Woman at centre of Egypt sectarian violence turns herself in to the army

[News_Editor]

Woman at centre of Egypt sectarian violence turns herself in to the army

2011-05-12 06:50:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

CAIRO (BNO NEWS) -- The Egyptian woman whose story originated Saturday's violent sectarian clashes in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba has turned herself in to the military council seeking protection, Ahram online news reported Wednesday.

Abeer Talaat was allegedly held captive in Mar Mina Church, Giza, where 12 people were killed and 240 were injured during sectarian clashes. In a phone interview, she said she had converted from ‎Christianity to Islam last September, left her village in Assiut, Upper Egypt and filed for divorce from her husband before hiding in Cairo.

She was planning to marry Yasin Thabet, a prime suspect in last weekend's melee in front of the Mar Mina Church, when someone reported her to the church and she was taken captive weeks ago. She said she was held in different church-owned properties across Egypt, where priests and nuns tried to convince her to re-embrace Christianity.

Egyptian police forces on Monday announced that seventeen individuals were arrested over the violent sectarian clashes between Muslims, many of them Islamist Salafists, and Copts outside a church.

Witnesses said the two sides exchanged gunfire, sending people running for cover. Military and riot police fired shots in the air to separate both sides. At least 240 people were wounded, while 190 were arrested.

Sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christian Copts have increased in the past year. A Coptic church in the town of Alexandria was bombed on New Year's Day, killing 23 people. Ten days later, a gunman killed a Christian man and wounded five others on a train in Egypt.

There are around 8 million Christian Copts in Egypt, which represent about 10 percent of the population.

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