Egypt Jails Christian Teen for ‘Insulting Islam’
7:09 pm in alexandria church, christian population, christians and muslims, Coptic Christians, coptic orthodox, Foreign Affairs, human rights lawyer, insulting islam, Islam, jerusalem post, pope shenouda, prophet muhammad, Religion by PinkTeaPatriot
An Egyptian court has handed down the maximum sentence of three years in prison for a 17-year-old Christian boy who published cartoons on his Facebook page mocking Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
Gamal Abdou Massoud .(Christian)
Source: NewsMax.com
Posted: April 8th, 2012
Gamal Abdou Massoud was also charged with distributing some of his cartoons to his friends in the village of Assiut, home to a large Christian population and the hometown of the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda, who died on March 17.
The cartoons were posted by Massoud in December, prompting some Muslims to attack Christians, the Jerusalem Post reported. Several Christian houses were burned.
Human rights lawyer Negad al-Borai told Reuters the three-year sentence was the maximum penalty under Egyptian law for the crime of insulting Islam. But the Times of Israel reported that on the same day Massoud was sentenced, a court ratified a 6-year sentence against a Coptic school secretary for the same offense.
Christians comprise 10 percent of Egypt’s population, and tensions between Coptic Christians and Muslims have intensified since early 2011 when a bomb killed 21 people at an Alexandria church.
