On this day seven years ago, 21 Coptic Christians were martyred
On the 15th of February 2015, jihadist terrorists linked to the so-called "Islamic State" shared a video that shows the beheading of twenty Copts in Libya in the company of their Ghanaian workmate.
The twenty Egyptian Copts and one of their Ghanaian work colleagues were kidnapped in Libya in early January 2015. The video of the beheading was posted on jihadist websites on the following 15th of February. Just one week after the news of the massacre, the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II decided to include the men executed by IS as twenty-one martyrs in the Coptic Church’s book of martyrs and to celebrate their commemoration on the 15th of February.
On the occasion of the 7th anniversary of the massacre, Tristan Azbej remembers the martyrs in a Facebook post. He writes:
“On that day, Beshir Estafanos Kamel lost two of his brothers. When asked about the loss of his brothers, he said:
“I am proud of my brothers. ISIS gave us much more than we could have expected because they did not cut out of the video the part in which they confessed their faith and turned to Jesus Christ”.
Coptic martyrs. Source: Tristan Azbej/ Facebook
