Egyptian authorities on Sunday executed a defrocked monk convicted of killing an abbot in a desert monastery north of Cairo, officers stated. The 2018 killing of Bishop Epiphanius, an abbot at St. Macarius Monastery, shocked Egypts Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the oldest Christian communities on the planet and the one which launched monasticism to the religion. The monastery was constructed within the 4th century.
Two defrocked monks, recognized as Isaiah and and Faltaous, had been convicted of killing Epiphanius and sentenced to demise by a felony court docket in April 2019. The Court of Cassation, the countrys highest felony court docket, final 12 months upheld the demise sentence towards Isaiah and gave Faltaous a life sentence.
Isaiah was executed Monday by hanging In the Wadi Natrun jail complicated within the Nile Delta province of Beheira, the officers stated. They spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to transient the media.
The abbot was killed within the center of the evening in an element of the huge monastery not coated by safety cameras. Prosecutors stated he was killed with blows to the pinnacle by an iron bar.
The abbots killing has uncovered a aspect of the church that few in Egypt Muslim or Christian knew existed, together with the rising energy and independence of monks in distant monasteries who seem like at odds with Pope Tawadros II and the churchs central management.
Among these monks are some who espouse a coverage of isolationism and see themselves as guardians of the true religion. They are pitted towards a extra mainstream faction that favors constructing bridges with different church buildings and lending political help to the federal government.
The execution of Isaiah was the most recent in a critical of executions that positioned Egypt among the many 4 Middle Eastern international locations topping the worldwide record of executioners in 2020, in accordance with Amnesty International. The Arab worlds most populous nation held 107 executions final 12 months, a major enhance from the 32 recorded in 2019, the group stated.
Last month, authorities executed 9 suspected Islamists convicted of homicide in an assault on a police station in 2013, an assault resulted within the deaths of 15 individuals, together with 11 police.
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