Coptic Solidarity

According to the recently published testimony of Karam Sa‘ad—a former sergeant in the Iraqi army who was imprisoned and tortured by the Islamic State in June 2014 but recently escaped—ISIS engages in atrocities that the West remains largely ignorant of. Among these and in the words of the escapee:

They [ISIS] tormented them [Christians] in horrendous ways and many of them died [from the torture] during their captivity…. They used to put them inside what resembled coffins and then set them on fire from the inside.

The Western world was horrified when ISIS set a Jordanian pilot on fire, but as more escapees and former hostages share their experiences, it appears that such savagery is the tip of the iceberg.

Coptic Solidarity

According to Arabic media, the Islamic State has “arrested, if not executed, some youth [five] in the city of Raqqa [in Syria] for befriending and greeting Christians on the occasion of Christmas.”

ISIS reportedly told the five youth that “they are being detained after an investigation [including through their personal computers] found that they greeted the Christians and wished them a Happy New Year.”

When one of the youth tried to exonerate himself, an ISIS member replied: “Shut up! You accompany the Christians—is that not so?”

The five youth were then hauled to an unknown location. No information has since surfaced concerning their fate.