Grief and fury over Islamist beheading of Coptic Christians

Egypt has been observing a week of mourning after militants affiliated with Islamic State (IS) released a video last Sunday showing the murder of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians held in Libya.

It showed the Copts, all wearing orange jumpsuits, being lined up and beheaded on a beach. A masked terrorist described the men – mostly young migrant workers from impoverished villages in Upper Egypt – as “followers of the hostile Egyptian Church”. The video was titled, “A message signed with blood to the Nation of the Cross”.

Speaking in English, the only terrorist dressed differently from his black-clad comrades, wearing a yellow face mask and camouflage, threatened to expand IS’ reach to Rome. “All Crusaders: safety for you will be only wishes,” he told the camera. “We will conquer Rome by Allah’s permission.”

On Monday, Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, visited the head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II, to condemn the “inhuman criminal killers”. As well as the mourning period, he authorised air strikes against jihadi training camps and arms depots in Libya. His attempt to allay fears of further marginalisation of Egypt’s 10-15 million Copts and show that Muslims and Christians in Egypt are equally horrified by the crime was acknowledged by Pope Tawadros. He responded that he believed Egypt’s Government “can ensure the rights of Egyptian citizens”.

This was echoed by the primate of the Coptic Catholic Church, Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak of Alexandria, who thanked the president “and all the institutions of the Egyptian Government for giving an immediate response to this act of terrorism”. Al-Azhar University in Cairo described the killings as “barbaric”.

Pope Francis said the Copts “were executed for nothing more than the fact that they were Christians”. “Their only words were: ‘Jesus, help me!’,” Francis said. “The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they are Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants … The martyrs belong to all Christians.”

Grief was most palpable in the tiny Christian-majority village of Al-Our, home to more than half of the victims. Relatives wept in the village church, shouting the names of the dead. On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron pledged UK support to Egypt. He telephoned Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK to offer condolences.

Amnesty International labelled the killings a war crime. The men were kidnapped in December and January from the city of Sirte.