Assiut/Cairo – The kidnappings of young Christian girls in Egypt are a festering wound. An Islamic state in which more than 10% of the population are Christians, most of them Copts. The tip of the iceberg in recent months has been the abduction of Arene in Assiut and Mehrael in Cairo, and at the end of May a young Christian woman who had just got married was kidnapped. In all cases, the authorities were rather hesitant; all too often it was initially said that the girls had probably run away out of love for a boy. Such a “love affair” is almost always a protective claim by the authorities so that they don’t have to take immediate action. Once several days have passed, all traces are usually lost.
This was also the case with 20-year-old Arene. She was abducted on January 22, the day of her first exam at the medical faculty in Assiut. She had 150 Egyptian pounds, a stethoscope for medical examinations and some documents for the exam she had just taken.
She has her whole life ahead of her. A degree that she had just successfully started, a family that enabled her to study and a life of self-determination. The family and the church found out that Arene had been kidnapped by the Al-Swalem family and could be in the village of Amarna, the center of Al-Balina in the governorate of Sohag.
Allegedly, the authorities then began searching for her. But Arsene remained missing. Were her kidnappers already on their way to Sudan to sell Arsene as a slave? Hope lives on, but even if Arene were to be freed, she would carry so many wounds to her body and soul that it is questionable whether she could ever return to her old life.
Kidnapped Mehrael is free
At the end of April, Mehrael, a young student who had just taken her exams at the Girls’ College, Ahmed Tayseer Street in Heliopolis (on the outskirts of Cairo), was kidnapped. Here, too, the authorities did not react at first. But in Cairo, the clocks do run a little differently. Under the nose of President As-Sisi, so to speak, the police are powerful and take ruthless action against radical Islamists. Mehrael was found and returned safely to her parents. She now has an independent life ahead of her, can study after school, do an apprenticeship and determine her own life.
What is missing in all cases, however, is the outcry from Islamic clerics. We are not aware of anyone in Egypt who opposes these abductions of young Christian women. But the petitions you are signing, with political pressure and loud protests, including from the churches, there may be a change in thinking. We are not giving up because your donations give us the chance to keep up the pressure. Thank you!
