The Australian Coptic Movement (ACM) has received disturbing news of another disappearance of a Coptic woman in Egypt. The extended family of the victim named Heba Adel, reside in Sydney and they received a request for assistance from Heba’s husband in Egypt.
Heba Adel, 30 years old was reported to have been kidnapped on Wednesday 6 April 2011. Heba is happily married to Fady Eskandar and is the proud mother of Martin 5 years old and Mariam 1.5 years old.
Last Wednesday at approximately 8:30 AM Heba walked her son Martin to his school named “Wady Degla” in the suburb of El Maady, Cairo.
The School is in the vicinity of the “Military Secondary School” opposite to “El Fath” Mosque. Heba’s Mum who happened to be staying with Heba and her family for a while called her at 9:00 AM. Heba answered she was coming back home. Heba never made it home.
Her family called her again and her mobile was switched off.
The Incident was reported to the Police immediately.
1. Report Number 2213 - Dar El Salam Police Station – “absent”
2. Report Number 3193 El Maady Police Station - Kidnapped
Heba’s husband (Mr Eskander) strongly believes that his wife has been kidnapped and that the school played a role in the kidnapping. Mr Eskandar appealed to the Attorney General of Egypt and to the Minister of Interior Affairs requesting their action to pressure the Police to search for his missing wife.
The Police have been reluctant to take action and the family is devastated. There are hundreds of cases of Coptic Christian women being coerced into Islam and in some cases actually forcibly being taken away. The State Security apparatus usually collaborate with local extremists groups and rarely do they undertake their investigations appropriately. In some cases the Egyptian police have even arrested the families of the victims instead of searching for those who actively carry out these crimes.
We appeal to the Egyptian authorities to investigate the matter as a matter of urgency, return Heba safely to her family and prosecute the abductors and the police for their failure to investigate the issue.
We also extend our appeal to World Leaders and Human Rights organisations worldwide that they monitor and investigate these cases which have increased dramatically in recent years in Egypt.
The Egyptian Revolution of the 25th January was welcomed by all facets of Egyptian society and it was grassroots movement calling for justice and freedom for all. Unfortunately it seems that this justice and freedom is not being extended to Egypt’s 12 Million indigenous Coptic Christian Community as they been subject to massive attacks by Muslims mobs and even by the Egyptian military. Scores of Copts have been brutally killed, Churches and Monasteries have been attacked and the ongoing disappearance of Coptic women continues as the people’s revolution is hijacked by extremists groups such as the Salifists, Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat Islamiya and all these groups seem to have one thing in common and that is the eradication of Egypt’s indigenous Coptic population by subjugation.
