Egypt: Police Arrest Coptic Father for Aiding Kidnapped Daughter

ASSIST News Service reports that Egyptian police arrested and held several Coptic men after they tried to help a Christian woman leave her Muslim husband. The men's wives were also arrested, but were released when neighbors protested the way they were handled. The men who were arrested are relatives of Rafaat Girges Habib, a man who helped a Coptic father free his kidnapped daughter from her Muslim husband's home. The arrests continued until Habib turned himself in to the police. The incident began when 20-year-old Myrna, who had been abducted and forced to marry a Muslim man, called her father and begged for help. Habib volunteered to help, and the men brought Myrna back after a struggle. Her husband, Mohamad Hefnawy, filed a complaint with police. Myrna was forced to return to her husband in order to secure her father's release along with the other Copts.