Egyptian Copts protest against Libyan authorities

Dozens of young Egyptian Copts have held a demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in Cairo to protest against the killing of a fellow Copt in a Libyan prison, and the imprisonment of several others accused of proselytising. Witnesses told Arabstoday that the demonstrators burnt the flag of Libya in front of the embassy, and ripped a promotional banner belonging to the embassy in protest against the imprisonment of Copts in Libyan territories. Members of the Maspero Youth Union and the Coptic Youth Front raised banners outside the main gate of the embassy. They demanded the release of Coptic prisoners in Libya and urged Egyptian authorities to expel the Libyan ambassador from Egypt. Maspero Youth Union coordinator, Evon Mosaad, said the demonstrations would continue until the remaining Coptic prisoners in Libya are released. She described the accusations of proselytising as "illegal," and called for an end to the "systematic persecution of the Copts in Libya." Earlier today, human rights lawyer Naguib Guebrayel told AFP that Egyptian Coptic prisoner Ezzat Hakim Attallah had been tortured to death in a Libyan prison.