After ISIS released a video on Sunday purporting to show the horrific execution of 21 Coptic Christians on the Libyan coast, prayers and condolences have poured in for the victims, their families and the Coptic church, with many on social media using the hashtag #CopticLivesMatter.
I’m Palestinian Muslim & Middle Eastern Christians are my brothers and sisters. No one should be persecuted for beliefs! #CopticLivesMatter
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Copts form the largest Christian minority in the country, with an estimated 60,000 living there, but their status is increasingly precarious. The country’s descent into civil war and chaos following the collapse of Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi’s dictatorship has seen the nation riven by rival extremist factions, with the government having little cotrol. Italy recently pulled their embassy staff out – the last EU power to do so.
Prior to the latest atrocity, in February of last year seven Copts were dragged from their homes in the middle of the night and shot in the streets east of Benghazi. There have been a number of other reported incidences – involving other extremist groups such as Ansar al-Sharia – of violence against Copts in the country.
