Armanious family massacre
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The Armanious family massacre was the murder of a Coptic Christian immigrant family from Egypt who lived in Jersey City. On January 14 2005, Hossam Armanious, his wife Amal Garas, and two daughters, Sylvia and Monica were killed in their home. [1]
Monir Dowoud, president of the American Coptic Association, suggested that the murders were the work of "Muslim terrorists. However, prosecutors charged Edward McDonald, 25, an upstairs neighbor of the Armanious family, and Hamilton Sanchez, 30, with committing the murders in the course of a robbery. [2]. After being bound, the family died of puncture wounds to their heads, necks and bodies. [3] [4]
Despite the arrests, many Coptic Christians are not satisfied with the results of the police investigation. Bishop David, one of the top ranking Coptic leaders in the United States, said, "... a lot of things are not clear yet. It's very difficult to believe that four people were killed just to steal a card to take some money out of an ATM machine. A lot of things need to be explained in more detail." [5] American commentator on Islam, Robert Spencer, suggested that they were victims of religious retaliation for pro-Christian arguments that Armanious had made in a Middle Eastern chat room hosted by PalTalk. Armanious had been threatened by Muslim members of the website, but he had refused to back down. [6]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144573,00.html
- ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149434,00.html
- ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144573,00.html
- ^ Coptic family killed in robbery: police. Retrieved on June 3, 2006.
- ^ http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=5367&sec=46&cont=6
- ^ http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/005241.php
