Mariam Mossa Yacoub was in Beni Mazar, Egypt, with her two children and her husband when a man started to harass her. The man is called Rageb Abdullah, and is a radical Islamist. He had been harassing the Coptic Christian woman for a month and followed the woman on the day of the murder.

On the 3rd of April, at 10 AM, he attacked Mariam, who was with her children. His intention was to force the woman into his tuk-tuk, but when she resisted, he killed her. The four-year-old boy tried to protect her mother; the attacker murdered him too. The six-year-old daughter of Mariam managed to escape and hide, but, according to the girl’s father, she is still traumatised.

Mariam Mossa Yacoub was a member of the Coptic Church, and, according to her friends and relatives, she was always active in the local parish life. 

According to an Egyptian human rights activist, the woman was murdered for her faith. 

Source: Portes Ouvertes