CAIRO, EGYPT, 31ST JANUARY 2017, LIMA CHARLIE NEWS WIRE

Egyptian Prime Minister, Sherif Ismail, has announced the intent to make the construction of new churches in Egypt legal without permits.

According to the PM, a committee will be created to operate under the Prime Minister’s office to work towards this end. The committee would include government, military, intelligence, and church representatives. The committee is said to be in response to the current anti-Christian sentiment in Egyptian society. If enabled, it would make it easier for the country’s Coptic Christians to exercise their faith.

According to unofficial numbers from the Coptic Church in Egypt, Coptic Christians number about 15 million, or 16% of Egypt’s population. Egypt’s Christian minority has often been targeted by Islamist militants, especially since 2013 when the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi, and launched a crackdown against Islamists. Most recently, a bomb killed 25 and wounded another 49 in a December 11, 2016 bombing at St Mark’s Cathedral, Cairo.

A database compiled by the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy tracks incidents against religious minorities in Egypt.

MIDDLE EAST BUREAU, LIMA CHARLIE NEWS

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