This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.
John 6:40 (NRSV)
George Fathi (2009)
Revenge for Conversion
Church deacon George was known all over Alexandria, Egypt, for his Christian witness, and his evangelistic endeavours are believed to have led to his murder. In October 2009 he was killed by two Islamist brothers, Mohamed and Ahmed Abdel-Moneim, whose sister had been helped by George to convert to Christianity. It seems they were acting in retaliation for this perceived affront to their Muslim faith.
The brothers entered George’s flat at midday, and strangled and electrocuted him until his intestines burst out. George’s dead, disfigured body was found shortly afterwards by his father, who was sitting in a coffee house facing their flat and came to investigate when he saw smoke coming out. The offenders had started a fire and opened a butane cylinder to spark an explosion, but this was averted by George’s father and neighbours.
When the Abdel-Moneim brothers were arrested, they claimed George had tried to sexually assault them and they had acted in self-defence. But the Fathi family’s lawyer said the investigation found no evidence that George practised homosexuality. Mohamed’s defence later pleaded insanity, a strategy often used by Muslims accused of killing Christians in Egypt. The authorities are usually only too willing to go along with this defence plea.
Our Father in heaven, deliver us, we pray thee, from all manner of evil, whether it touch our body or soul, our property or good name, and at last, when the hour of death shall come, grant us a blessed end and graciously take us from this vale of sorrow to thyself in heaven, through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)