Security officials said suspected militants have killed a Christian merchant in the northern Sinai Peninsula.
They said 60-year-old Magdy Habashi was abducted last Saturday from the town of Sheikh Zweid.
His
decapitated body was found early Thursday in a cemetery, said the
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak to the media.
Habashi is the second Christian
to be killed in northern Sinai in less than a week. Coptic Christian
priest Mina Abboud Sharobeen was gunned down by suspected militants last
Saturday as he walked in an outdoor market.
There has been a
backlash against Christians by Islamist militants for their activism
against former President Mohammed Morsi, ousted by the military on July 3
after a wave of massive protests against his rule.
This comes as
a Turkish Islamic human rights group has petitioned for Egypt's
military chief and 10 other officials to be put on trial for crimes
including murder, torture and unlawful imprisoning under a law that
allows prosecution of such crimes by Turkish courts, even if they were
not committed in the country.
Ahmet Faruk Unsal, who heads the
Ankara-based Mazlum-Der group, said Thursday he filed the complaint with
prosecutors against the Egyptian defense minister and the
military-backed government this week for deposing Islamist leader
Mohammed Morsi through a "coup."
He added, however, that
prosecutors need the Justice Ministry's permission before starting
possible action against Egyptian leaders.
Turkey's Islamic-rooted
government, which had forged an alliance with Morsi, has also spoken
out against his ouster and has demanded his immediate release.
A
week after Egypt's army toppled its first democratically elected leader,
bloodshed has opened deep fissures in the Arab world's most populous
country, with bitterness at levels unseen in its modern history.
On
Wednesday, Egypt's military-backed government tightened a crackdown on
the Muslim Brotherhood, ordering the arrest of its revered leader in a
bid to choke off the group's campaign to reinstate President Morsi.
In
this regard, the Brotherhood denounced the warrants for the arrest of
Mohammed Badie and nine other leading Islamists for inciting violence
Monday that left dozens dead, saying "dictatorship is back" and vowing
it will never work with the interim rulers.
Reactions:
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern on Thursday about continued detentions in Egypt and arrest warrants issued for Muslim Brotherhood leaders and others after the military removed the country's first freely elected leader last week.
In a phone call with Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamal Amr, Ban "made clear that there is no place for retribution or for the exclusion of any major party or community in Egypt," according to a statement from Ban's office.
In turn,
Syrian President Bashar Assad said in remarks published
Thursday that the "Arab identity is back on the right track after the fall from power of
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood," which had used religion for its own
political gain.
"The Muslim Brotherhood and those who are like them
take advantage of religion and use it as a mask," Assad said. "They
consider that when you don't stand with them politically, then you are
not standing with God."
For her part, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel urged Egypt to return to a path of democratic transition as
quickly as possible and to ensure that all political powers were
included.
Egypt's new constitutional decree sets out the next
stages, she said, but added, "it is important that all political actors
are included in this process... that is the only way for a true
democratic process to take place in Egypt in our view."
Earlier,
Egypt's interim government praised the United States for showing
"understanding" by describing the rule of ousted President Mohamed Morsi
as undemocratic.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said
the U.S. comments "reflect understanding and realization ... about the
political developments that Egypt is witnessing in the recent days, as
embodying the will of the millions of Egyptians who took to the streets
starting on June 30 to ask for their legitimate rights and call for
early elections".
This as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said it will
continue its "peaceful" resistance in defiance of the military's ouster
of the country's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
The Brotherhood also said it's distancing itself from an attack on a senior army commander.
On
another note, Egypt accused Iran of "unacceptable interference" in its
domestic affairs for having criticized the Egyptian army's removal of
elected president Mohamed Morsi last week.
Iran on Monday called
the ousting of Morsi after mass protests against him a "cause for
concern" and suggested that "foreign hands" were at work in the Arab
state.
On the economic level:
The International Monetary Fund
on Thursday said it was not currently discussing a possible loan with Egypt's
interim government, and its decision on whether to engage would be guided by
the views of the international community.
The IMF had been negotiating a critically
needed $4.8 billion loan with Egypt before last week's military removal of
elected president Mohamed Morsi.
"In determining how to deal with the
interim government of Egypt, we will be guided, as is usually the case in these
circumstances, by the views of the international community, in particular those
of the Fund's membership," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters.
The IMF
typically does not negotiate with governments that have not been recognized by
the international community.
REUTERS/AP
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