A criminal court in the Nile Delta City of Mansoura announced the conviction this week of seven people in connection with two separate incidents of interfaith violence which took place last year. The sectarian incidents took place in villages adjacent to the town of Mit Ghamr. On Thursday the court sentenced five members of the same Christian family to 15 years imprisonment, for the murder of a 19 year-old Muslim, in May 2009. Judicial sources said the young man was stabbed to death by members of the family in a dispute over the deposit and return money on a soda bottle. On Wednesday two Muslim youths were sentenced to 15 years in prison after the court found them guilty of stabbing a 60 year-old Christian man to death, in March 2009, and attempting to immolate his son. Sources indicate that the violence happened after the son had harrassed a female relative of the family. Sectarian tensions and related violence, are reported to be on the rise in Egypt. The non-governmental National Committee for Combating Sectarian Violence (NCCSV) has argued that the Egyptian judiciary does not commonly address sectarian-related crimes. Earlier in the year, the NCCSV issued a statement criticizing state officials for remaining silent about recent sectarian clashes, which, they said is tantamount to bestowing a kind of endorsement and support to those involved in this form of violence. An ongoing high-profile investigation into the sectarian incident which took place in Naga' Hammadi at the beginning of this year is currently underway. Three Muslim defendants are currently facing trial on charges of opening fire on a congregation of church-goers on January 7, following a Coptic Christmas Mass. The attack resulted in the deaths of six Christians and a Muslim bystander in the Southern Egyptian town. The case is being heard before the Supreme State Security Emergency Court in Qena.
