*** Voice of the Martyrs *** July 4, 2008

I write to you with grief & desperation.

There has been a brutal attack on one of the historic monasteries in Egypt named Deir Abo Fana. Monks were being shot at using machine guns and 3 monks were abducted, tortured.

Moreover, there have been numerous kidnapping of young girls, torturing them and forcing them to convert to Islam, Muslims and when the Coptics tried to protest, they were the ones humiliated and imprisoned for simply standing up for their rights.

This has been going for far long enough. These people are tearing down our monasteries & churches, killing our Monks & Priests, and torturing our families & us. All for what we believe in, our religion, and the cross we carry. We will no longer sit and watch them, continusly killing and harming us.

As a result, the congregation of all Sydney’s Coptic’s Churches have joined forces together and will be protesting this Saturday from 11.00am 5/7/08 to claim our right to preach in our faith as Coptic Orthodox, national world wide. Our voices will be heard, our message will be sent, and our cross will be carried.

We want the Egyptian President to take action to this barbaric and in-human attack. We want him to end all killings against our families, offer peace to our religious leader His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, and build up the walls of our monasteries, churches and our families homes.

Official Website: http://coptic-news.net/English/E_news.html