influenced by the recent Alexandria bombing (presumably making it an unfair, politicized verdict). So I think the real test will be to see how the investigation into that incident plays out. This would of course assume that the Islamists could even go a year without shaming their religion with more bad publicity in the form of terrorism and attempted murders. I have already heard reports that just yesterday Anba Mattaios of Der El-Suriyan monastery narrowly escaped a car bomb on a trip to Cairo, the device in question matching in form one that had been placed in a church in El Minia meant to disrupt Christmas services. Luckily, in both cases no one was hurt (though Anba Mattaios did lose his car, I doubt he cares). It is a strange situation when both sides can claim injustice over the same events that are only directed at one side. “I can’t get a fair trial because people in my ideological circles can’t stop trying to murder others for long enough to stop poisoning public opinion against murder!”
