NATO’s ‘new’ Libya murders Christians

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Egyptian church in Dafnia near Misratah, photo: Serene Assir/IRIN

From the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (Cairo, Egypt):

Libya – ANHRI Denounces the Attack On the Egyptian Church in Misratah

2 January 2013

Press release

ANHRI denounces the attack on an Egyptian church building in Misratah in Libya, causing the death of two and wounding three others from the Egyptian Christian church staff who reside in Libya.

In the framework of the security chaos that is taking place in Libya in particularly the security problems that face the military and police institutions and the failure of the purification and restructuring operations, the church of Mar Girgis in Dafniya a town near Misratah Libya on Saturday December 29, 2012 was attacked by armed men. The attack resulted in the death of one and injuries of three others, all of them were from the Egyptian staff in the church. Later one of the injured people died from his injuries and, followed by another, the number of deaths reached three.

The attack took place after the end of the prayer rituals and after they left the building of the church according to a Libyan official. He said that the explosion targeted the most crowded place by worshipers, but by the time of the explosion, the worshipers had left the building.

It is worthy to mention that the Christians in Libya are 3% of the residents and most of them are Egyptians.

It worthy to note that this attack was not the first of its kind, as the red-cross committee had decided to stop its aid work in Misratah due to attacks on its headquarters. Libya has witnessed several attacks waged by extremists on a Sufi-Sheikh shrine in addition to the attack on the US consulate in Libya which resulted in the death of Chris Stevens, the American ambassador in Libya.

ANHRI said that “the attack on a church, whether Egyptian or not, is a serious violation of the freedom of worship and belief and a destruction of the diversity structure of the society. It portends a serious deterioration on respecting the human rights and basic freedoms levels”. ANHRI added that “the authorities should bear the responsibility of these repeated violations on the religious sanctities and do its best efforts to provide an appropriate climate to the citizens and the residents to practice their different religious rites”.

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