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France24 – “AFP – Gunmen opened fire on the home of a Coptic Christian in the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, hours after a visit by President Mohamed Morsi to reassure Christian residents they would not be targeted again.

Gunmen ‘used automatic weapons when they opened fire on the house of a Coptic resident of Rafah hours after the president left,’ a security official told AFP.

There were no reports of casualties, he said.

Witnesses told AFP three gunmen in a car fired on the house of Magdi Niruz before fleeing the scene.

Morsi had visited the Sinai peninsula on Friday to meet with and reassure families who fled Rafah to El-Arish after receiving death threats.

This ‘will not happen again,’ Morsi told a group of local Bedouin tribal chiefs and other residents of El-Arish.

‘Your security is our security,’ he said.

‘What happened is an individual case which represents neither Egypt nor its children, Muslim or Christian. It’s crime for which the perpetrators must be held responsible,’ MENA quoted Morsi as saying.

According to residents and officials in Rafah, on the border with Gaza, Christian families fled to El-Arish about 30 kilometres (19 miles) away after having received death threats from Islamists.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi Says Christians Must Convert To Islam, Pay ‘Jizya’, Or Leave Egypt, ‘Conquest Is Coming’ – “According to the popular Egyptian website, El Bashayer, Muhammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate, just declared that he will ‘achieve the Islamic conquest (fath) of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam, or else pay the jizya,’ the additional Islamic tax, or financial tribute, required of non-Muslims, or financial tribute… After his interviewer pointed out that the first Muslim conquest of Egypt was ‘carried out at the hands of Amr bin al-As [in 641],’ he asked Morsi, ‘Who will the second Islamic conqueror be?’ Morsi, replied, ‘The second Muslim conqueror will be Muhammad Morsi,’ referring to himself, ‘and history will record it.’” Read more.

By John Newton and Eva-Maria Kolmann, ICN – “Islamisation is increasing at an alarming rate in Tanzania, according to a bishop from the country. Bishop Bernadin Mfumbusa of Kondoa warned that religious freedom and other civil liberties were under threat from intolerant radical Muslim influences sweeping in from countries neighbouring the east African nation.

Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need, the bishop said: ‘We see more and more itinerant preachers from Saudi Arabia and Sudan entering this country – and Muslims are increasingly making political demands.’

These demands include extending Islamic Shari‘a law and making everyone subject to it – Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Bishop Mfumbusa said: ‘In recent times there has been a constant demand to introduce Shari‘a into other parts of Tanzania which do not have a majority of Muslims.’

Shari‘a law is already in force in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous archipelago with an almost completely Muslim population, but it does not apply to other parts of the country. The bishop said there were calls for Shari‘a, which currently applies in areas of civil law such as marriage and inheritance, to be extended to cover criminal law.

‘They claim that otherwise Muslims would be able to avoid the law by claiming not to be Muslim. To prevent this they say Shari‘a law must be made applicable to everyone,’ the Bishop said.

But, despite these demands to extend Islamic law, no more than 31 per cent of Tanzania’s 45 million inhabitants are Muslim according to Church sources. Christians make up more than half the population – including more than 12 million Catholics.

Bishop Mfumbusa described how the influence of radical Islam can be seen on the country’s streets. He said: ‘In many parts of the country more veiled women than in the past can be seen, among them small girls.'” Read more.

Flashback: Tanzania: Muslim Extremists Strike at Christians in Zanzibar, Destroy Churches – “Far from the world media’s gaze in remote islands off the eastern coast of Africa, church buildings are razed and Christians are ostracized and imprisoned for their faith – leaving one with a skin disease… ‘The Muslims are burning our church buildings quite frequently here in Zanzibar, but the government is not speaking against this kind of destruction of our church premises,’ Bishop Obedi said.” Read more.