1 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Imbaba's Luxor street cordoned off by the army with limited access for local residents in the aftermath of sectarian violence that took place on May 7 - 8, 2011 in Cairo.
2 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
An army soldier guarding a side alley of Luxor street in Imbaba, where the sectarian violence and burning of St. Mina church took place on May 7 - 8, 2011 in Cairo.
3 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Michael Gamil Said, 22-year-old brother of Karam Adil Said, 19 years old, who was killed in Imbaba during sectarian clashes on May 8, 2011 in front of St. Mina church in Cairo.
![Photography image - Loading 000001.jpg]()
4 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Copts protesting in front of the Maspero TV building in downtown Cairo following the May 7 - 8, 2011 sectarian violence and burning of St. Mina church in Imbaba neighborhood of Cairo, which left 12 dead and 232 injured in Cairo.
![Photography image - Loading 000005.jpg]()
5 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Relatives of victims carrying coffins out of the Abasseya Cathedral to be buried following the violence that took place in front of Maspero TV building on October 9 - 10, 2011 resulting in 28 mostly Coptic deaths and 212 injured. The clashes occurred between Copts demonstrating peacefully against an attack on a church in Upper Egypt and the Egyptian Army and security forces. The Coptic demonstration was violently dispersed by tanks and armored vehicles, as well as random shooting in the crowd the night of October 9 - 10, 2011.
![Photography image - Loading 000011.jpg]()
6 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Portrait of Samah Girgiz, 30 y.o. wall painter from Sohag, upper Egypt, who was killed in front of Maspero TV station on October 9, 2011 during violent clashes with the army and security forces. "But we will continue our fight. We can’t just disappear - there are 12 million of us!" – Samah’s brother Rami Girgiz says.
![Photography image - Loading 000012.jpg]()
7 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Mariam Musaad, daughter of Musaad Mohani in front of the collage on the wall showing her father's body as it was brought to the Coptic Hospital morgue on October 9, 2011 following the clashes of civilians with the army in front of the Maspero TV building. The photographs and posters showing her father as a martyr have become a permanent memorial installation in Mariam's home in Shobra district of Cairo.
![Photography image - Loading 000019.jpg]()
8 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
People attending mass at the Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Mark and Pope Peter in Sidi Bishr, Alexandria which was the target of the January 1, 2011 bombing that took lives of 23 Copts and injured 97 in Alexandria.
![Photography image - Loading 000023.jpg]()
9 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Sisters Marina and Mary, at Marina's newly wed home on Geziret-Ed-Dahab island home to many coptic families. "Some women give birth on the island, there is a midwife that goes around homes. I was almost born here, my mother thought she'd give birth to me on the boat!" Marina said.
![Photography image - Loading 000027.jpg]()
10 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Shepherd on Geziret-Ed-Dahab Island in Cairo.
![Photography image - Loading 000032.jpg]()
11 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Skull of a Coptic woman, one of the Great Martyrs of Akhmeem. The Monastery of Martyrs in Akhmeem has become a pilgrimage site for many Copts as they believe visiting the relics of the saints can miraculously cure ailments. These relics of coptic martyrs date back to the period of Diocletian and his colleague Maximian, 284 A.D. "The saints are bleeding to this day and the women's hair is still growing, we even have to trim it. When the pope took one of the heads in his hands, the head glowed. They are blessed!" - claims the monastery keeper in Sohag, Egypt.
![Photography image - Loading 000035.jpg]()
12 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Pendant with a photograph of Abenoub Kamal Mashid on his mother's Zizi Noskhi's chest. Abenoub Kamal Mashid, a 19 year old law student was shot dead on El Mahattam street outside the Nag Hammadi cathedral in Nag Hammadi city on the Coptic Christmas eve of January 7, 2010. Gunfire from a passing car took the lives of eight young coptic men aged between 15 and 23. Abenoub was meeting his friends outside the church when he got shot. Three men were arrested and charged with murder, one of the shooters received capital punishment, the other two were later released. Abenoub's father says: "Crimes against Copts continue and remain largely unpunished. They want to push us out, but it's our land too, we will not leave no matter what".
![Photography image - Loading 000037.jpg]()
13 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Magdi, a tattoo artist outside the Mar Girgis Church in Coptic Cairo. Copts continue the ancient tradition of tattooing dating back to Pharaonic era. A very common tattoo design is a small cross on the back of a wrist. The tattoos of crosses mark members of the Coptic community on both children and adults. Other people choose a more expanded version of a Christian tattoo: images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary or Saint George are some of the popular designs.
![Photography image - Loading 000039.jpg]()
14 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
A couple relaxes on the porch of their home. The woman shows off her tattoo of a crucified Jesus and a heart pierced with an arrow in El-Kosheh village of Sohag. While tattoo making is predominantly a taboo for Muslims in Egypt, Copts continue the ancient tradition of tattoo making dating back to the pharaonic times.
![Photography image - Loading 000036.jpg]()
15 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
On the way to Sohag in the upper Nile delta home to large concentrations of coptic christians in Egypt.
![Photography image - Loading 000046.jpg]()
16 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
A bride getting ready for her photoshoot at a Coptic-owned wedding photo salon in Sohag.
![Photography image - Loading 000047.jpg]()
17 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Coptic wedding photographer in his studio in Sohag.
![Photography image - Loading 000051.jpg]()
18 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Coptic home in El-Kosheh, a small Egyptian town where one of the bloodiest episodes of sectarian violence took place on January 2, 2000. According to the eyewitnesses, following a dispute between a Coptic trader and a Muslim customer relationships soured between the two communities in the town of about 35,000 people with 70% Coptic majority. As a result, Muslim mobs burned 260 Coptic shops and homes and killed 21 Coptic residents. Some perpetrators of the violence were arrested, but later released. The only person convicted in this case was a Muslim man who allegedly shot another Muslim. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
![Photography image - Loading 000056.jpg]()
19 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
A coptic engagement party in Rahmaniya-Kebly village of Nag Hammadi in Qena. In January 2012, a Muslim mob attacked and burned Coptic homes and shops in Rahmaniya-Kebly village in the presence of security forces that, according to the local reports, did nothing to prevent the attacks. The dispute originated from a property rights issue between a Coptic owner and a Salafi resident of the village, but later progressed into political disputes. Half of the village population is Copts. They refused to vote for the Salafi promoted candidates in the local council elections, which sparked clashes with the conservative Salafi groups in Qena, Egypt.
![Photography image - Loading 000057.jpg]()
20 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Coptic engagement party in Rahmaniya-Kebly village of Nag Hammadi, Qena.
![Photography image - Loading 000060.jpg]()
21 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Old Coptic house in Rahmaniya-Kebly village of Nag Hammadi, Qena.
![Photography image - Loading 001016900007.jpg]()
22 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Ramses ‘Bassous’ Fared is a coptic computer engineer in Nag Hamadi, who designed a lunar calendar to calculate the dates of Easter and other coptic christian holidays and festivals.
![Photography image - Loading 001017150002.jpg]()
23 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Photographs of terror victims on display at the home of Fumeya Shohdi, mother of Mena Helmi, a 19 year old highschool student who was shot dead outside the Nag Hammadi cathedral on January 7, 2010. His older brother Milad Helmi 25. y.o. computer salesman says: “Our relationships with Muslims were much better in the past. Now because of social media it has become much easier and faster to spread messages of hatred. Now anyone can open a page and preach hatred and radical ideas.”
![Photography image - Loading 001017130011.jpg]()
24 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Men drink tea in a cafe in El-Kosheh, a small predominantly Christian town in Sohag, where one of the bloodiest episodes of sectarian violence took place on January 2, 2000.
![Photography image - Loading 001017140004.jpg]()
25 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Relatives attending a Coptic engagement party in Rahmaniya-Kebly village of Nag Hammadi in Qena, Egypt.
![Photography image - Loading 001017310008.jpg]()
26 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Street scene of El-Kosheh, a small town of majority coptic christian population where one of the bloodiest episodes of sectarian violence took place on January 2, 2000 in Sohag, Egypt
![Photography image - Loading 0001_Cote-Divoire_0001_Cote-Divoire_3425-03.jpg]()
27 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Témoin Yego Alphonse, 25 years old. Abidjan. Alphonse was 17 years old when he lost both his hands to a granade explosion. He was visiting his friend whose father was a deseased militiaman. There was still weapons and ammunition piled in their home after the father's death. Alphonse's friend took him into the room with ammunition and threw a granade at him to have him catch it playfully. That's when the granade exploded and Alphonse had realized that both his hands were blown off and only attached by nerves. His abdomen was also injured in the blast and his intestines fell out. Alphonse was nursed back to health by his parents, but both have passed on. After several surgeries and years of recuperation Alphonse moved to Abidjan to start a new life. "I don't have the hands, but my legs are working well" - he jokes. Alphonse is training to be an athlete and attends bible classes during the day. Abidjan. December 2018
![Photography image - Loading 0003_Cote-Divoire_0003_Cote-Divoire_3427-12.jpg]()
28 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Témoin Yego Alphonse, 25 years old. Abidjan. Alphonse was 17 years old when he lost both his hands to a granade explosion. He was visiting his friend whose father was a deseased militiaman. There was still weapons and ammunition piled in their home after the father's death. Alphonse's friend took him into the room with ammunition and threw a granade at him to have him catch it playfully. That's when the granade exploded and Alphonse had realized that both his hands were blown off and only attached by nerves. His abdomen was also injured in the blast and his intestines fell out. Alphonse was nursed back to health by his parents, but both have passed on. After several surgeries and years of recuperation Alphonse moved to Abidjan to start a new life. "I don't have the hands, but my legs are working well" - he jokes. Alphonse is training to be an athlete and attends bible classes during the day. Abidjan. December 2018
![Photography image - Loading 0004_Cote-Divoire_0004_Cote-Divoire_3448-07.jpg]()
29 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
KOUASSI AYE Elise in Abidjan Yopoupon district. Elise's neighborhood was under siege during the conflict. She was hungry and decided to venture out to get some food. On her way she encountered two men in military fatigues. They attacked her and in spite of her pleas to let her go because she's recently undergone abdominal surgeries, they brutalized and raped her one after another. They beat and scared her with knifes and left her bleeding in an abandoned building. She managed to get to safety and at the hospital she only adressed her head trauma and other bodily injuries, but did not not report the rape crime out of shame. "I was with a man then I did not want to let him know that other men had taken my body". Some time later Elise began to feel weak and get sick often, she lost a lot of weight. A friend suggested she takes an HIV test and it turned out to be positive. She let her boyfriend know and he left her. Many of her friends turned away from her. She is taking retroviral treatment now and lives alone in Yopoupon hoping to start a small business in her neighborhood in order to get by. Abidjan. December 2018
![Photography image - Loading 0007_Cote-Divoire_0009_Cote-Divoire_3435-11.jpg]()
30 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
BLOHANHI Gousseiyaga Élodie 33 years old, victim of the 2002 conflict. Elodie was 17 years old in 2002 when on her way to her aunt's home in Duekue when the city became under attack by armed militias. She and a few of her other girlfriends were ambushed by four armed men and raped. The men threw chemicals on Elodie's eyes and she felt excruciating pain and burning. After several days left wounded and untreated in the hospital, since all the doctors fled the war, Eloide's vision deteriorated and over time she turned blind. Elodie is 33 now since she learned to cook in early childhood she is still comfortable in the kitchen in spite of her blindness. She is helping her mother and sister with their small business of catering. She prepares food daily to be sold later at the local market.
![Photography image - Loading 0012_Cote-Divoire_0011_Cote-Divoire_3434-03.jpg]()
31 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
BLOHANHI Gousseiyaga Élodie 33 years old, victim of the 2002 conflict. Elodie was 17 years old in 2002 when on her way to her aunt's home in Duekue when the city became under attack by armed militias. She and a few of her other girlfriends were ambushed by four armed men and raped. The men threw chemicals on Elodie's eyes and she felt excruciating pain and burning. After several days left wounded and untreated in the hospital, since all the doctors fled the war, Eloide's vision deteriorated and over time she turned blind. Elodie is 33 now since she learned to cook in early childhood she is still comfortable in the kitchen in spite of her blindness. She is helping her mother and sister with their small business of catering. She prepares food daily to be sold later at the local market.
![Photography image - Loading 0016_Cote-Divoire_0016_Cote-Divoire_3437-03.jpg]()
32 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Tour Clemence 34 y.o. widow, she was 8 months pregnant when militants came to Anokoua Koute neighborhood of Abidjan where she lived with her husband. Most women men took off and the women and chidlren ran hiding in the nearby churches. Tour's husband was still home and he came out to negotiate with armed militants, asking them to leave. But instead of letting him go, they grabbed him and decapitated him in front of his pregnant wife. Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire. November, 2018
![Photography image - Loading 0019_Cote-Divoire_0019_Cote-Divoire_3437-08.jpg]()
33 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Widows of Anokoua Koute neighborhood in Abidjan make kasava as they organized themselves into a small enterprise producing kasava powder and selling it in the local market. According to the women, all of their husbands and most men of the neighborhood were killed by the militants in 2011 during the crisis. While the neighborhood was under siege for 3 months the women ran off, on the morning of the attack they ran to hide in nearby churches, several homes were burnt down and looted. When the women came back home, many found their husbands dead or missing. Women have now set up kasava powder production in the shells of destroyed homes.
![Photography image - Loading 0017_Cote-Divoire_0017_Cote-Divoire_3437-04.jpg]()
34 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Tour Clemence 34 y.o. widow, she was 8 months pregnant when militants came to Anokoua Koute neighborhood of Abidjan where she lived with her husband. Most women men took off and the women and chidlren ran hiding in the nearby churches. Tour's husband was still home and he came out to negotiate with armed militants, asking them to leave. But instead of letting him go, they grabbed him and decapitated him in front of his pregnant wife. Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire. November, 2018
![Photography image - Loading 0045_Cote-Divoire_0045_Cote-Divoire_3462-09.jpg]()
35 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Street scenes around Attecoube neighborhood which was targeted by Gbagbo forces as it was believed to be a stronghold of Outtara. Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire November 2018
![Photography image - Loading 0039_Cote-Divoire_0039_Cote-Divoire_3446-12.jpg]()
36 of 36
© 2021 Rena Effendi
Hamed Diomande, 47 y.o. was injured by the militants during the 2011 crisis. After his neighborhood became under siege for a few days, he went out in search of food with his wife and three children. The family was attacked on the street, his wife was raped in front of him and his children. Before letting them go, one of the militants told Hamed he would like to give him a 'suvenir' of their meeting and pointed a gun at him. Hamed grabbed the barrel of the gun trying to deflect the bullet and the man shot him in his hand ripping it to shreds. Hamed rushed to the local hospital, but it was chaotic and overflowing with people injured in the attacks. Doctors performed a hasty surgery on Hamed's hand without connecting the muscles and tendons properly. He has not been able to regain mobility of his hand ever since. Upon his return from the hospital he was not able to find his family. HIs wife and chilren fled and never came back, he's been searching for them in refugee camps ever since, but so far unsuccessfully. Hamed is unemployed as he is facing difficulties finding work with his disability. Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire. November 2018
Public Story
War Crimes
Credits:
rena effendi
Date of Work:
05/09/11 - 05/26/12
Updated: 01/18/21
Coptic Christians in Egypt number more than 10,000,000, making them the largest (religious) minority group in the country, one that has become more a target for extremists in the past years than ever before. Since the toppling of Hosni Mubarek, acts of aggression and violence, in addition to the usual discrimination and governmental neglect, have instilled fear in the Coptic community at their future prospects of a peaceful existence in Egypt. At the same time, many of the Christians insist that the country, and their rights to live, work and thrive in it are worth fighting, and even dying for. "We are here, and we are not leaving!", so many of the Copts say in response to the spike in religious-based violence against them.
Focusing on the headlines though obscures the fact that there are pockets of tolerance and integration, and that the Christian community is diverse and evolving - activists, priests, farmers, garbage collectors; however, this is still and fundamentally a story of people who feel they are being pushed closer to the edge, people who do not want to or feel like they should budge.
