Egypt: Prosecutors drop investigation of attack on elderly Christian woman

Prosecutors in Egypt's central governorate of Minya have suspended investigations into the assault on a 70-year-old Coptic Christian woman, Suan Thabet, who was stripped naked and paraded in the streets by a Muslim mob last May. After the attack, President Abdel Fattah al Sisi promised a speedy investigation, and at least eight people were arrested among 14 suspects of having taken part in sectarian violence.

But the woman's lawyer announced that on Saturday, January 14 the prosecutors were dropping the case due to "lack of sufficient evidence".

The elderly woman, interviewed by a US-based Christian TV station said that since the attack, she and her family have been unable to return home because of threats by Muslim extremists in the village.

The explosion of sectarian violence in Karm, which took place a few days after the meeting in Rome between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayyib, had drawn the attention of public debate in Egypt, especially for the violence and humiliations perpetrated against the elderly lady.

The armed Muslim mob that assaulted her, also looted and torched the homes of seven Coptic Christian families.

The attack on the woman followed a rumour that her son, an Egyptian Copt, had an affair with a Muslim woman.

Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II issued a statement raising concerns that the facts in al Karm could be used to trigger a new spiral of sectarian clashes.

Source: Fides