The Persecution of Christians: Page 2

A mob of Egyptian Muslims attacked Copts by destroying and torching their homes and shops while the security forces failed to intervene in the village of Rahmaniya-Kebly on January 20, 2012. The fire brigade was called but they arrived 90 minutes late. According to the Coptic residents, the attacks occurred because the Salafists feared that the Copts, who number more than 50% of inhabitants in the village, would vote for Muslim moderates and not the Salifi candidates in the parliamentary elections.

Sofia Osman, 28, was whipped 40 lashes in front of hundreds of spectators on December 22, 2011, while jeered by spectators, as punishment for embracing a foreign religion. She had been taken by al Shabaab militants and held for one month in their camps before being whipped and released. She fainted while she was being flogged and was left bleeding for her family to take her away. It happened in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia.