Egypt court sentences two monks to death over bishop killing
CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced two monks to death over the murder of a bishop, a judicial source said, in a case that shocked the Middle East’s largest Christian community.
Coptic Bishop Epiphanius was found dead with a head wound in July at the Saint Macarius monastery in the plains of Wadi al Natrun, northwest of Cairo.
Prosecutors said one of the monks Isaiah confessed to striking the abbot with a metal bar as the second monk Philotheos kept watch.
The authorities blamed the killing on unspecified “differences” between the two monks, one of whom was later defrocked, and the bishop.
The sentence against the two monks was referred to Egypt’s Grand Mufti. The country’s top theological authority is required by law to give its legally non-binding opinion in cases of capital punishment.
The defendants can appeal the verdict after the Mufti gives an opinion and the ruling is officially issued on April 24.
In the wake of the bishop’s killing, Egypt’s Coptic Church placed a oneyear moratorium on accepting new monks. It also banned monks from social media, tightened financial controls and refocused attention on spiritual life.
Coptic Christians make up about 10 per cent of Egypt’s population of 100 million. The country’s vast desert is home to some of Christianity’s most ancient monasteries. Ban on Uber, Careem services lifted:
Egypt’s top administrative court on Saturday lifted a ban on operations by ride-hailing companies Uber and Careem, which have faced fierce opposition from traditional taxi drivers, a judicial source and lawyer said.
A lower administrative court withdrew the permits of Us-based Uber and its main rival, Dubai-based Careem, in March 2018 after 42 taxi drivers filed suit, arguing the apps were illegally using private cars as taxis and were registered as a call centre and an Internet company, respectively.
In April last year, however, the Cairo Court of Urgent Matters said the ruling should be suspended and the two firms should be allowed to continue operating until a final decision was made by the Highest Administrative Court, which accepted the companies’ appeal on Saturday.
Uber has faced repeated regulatory and legal setbacks around the world due to opposition from traditional taxi services. It has been forced to quit several countries, including Denmark and Hungary.
The company has said Egypt is its largest market in the Middle East, with 157,000 drivers in 2017 and four million users since its launch there in 2014.