The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Coptic conscript tortured to death?

There had been emails circulating among the Egyptian leftist Yahoo! Groups demanding an investigation into the death of a Coptic army conscript. The emails had links to The Free Copts website, which alleges Private Hani Sarofim was tortured to death by his commander to force his conversion to Islam.

The article included a statement by the deceased family and contact numbers, which when I tried, I could not get through.

I am extremely troubled by this, and can not validate what happened. The Free Copts have previously reported on some serious abuses that did indeed happen, but there were other cases which they blew out of proportion. I don't know if this case is true, but if so, then one can safely say we are still living in the Medieval Ages. Please if anyone has more information about this subject, or if you managed to get through to the family on the phone numbers, fill us in.