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Christians attacked by police, then imprisoned
by Scott Gilbreath ~ January 29th, 2009
Police attacked a restaurant run by six Christian brothers in Port Sa’id, Egypt, because it was open during Ramadan. The brothers have now been sentenced to three years in jail for resisting arrest and assaulting authorities.
Last September, 13 police officers raided the café in Port Sa’id, a city in Egypt’s Nile delta, overturning tables, breaking chairs and smashing glasses and hookah pipes, according to the Coptic Christians’ lawyer. They beat the brothers with sticks, leaving two with broken arms and a third needing 11 stitches for a head wound.
“The police attacked these people and assaulted them unjustifiably,” said Ramses el-Nagar, the Christians’ lawyer. “Police did not want to see people eating during Ramadan. This is unfair, because whatever people’s beliefs are, the law is something else and they should not be mixed.”
A video of police vandalising the brothers’ café was shown at trial, but the judge apparently ignored it. Mr El-Nagar says his clients plan to appeal to a higher court.
Opening a restaurant during Ramadan is not illegal in Egypt.
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