Killing of the 21 Coptic Christian Martyrs of Libya

On 12 February 2015, the Islamic State (IS) released a video online showing photographs of 21 Christian construction workers—20 from Egypt and one from Ghana—whom the group had kidnapped in the city of Sirte, Libya, and reported had been killed for their faith in Jesus Christ. The men, from various villages in Egypt (13 of them from Al-Our, Minya Governorate), had been abducted in Sirte on 27 December 2014 and in January 2015.

On 15 February 2015, IS's media wing Al-Hayat published a five-minute video titled "A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross," showing the captives, dressed in orange jumpsuits, paraded along a beach on Libya's southern Mediterranean coast before being beheaded by masked men identifying themselves as the Tripoli Province of IS. A caption in the video referred to the captives as "People of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian Church." The video's narrator, speaking in English, threatened further violence against "crusaders" and referenced the body of Osama bin Laden. IS stated the executions were carried out in retaliation for the alleged detention of Camelia Shehata, a Coptic Egyptian woman rumored by Islamists to have converted to Islam and been held by the Coptic Church; she later denied any conversion. A caption near the moment of the killings described the victims as calling on their god and dying in what the caption called "paganism," which the Coptic Church cited as evidence the men had refused an opportunity to convert to Islam before being killed.

The Coptic Church, the Egyptian government, and the Libyan parliament confirmed the deaths. Some experts initially speculated the footage had been digitally manipulated, but a captured perpetrator later told investigators the killings occurred on the beach opposite the Al Mahary Hotel in Sirte.

The killings prompted a strong international response. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared seven days of national mourning, warned of Egypt's right to retaliate, and imposed a travel ban to Libya. On 16 February 2015, the Egyptian military carried out airstrikes against IS facilities in Libya, and the Libyan Air Force struck IS-affiliated positions in Derna, reportedly killing seven civilians without militant casualties. The United Nations Security Council, French President François Hollande, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addressed the killings, and Pope Francis telephoned Pope Tawadros II to offer condolences.

The 21st victim, initially unnamed, was later identified as Matthew Ayariga of Ghana. Reports indicate he stated "I am a Christian and I am like them" before being killed. After the fall of IS control in Sirte, Libyan authorities located the burial site of the victims following the arrest of one of the perpetrators. DNA comparisons between the families and the remains, conducted by Egyptian and Libyan forensic authorities, confirmed the identities. The remains of the 20 Egyptian victims were returned to Egypt and interred on 15 May 2018 at the newly built Church of the Martyrs of the Faith and Homeland in Al-Our, Minya Governorate. Ayariga's remains were separately transferred to Egypt and laid to rest with the other martyrs at the end of September 2020, following a formal request by the Coptic Church to the Libyan government.

Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria canonized the 21 as saints and martyrs on 21 February 2015. In 2023, Pope Francis announced their inclusion in the Roman Martyrology, and an ecumenical commemoration was held at St. Peter's Basilica in February 2024.