(AINA) -- Christians in the Upper Egyptian village of Elmarinab in Edfu, Aswan province, have been forbidden to leave their homes or buy food until they remove the dome of St. George's Church, which was rebuilt in its previous location. Village Muslims, backed by Muslim Salafists from neighboring villages, have threatened to demolish the church on Friday September 9 after prayers and use it as a mosque.

(AINA) -- Activist and blogger Dr. Michael Nabil Sanad, 25, began a hunger strike on Tuesday in his cell at Al-Marg prison, in Quliubia province, to protesting the deliberate disregard by the court in setting a hearing for his appeal, presented on July 14 against his prison sentence and the bad treatment he is receiving in prison.

(AINA) -- A 15-year-old Muslim girl, Zeina, was abducted on April 3, 2011 by gunmen in two cars as she was on her way to school in the family car. The driver was beaten and tied up by the kidnappers while the girl was forced into another car. A ransom of 5,000,000 Egyptian pounds was demanded for her return from her wealthy father Effat El-Sadat, a relative of former Egyptian President Anware Sadat. The kidnappers drove Zeina through three Nile Delta provinces before releasing her near a cafeteria on the Cairo to Alexandria desert road, after getting the ransom.

(AINA) -- Muslims attacked Christians in the village of Nazlet Faragallah, in the southern Egyptian Minya province, on Sunday evening. The attack continued until the early hours of Monday morning, August 8. One Copt was murdered and homes were looted and torched when Muslims from Nazlet Faragallah together with Muslims from four neighboring villages started their violence at approximately 8 PM, after breaking their Ramadan fast.

(AINA) -- The worst fears of many Egyptians and non-Muslims were realized today when Islamists hijacked today's million-man sit-in at Tahrir Square. The planned sit-in was intended to be a form of pressure to achieve the demands of the revolution, mainly cleansing from corruption, freedom and social justice, as well as reuniting the revolutionary groups.

(AINA) -- An exchange of harsh words on July 25 between Ruth, a Christian woman, and Gassem Fouad, a Muslim man who had parked his tricycle in front of her home, escalated into assault by the man on Ruth and other Christian villagers, and the arrest of one Copt. After Ruth, who is 5 months pregnant, was assaulted, a Muslim mob waited for Coptic farmers to return from the fields, where they were intercepted and beaten with iron rods and pipes.

(AINA) -- The worst fears of many Egyptians and non-Muslims were realized today when Islamists hijacked today's million-man sit-in at Tahrir Square. The planned sit-in was intended to be a form of pressure to achieve the demands of the revolution, mainly cleansing from corruption, freedom and social justice, as well as reuniting the revolutionary groups.

(AINA) -- The second Annual Conference of Coptic Solidarity International, an NGO for the support of the Christian Copts in Egypt and the protection of their fundamental rights, was held in Washington, D.C. on July 8-9, under the main theme of "Will Religious and Ethnic Minorities Pay the Price of the 'Arab Spring?" The main objective of this conference was to understand the implications of the current upheaval in the middle East and to offer present and future support to the Copts, and other minorities, in this difficult period.

AINA) -- The number of Christian girls abducted and coerced into converting to Islam since the Egyptian "January 25 Revolution" has skyrocketed, according to Father Filopateer Gamil of St. Mary's Church in Giza. "More than two to three girls disappear everyday in Giza alone," he said. "The cases that are brought to public attention are few compared to what the numbers actually are."

(AINA) -- Parents and lawyers of Christian teens Nancy Fathy and her cousin Christine Fathy, who allegedly converted to Islam, were shocked to learn the two girls have been taken by security officers from the care home where they were entrusted by the attorney general and held in a undisclosed place without knowledge or consent of the attorney general.

(AINA) -- On Thursday evening, June 30, Muslims looted and torched Christian homes and businesses in the village of western Kolosna in Samalut, Minya province. It was reported that some 10 Christians were injured, but none went to hospital and first aid was administered at home. Muslim violence broke out when a Coptic couple was returning to Kolosna by bus when the wife was severely sexually harassed by Muslims at the bus terminal. The husband tried to defend his wife but was severely beaten.

(AINA) -- Tension is escalating over the case of 14-year-old Nancy Magdy Fathy, and her 16-year old cousin Christine Ezzat Fathy, who have disappeared and allegedly converted to Islam. Many parties are being pulled into the row over their future, including Al Azhar, the Church, activists and lately Islamist organizations, which are threatening violence against the church.

(AINA) -- Hundreds of Muslims surrounded the church of St George today in the village of Beni Ahmed West, 7 KM south of Minya, vowing to kill its priest Father George Thabet, who was serving the morning mass and was locked in the church with a number of parishioners. Security forces arrived five hours later and escorted Father George in a police car to the Coptic Diocese in Minya. "Father George looked as if he was the criminal, leaving his church in a police car." said one of the eye-witnesses. The Coptic youth who were attending mass remained inside church to defend it from Muslim attacks.

(AINA) -- A mob of nearly 200 Muslims torched eight Christian homes on Saturday morning in the Upper Egyptian village of Awlad Khalaf. The attack was initiated by a rumor that a house which is being built by Wahib Halim Attia will be turned into a church. Two Christians and one Muslim were injured, no fatalities were reported. Wahib Halim Attia obtained a license to build a house in the village on a 95 square meter plot. The house grew to an area of 350 square meters but was still on agricultural land that he owns. This gave rise to the rumor that he intended to build a church instead.

(AINA) -- The Egyptian attorney general has reopened the investigation into the bombing of the Two Saints Church in Alexandria on New Year's Eve, which killed 24 Copts and injured more than 90. On May 25 Coptic Church attorney Joseph Malak presented a petition to the Attorney General to reopen the investigations into the church bombing. The petition accused former Minister of Interior, Habib el-Adly, of criminal responsibility and collusion.

(AINA) -- On the morning of May 19 two Coptic priests went to St. Mary and St. Abraham Church in Ain Shams and opened it together with some of the Coptic residents, but later in the day thousands of Muslims surrounded the church to protest its opening, hurled stones at the church building and the Copts, who responded by throwing stones. The army and the police stood there watching and did not intervene (video).

(AINA) -- Muslims attacked Coptic Christian protesters at Maspero thrice on Saturday, killing one and injuring over 100. The first attack occurred near midnight when two bearded Muslims wearing Salafist attire attempted to enter the rally via an entrance that was not guarded by security but by the Christian youth who were checking all persons at the entrance. One or both of the Muslims opened fire with guns. One escaped and the other was apprehended by the Christian youth and subsequently handed over to the police. His identity papers showed that he was called Ramadan Abdallah, graduate of al-Azhar high school.

(AINA) -- The unprovoked attack by Muslim Salafis on Copts in Embaba on May 7, which killed 14, injured 232 and destroyed two churches, was sparked by a Muslim man, Yassin Thabet, allegedly searching for his wife, who he claims was held captive and tortured by a church in Embaba, Giza (AINA 5-8-2011). The woman was later identified as Ms Abeer Talaat, a Christian from Assiut in Upper Egypt, who converted to Islam in September 2010. Although still waiting for the divorce from her Christian husband to come through, she was also unofficially married to Yassin Thabet, a Muslim driver she knew from her village, and lived with him in Benha since her conversion to Islam, according the official Al-Ahram newspaper.

(AINA) -- Between the April 14 appointment of the Christian Major General Emad Mikhail as governor of the southern province of Qena and the Prime Minister's decision on April 25 to suspend his appointment for a three months period, "Egypt lived through the biggest and most dangerous political and sectarian crisis in its modern history. Although no blood was shed and no clashes between Muslims and Christians took place, the 'civil state' was put to a difficult test -- which it failed miserably," wrote journalist Mohamed Hamdy in an article for the daily newspaper Youm7.

(AINA) -- Thousands of Muslim demonstrators gathered in front St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, vowing not to leave until they know the whereabouts of Coptic women, especially Camilia Shehata (AINA 7-23-2010)) who allegedly converted to Islam but are held against their will by the Coptic Orthodox Church in monasteries and churches. The sit-in was called for by the newly-founded Coalition for the Support of New Muslims.

Cairo (AINA) -- Ten human rights organization staged a rally on March 30 in front of the building of the Attorney General to bring to public attention the tragedy of some nine thousand Coptic villagers living in terror since end January in the Upper Egyptian villages of Badraman and Nazlet Badraman in Deir Mawas, Minya. Rights activists and Badraman villagers were joined by attorney activist Peter elNaggar, who filed a complaint with the Attorney General against 34-year-old Muslim police informer Ali Hussein, nicknamed "Holaku" after the ruthless Mongol leader.