Coptic Blasphemy Case Sheds Light on Muslim Views of ISIS

Author: Kresta in the Afternoon Published on: October 28, 2015 Published in: Christian Persecution

blaspheme

On October 22, a court postponed to December 3 the case concerning four Coptic Christian students accused of blasphemy. They did this after the Copts’ lawyer, Maher Naguib, convinced the court to bring the exhibits of the case, including the video made by the Copts which is responsible for the blasphemy charge.

The four Coptic students were arrested last April on the charge of “contempt of religions.” They had made a 30-second video on an iphone poking fun at the Islamic State, or “ISIS.”

In the video, the boys appear laughing and joking, as they pretend to be members of the Islamic State praying to Allah. One of the boys pretends to slit the throat of another, an ISIS trademark.

Along with facing up to seven years prison, one of the youth was “banished” from his village of Al-Nasriya by fellow Christians in an effort to appease local Muslims who reacted to the video with violence, including by pelting the homes and businesses of Christians with stones.