Journalist Ashraf Helmy stated in a press release on 23 October that religious institution leaders have “utterly failed” to reform religious discourse, despite repeated calls from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
His remarks came after recent events in Nazlet Jallaf village in Beni Mazar, Minya, where a group of extremist mobs launched coordinated attacks on the homes of local Copts — stoning, burning, and vandalising their properties and farmland. The violence was reportedly triggered by rumours of a relationship between a young Coptic man and a Muslim woman, leading to widespread panic and fear among villagers.
Helmy emphasised that this was not the first instance of collective punishment against Copts in Minya’s villages, where law enforcement often fails to act decisively. Instead, authorities resort to customary reconciliation sessions, which he described as “ineffective and biased toward the Muslim side,” ultimately resulting in the loss of Copts’ rights.
He further accused radical factions, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists, of deliberately inciting such violence to fuel sectarian strife and damage Egypt’s reputation abroad, particularly during President El-Sisi’s visit to Brussels for the first Egypt-EU summit.
Finally, Helmy held security and legal officials accountable for the repeated attacks against Egypt’s Copts and their properties, citing their failure to heed human-rights advocates’ demands to abolish these customary sessions and enforce the law to punish extremists and instigators of sectarian hatred.