{"id":29607,"date":"2022-04-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-10T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/coptic-priest-fatally-stabbed-5676\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:06:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:06:54","slug":"coptic-priest-fatally-stabbed-5676","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/press\/coptic-priest-fatally-stabbed-5676\/","title":{"rendered":"Coptic priest fatally stabbed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A Coptic Orthodox priest was fatally stabbed<\/a> on 7 April in Alexandria, Egypt.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Father Arsanious Wadid was reportedly on a youth outing on the seaside promenade in Alexandria when he was approached by his attacker, a 60-year-old Muslim man, who initially asked him for assistance before stabbing him in the neck. Father Wadid, who served at a local parish, died while being treated for his injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local police have arrested the assailant, who is currently being interrogated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Alexandria have declared<\/a> Father Wadid a martyr, while the head of Al-Azhar \u2013 the country\u2019s most influential institution of Sunni Islam – condemned the attack in a statement<\/a> posted on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archbishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, also condemned the killing in a tweet<\/a>, writing: \u201cIn clerical attire in a public space with no one else attacked, it can be safely assumed that [Father Arsanious Wadid] was targeted as a priest. With a suspect in custody, we wait to see whether investigations rule this to be an \u2018individual event\u2019, or part of a known wider phenomenon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: \u201cWe extend our deepest condolences to Father Arsanious Wadid\u2019s friends, family, and parishioners, and note with appreciation the condemnation of his murder by the Sheikh of Al Azhar. While also welcoming the perpetrator\u2019s arrest, we call on the Egyptian authorities to ensure a thorough investigation of this case, and that anyone complicit in this murder is held to account and receives a sentence appropriate to this appalling crime. Ensuring accountability will assist in combatting residual impunity surrounding religiously motivated crimes. More must be done to address the levels of societal hostility, and to promote mutual respect and equal citizenship.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Coptic Orthodox priest was fatally stabbed on 7 April in Alexandria, Egypt.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43744,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[147,145],"class_list":["post-29607","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-egypt","regions-middle-east-north-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40191,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29607\/revisions\/40191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29607"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}