Murders of four Coptic Christians in the New Jersey
remains unsolved. Muslim Christian Conflict
Evangelical Christians in the U.S. have reason to keep an eye on the murder investigation
of four Coptic Christians who were slain in New Jersey in January 2005. Family members who
viewed the bodies say they suspect that the brutal slayings were a warning not to
proselytize to Muslims. They say that the body of Sylvia Armanious was clearly the most
viciously attacked in the killings, causing them to wonder if it was because she was too
vocal in sharing her faith.
"Sylvia talked about Jesus to everyone," her uncle Ayman Garas said. "She
was extremely religious."
On Jan. 14, the bodies of Amal Garas, 37, her husband, Hossam Armanious, 47, and their
daughters, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8, were found in their home bound and gagged,
with puncture wounds to their throats. The unsolved murders were thrust into the
spotlight again, when the relatives of the victims went to Washington, DC to meet with
lawmakers and hold a press conference on their concerns about the case.
"We aren't looking for trouble, we are just looking for the facts," Emil Garas,
an uncle of one of the victims, said.
While Dr. Monir Dawoud, the acting president of the American Coptic Association, says that
proselytizing is not a common practice among Coptic Christians, it is quite common for the
denomination of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church Sylvia attended in Jersey City.
Congregants at this church call themselves "born-again."
A number of Sylvia's friends, who attend the Mid East Evangelical church, say a problem
ensued after Sylvia befriended the Muslim daughter of a Halal butcher she encouraged to
convert to Christianity. They say that they fear Sylvia's Christian influence on this girl
may have provoked the harsh retribution that followed.
Fellow churchgoers say they are worried that the Jersey City murders will encourage an
increase in the persecution of converts (and those who convert them) in the U.S., as is
the case in Egypt.
According to Freedom House, a nonpartisan organization that monitors the global spread of
democracy, Coptic Christians in Egypt live in fear and subjugation. "While Egypt has
no explicit law against apostasy, the influence of sharia law on the civil code is
creating a de facto law." Each year thousands of Copts convert to Islam, many under
pressure, and Christians have an emigration rate three to four times that of Muslims.
Coptic church sources estimate that over a million Copts have left Egypt in the past
thirty years.
But Hamed el Shenawany, the president of the Al Huda Islamic Center in Jersey City, says
that though it is possible that a "crazy fanatic" could have sought retribution
for this kind of thing, this is not the case with most Muslims in the U.S. "America
is the land of the free and Muslims are free to convert to any religion they want,"
el Shenawany says.
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, senior terrorism analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based
Investigative Project, a terrorism research center, disagrees. "It's an unfortunate
fact that even in the West many converts from Islam to Christianity are driven underground
in the practice of their new faith because they fear retaliation," he says. "A
number of converts in the U.S. have received serious threats, particularly if they're
outspoken in their new faith. Although obtaining information on these threats can be
difficult, because they’re generally under-reported, without digging too deeply I can
think of at least ten cases since the mid-1990s in which apostates from Islam living in
the West have reported threats, in places that include Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey,
Britain and the Netherlands. In some cases, the apostates have reported actual physical
violence."
Mohamed Saleh (who changed his name for this article for fear of retribution) is a former
Muslim from Egypt who says he fled to America in 1992, after he was severely beaten for
converting to Christianity. He says he was threatened in 2001 when he began discussing his
faith with Muslims on PalTalk, a New York City-based internet chat service. Though Saleh
admits that his debates were often too fervent on the net, he was shocked to find photos
of himself and family members, along with all of his contact information, on a radical
Islamic Web site called Gegadeath.com. Below Saleh’s picture was a statement of
warning. After he appeared on Gegadeath, Saleh says he received numerous death threats on
the phone and quickly moved to another state.
Last month Ahmed Mohamed, 36, a former Muslim in Colorado, was one of the targeted
Christians whose photo and contact information were posted on another radical Islamic Web
site, Barsomyat.com, for debating Muslims on PalTalk. He says that since his information
was posted, he has received numerous threats on the phone, in person and in letters he has
received in the mail. Mohamed says, though sometimes afraid, he is prepared to die for his
faith.
New Jersey Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said that though no suspects have been
identified in the murders, all leads are being pursued.
Members of the Coptic community interviewed for this story say they live in fear of
another attack, and since the murders were perpetrated, they are worried that the killers
have fled the U.S. Family members say they are completely drained by the experience and
pray that the killers are soon identified.
"I think of Amal, Hossam, Sylvia and Monica all the time." Sylvia's grandmother
Ferail Garas said. "Like a movie, their deaths keep playing over and over in my mind.
Whenever I am alone, I can’t stop crying." "I just want the killers of my
family found."
Copts fear Christian conversion sparked unsolved murders - Article submitted by Maria
Sliwa
Maria is a freelance journalist in New Jersey and the publisher of Freedom Now News www.freeworldnow.com
