Man sentenced to death for shooting Coptic Christians in Egypt

Mohamed Ahmed Hassanein, also known as Hamam el-Kamouny, was sentenced by an Egyptian state security court on Sunday for his part in killing worshippers as they left a Christmas Eve Mass in Nag Hammadi on January 6, 2010.

Two other defendants accused of aiding Mr Hassanein in the killings are due to be sentenced on February 20.

The sentence comes amid widespread anger among Copts who feel that the government is not doing enough to protect them and deal with the perpetrators.

Much of the resentment surrounding the Nag Hammadi case centres on the lengthy process in bringing the accused to trial.

Copts, who make up around 10 per cent of Egypt’s population, are still grieving over the death of 23 people in a bombing outside a church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve, an attack which triggered angry rioting by Copts.

Last Tuesday, a 71-year-old Christian man was shot dead and his wife and four others injured after an off-duty policeman opened fire on a train bound for Cairo.

The shooting occurred just hours after Egypt recalled its envoy to the Vatican and accused Pope Benedict XVI of “meddling” in its internal affairs after he called on Egypt, Iraq and Nigeria to do more to allow Christians to practise their faith safely.

The government insisted that the gunman’s motive was not sectarian and blamed it instead on his mental instability.

The attacks have threatened to destabilise the historically peaceful relations between Egypt’s majority Muslim population and the minority Christians.

Responding to last Tuesday’s train shooting, Christian Solidarity Worldwide called upon Egypt to implement more measures to stem sectarian violence and “tackle the extremism at its heart”.