Egypt: Christian girls kidnapped, forced to marry and convert to Islam
Teenage girls in Egypt are being kidnapped and being forced to convert to Islam and marry, according to new reports.
International Christian Concern says the local Christian community in Egypt is "paralysed" by the spate of disappearances of the young girls.
They include Amal Shaky, 19, kidnapped presumably on her way to Cairo University, according to International Christian Concern.
Her family thought at first she had gone to her party but when she did not appear, went to the police, who suggeted to her father that he had killed his daughter and thrown away the body.
After harassing Zakaria, the officer refused to file a report and asked for a few hours to investigate the matter. Amal had also been kidnapped in 2011.
"More than 40 days have passed since my daughter was kidnapped, and they say that the matter is under investigation," Amal's father told International Christian Concern. "I don't know how long I should wait. Wait until they tell me that my daughter is killed or got married?"
Human rights abuses in Egypt are causing increasing international concern. Human Rights Watch recently reported that Egyptian security forces arrested tortured 20 people, including eight children.
World Watch Monitor detailed how a few weeks ago, a Christian boy was kidnapped in Upper Egypt and released days later after a large ransom was paid. Anthonius Farag, 13, was taken outside his school in the village of Mansheyyit Manbal, off Matay. A Muslim child was released at the same time after the kidnappers established his religion. According to the Coalition of Coptic Egypt, a Coptic advocacy group, the Upper Egyptian province of Qena saw 72 cases of kidnappings, extortion and related violence against Copts in the period from 2011 to 2014, the most recent figures it has.
