ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT // Hundreds of Coptic Christians crossed the blood-stained pavement for their Christmas Eve Mass in the Al-Qiddissin church, where a suicide bomber had killed up to 23 churchgoers after a New Year's Day service.
Defying the threat of further attacks, they filled the pews and aisles before the service started on Thursday night. Hilmi Yacoub, who runs the church's community services, said the attendance was double the size of last year's number.
"We've left our homes without knowing if we'll return, but let dark terrorism know that we don't fear death," he said.
Before the service started, police officials said a church worker in the southern city of Minya discovered a can filled with firecrackers, nails and bolts at the foot of a church staircase.
The news circulated through text messages, but worshippers, many dressed in black, kept filing past the police cordons that closed off roads leading to the churches.
Father Bolous George comforted the crowd from his pulpit. "Trust that all things work together towards good for those that love God. What happened was a test of faith," he said.
Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7 and the police were determined yesterday to keep the peace throughout the country. They seemed successful as the day passed without incident.
Police, who had been criticised for failing to provide adequate security before the Alexandria bombing, took no chances this time. At least 70,000 officers and conscripts fanned out across the country to secure Coptic churches before the Mass.
There has been no credible claim of responsibility for the bombing, and the police investigation is now focusing on a reconstructed severed head found on the church's roof after the blast.
Police released on Thursday a sketch of the presumed bomber, a man in his twenties, in the hope the public might help identify him.
An interior ministry official said that investigators were also looking into lists of possible suspects who arrived in the country before the attack.
Copts, who make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's 80 million people, have previously been the targets of sectarian attacks and they complain of discrimination in the predominatly Muslim country.
But the Alexandria bombing was different. The sectarian violence that occasionally breaks out in Egypt is often caused by rumours of cross-faith relationships, conversions or land disputes. The government usually denies that they indicate a larger problem in the country's fragile sectarian balance.
The government's immediate response to the church bombing was to blame foreign involvement, as the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, did in a speech the day of the attack. A government official conceded there was little evidence to back up that assertion, but analysts who often dismiss such claims of foreign plots are inclined to consider the involvement of an al Qa'eda-inspired group in this bombing.
The bombing took place almost two months after an al Qa'eda- linked group in Iraq claimed a deadly attack on a Syriac Catholic church there, saying it wanted Egypt's Coptic church to release two Muslim converts it said the church was holding against their will after they converted to Islam. The claim, made on an al Qa'eda-linked website, was followed by a statement urging attacks against a list of Coptic churches, including the Qiddissin church.
In the wake of the Alexandria bombing, the government has stressed that the entire nation, not just Copts, was the target of the attack, downplaying underlying religious tensions. Mufid Shehab, the state minister for judicial and parliamentary affairs, refused to consider calls by senators this week to revise a law that prevents Copts from building churches without presidential permission, one of the sources of Coptic discontent.
"When we speak of the problems of the Copts, we should not link them to what happened in Alexandria," he said.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
With additional reporting by Magdy Samaan in Alexandria
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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The biog
Age: 23
Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering
Favourite hobby: playing the piano
Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"
Family: Married and with a daughter
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Company%20profile
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Results
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The%20specs
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Friday’s fixture
6.15pm: Al Wahda v Hatta
6.15pm: Al Dhafra v Ajman
9pm: Al Wasl v Baniyas
9pm: Fujairah v Sharjah
.
Company Profile
Founders: Tamara Hachem and Yazid Erman
Based: Dubai
Launched: September 2019
Sector: health technology
Stage: seed
Investors: Oman Technology Fund, angel investor and grants from Sharjah's Sheraa and Ma'an Abu Dhabi
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Price: Dh875,000
On sale: now
