A mob of up to 100 Muslim extremists ransacked the home of an Egyptian Christian on 10 June after a post insulting Islam was placed on his Facebook site by a computer hacker.
Fady Youssef Todari, his wife and daughter fled minutes before the horde rampaged into their home in Eshnein al-Nassar village, Minya province, and smashed up their furniture, electrical appliances and other possessions. The mob also attacked the home of one of Todari’s uncles, damaging the building exterior.
Prior to the attacks, 25-year-old Todari posted a video apologising for any slur left by the hacker when they broke into his account a month earlier.
Police arrested 25 of the attackers, as well as Todari, his brother and two uncles. The following day, on 11 June, Todari and his family attended a “calming session” involving village elders and security officials at the local police station where it was agreed an investigation would be carried out into the computer hacking allegations.
Village elders said that, prior to the mob attacks, relations between the majority Christian community and Muslims had been “good”.
Islamic State (IS) is known to have hacked the Facebook accounts of at least 60 Egyptian Christians since mid-2017 in order to insult and threaten them and spread its propaganda. The IS hackers changed the personal information page of several Christian account holders to read “we promise to slay him soon,” as the terrorist group spread its war against Christians online.
