Reba

Was it a hate crime? Were Muslims trying to silence the freedom of speech of Egyptian Christians in the United States? Unsolved mystery:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144573,00.html

Family, Friends Mourn Slain N.J. Family
Monday, January 17, 2005

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A funeral procession for two parents and their two daughters found brutally slain in their home last week drew hundreds of mourners Monday and some in the crowd blamed the deaths on simmering religious tensions in the family's native Egypt.

Services for 47-year-old Hossam Armanious, his 37-year-old wife, Amal Garas, and their two daughters (ages 16 and 8 years) were being held at the St. George & St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church, a Christian congregation where the family was active.

...The family immigrated to the United States in 1997 from Egypt, where Coptic Christians generally live in peace with Muslims. But tensions between the religions there have flared and become violent in recent years.

After revelations over the weekend that Hossam Armanious was active on an Internet chat site devoted to Coptic Christianity, Monir Dowoud, president of the American Coptic Association, told 200 people outside the family's church on Sunday that "Muslim terrorists" were responsible.

...friends of the slain family said Hossam Armanious received death threats two months ago after writing what were perceived as insults to Islam.

Police have said that there were no signs of forced entry at the home, where the four bodies were found bound and gagged early Friday. ..

...Autopsies showed the victims bled to death from puncture wounds to their heads, necks and bodies.

Copts generally live in peace with Muslims, but it is a sometimes uneasy relationship in which sectarian tensions can erupt. In 2000, the deadliest Christian-Muslim clashes in years killed 23 people...

Last month, thousands of angry Copts protested for days at a Cairo cathedral when rumors circulated that a Coptic Christian woman had been forced to convert to Islam. Days of protests and stone-throwing at the cathedral in Abbasiya, Cairo, left two dozen police injured and 34 Copts detained.

In 2002, brawls broke out in a southern Egyptian village after an argument over whether a Coptic church's bells tolled too loudly. During an Islamic insurrection in Egypt in the early 1990s, Copts were occasionally attacked by Muslim militants.

Deafness

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ravensteve1961

Yes,,Thats a hate crime too.

Crazymanw00t

Epyt, Syria, and other middle east is emeny to the Christian world. So, I am not surprised about that events. I would really like to go Middle Eastern to risk my life and spread the god's word to deaf people over at Middle Eastern. I luv to risk my life for a good service. Damn, If I was hearing then I would be already at Iraqi war by now.

Reba

There are Christians living in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. Life is not easy for them.

Steel X

it's obviously a hate crime.

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Taylor

It was only a matter of time before we saw things like this on our own soil. IMO it was a hate crime, and unfortunately, there will be more come.

Banjo

Now they're saying it may just had been a robbery, nothing more. But they're not ruling out the possibility of a hate crime.

Taylor

From the article:
From a police perspective, this is not how a *typical* robbery goes down. While I wouldn't completely rule out robbery as a motive, I'm not seeing it as the motive.

Banjo

The threats were made 2 months before the murders and it was on the internet. So, the odds of that happening.... pretty slim. You don't see many murders that were related to a commotion on the internet.

Friends of the slain family SAID that. But that doesn't make it a fact. Hearsay and speculation as far I am concerned. People really jumped the gun on this one. An investigation is obviously being done as speak, and they already had downplayed the "religion" factor according to recent reports. I read in an article saying that their pockets were emptied, and money were stolen from the house with some other things. The police had said that they were pretty sure that the family and their house were robbed.

Beowulf

Fuck it.
Bush is right.
Kill the whole world.

Tousi

Heck, Muslims and Christians have been killing one another since the dawn of their religious beliefs.....

Steel X

yeah...ain't life pathetic?

*sigh*

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Crazymanw00t

Yup, truth way and false way fighting over for our life.