The 21 Christians who were killed by ISIS in Libya in February 2015 were Egyptian Coptic Christians. They were migrant workers from Egypt who had traveled to Libya in search of work. Most of them were from the governorate of Minya, located in Upper Egypt. in February 2015 that ISIS (also known as the Islamic State) killed 21 Christians in Libya. The victims were Egyptian Coptic Christians who had been kidnapped by ISIS militants. This act of violence was widely condemned globally, and the event was captured in a video released by ISIS, showing the brutal killings.
The victims were identified as follows:
- Mohamed Ali El-Masry
- Hassan Mohamed Farouk
- Said El-Dosky
- Ayman Mohamed Zaki
- Youssef Hegazy
- Mahmoud Anwar
- Ahmed Ramadan
- Abdel-Rahman Youssef
- Mohamed Abdel-Rahman
- Samy Nabil Shoukry
- Mostafa Nabil Shoukry
- Yehya Mahmoud Mikhail
- Mokhtar Youssef
- Shaban Salah Abdel-Kader
- Tarek Abdel-Rahman El-Masry
- Magdy George
- Hassan Mohamed
- Shawky Ahmed
- Mina Mostafa
- Tawfik Mohamed
- Mohamed Salah
These men were working in Libya, and their tragic deaths brought global attention to the persecution of Christians, especially in the context of the rise of ISIS. The incident deeply affected the Coptic Christian community and Egypt as a whole. Their families were left with a profound sense of loss, and the killings were condemned internationally as an act of extremism and religious intolerance.
In response to their deaths, the Egyptian government launched airstrikes against ISIS targets in Libya, and Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church led the mourning for the victims.
The 21 Christians were killed by ISIS in Libya in a brutal execution. In February 2015, ISIS released a video showing the victims, who were all Egyptian Coptic Christians, being beheaded on a beach in Libya. The militants dressed in orange jumpsuits, similar to the attire worn by their victims, and the video was titled “A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross.” The killings were a clear message of ISIS’s hostility towards Christians. The execution of these men was widely condemned around the world as a horrific act of religious intolerance and terrorism.
ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) claims to follow a radical and extreme interpretation of Islam, specifically a form of Sunni Islam. However, their ideology and actions are widely condemned by the vast majority of Muslims around the world, including religious leaders and scholars. They justify their violent acts through a distorted and selective reading of Islamic texts, but their actions are completely contrary to the teachings of Islam, which promotes peace, compassion, and justice.
When ISIS refers to themselves as being from the “religion of peace,” they are exploiting religious rhetoric to gain legitimacy for their violent and extremist goals. Islam, in its true form, is a religion that emphasizes peace, charity, and coexistence. The claim by ISIS to represent Islam is widely rejected by the global Muslim community, who consider the group to be a dangerous misinterpretation of their faith. The group’s violent tactics and ideology are driven by political and territorial ambitions rather than religious principles.
The 21 Egyptian Christians who were murdered by ISIS in Libya in 2015 are often referred to as martyrs by the Coptic Christian community and many Christians around the world.
In Christian tradition, a martyr is someone who is killed because of their faith in Jesus Christ, and these 21 men were specifically targeted and executed for being Coptic Christians. The way they were killed—beheaded on a beach in Libya—was seen as a horrific act of religious intolerance, and their deaths are seen as a testament to their faith and commitment to Christianity.
In the aftermath of the killings, the Coptic Orthodox Church, along with other Christian groups, recognized them as martyrs. They were remembered and honored by Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and their deaths were marked by global memorials and prayers. Their sacrifice in the face of such extreme violence became a symbol of faith and courage for many Christians worldwide, specially in Muslim world, Middle East, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and in some Asian countries.