Coptic martyrs returned to Egypt from Libya

Patriarch Tawadros

Church bells and monasteries rang throughout Egypt on 14 May to celebrate the return to Egypt of the mortal remains of the 21 Coptic Christians, "martyrs of the faith", beheaded in Libya in 2015 by Islamic State.

After three years and three months since the massacre, the remains were transported by plane from the Libyan city of Misrata to Cairo. They were met by Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II and Mrs Nabila Makram, Egyptian Minister for Immigration. The remains of the "martyrs of Libya" will be taken to the village of al Our, near the town of Samalut, in the province of Minya, where 13 of the 21 martyrs were from, and laid to rest in the new church purpose-built to cherish their memory.

The 21 Egyptian Copts were kidnapped in Libya in early January 2015. The video of their decapitation was shown on jihadist sites on 15 February. Just a week later Patriarch Tawadros II registered the 21 names in the Synaxarium, the book of martyrs of the Coptic Church, establishing that their memory will be celebrated on 15 February.

The bodies were identified last September in a mass grave on the Libyan coast near the town of Sirte, with their hands tied behind their back, wearing the same orange-coloured tracksuits they wore in the macabre video filmed by the executioners at the time of their decapitation. The heads of the victims were found next to their bodies.