Kosheh massacres

Kosheh is a market town on the eastern bank of the Nile in Sohag Governorate, roughly 450 kilometres south of Cairo, with a population of about 35,000 that is around 70% Coptic Christian. Most local shopkeepers are Copts, while most farmers in surrounding villages are Muslim, a dynamic that has featured in accounts of sectarian tension in the area.

Tension between the communities was already high before 2000. In August 1998, in what became known as the First Kosheh Massacre, two Copts were murdered by Muslims reportedly seeking revenge over the alleged "poisoning" of a relative. In the aftermath, Egyptian police detained approximately 1,200 Christians for investigation. When Metropolitan Wissa of El Balyana (Abydos), whose diocese includes Kosheh, criticized the mass arrests, he himself was arrested along with two priests and charged with inciting strife. Reporting by Christina Lamb in the Daily Telegraph in October 1998 alleged that some detained Copts had undergone mock crucifixions and that Metropolitan Wissa faced possible execution; the Egyptian government responded by arresting the head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, whom it accused of leaking the story. Both the EOHR head and Metropolitan Wissa were later released, and while the government pledged to punish police officers found to have acted improperly, some officers involved were instead promoted.

The Second Kosheh Massacre began with a dispute between a Christian merchant and a Muslim customer on Friday, 31 December 1999. Relatives of the Muslim customer targeted Christian-owned shops and homes, which were looted, destroyed, and burned; police initially contained the unrest. Two days later, on Sunday, 2 January 2000, rioting spread to neighboring villages, resulting in the deaths of 20 Christians, with a 21st Coptic victim counted among those killed in the incident overall; one Muslim was also killed, reportedly shot accidentally by a fellow Muslim. More than 40 people were injured, and 260 shops, houses, and kiosks were burned or damaged, with most killings occurring in agricultural fields on the outskirts of Kosheh. Local authorities reportedly did little to control the violence, and there were allegations that some officers participated in the killings.

On 1 December 2000, a criminal court in Sohag Governorate released all 89 defendants charged in connection with the massacre without bail, ahead of a verdict. All suspects were ultimately acquitted or had charges dropped, except for one Muslim defendant convicted of accidentally killing a fellow Muslim, who received a 13-year sentence. No one was convicted for the killing of the 21 Coptic victims. Pope Shenouda III publicly rejected the verdict, and Egypt's Prosecutor General appealed the acquittals. Six days after the acquittals, homes of four Christian families in Kosheh were burned down; a homeowner who reported the arson was reportedly tortured and coerced into signing a statement implicating himself, then forced to post bail for his own release. The 2001 book "Massacre at the Millennium," published by Freedom House, documents these events.