Islamic State Tries to Impose Sharia on Christians in Egypt's Sinai
05-02-2017
Even as it increases attacks on Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, the Islamic State is also trying to enforce Sharia law along Egypt's border with Gaza.
A Reuters investigation has found that the Islamic State "has created a morality police force, known as a Hisba, to enforce strict rules against such behavior as smoking, men shaving their beards or women exposing their faces."
In February, an ISIS affiliate group calling itself 'Sinai Province' declared in a video that it would wipe out Egypt's Christians, who make up about ten percent of Egypt's 92 million people.
Last month, Islamic State militants killed at least 45 people in two church bombings on Palm Sunday.
Egypt's beleaguered Coptic Christians have long been abused and attacked by Muslims, but the killing of seven Christians in the Sinai this year caused about 175 families to flee parts of the Sinai, according the Reuters report.
Christians said Muslim terrorists published death lists of local Christians online or pushed them under doors.
While ISIS has faced reversals in Syria, Iraq and Libya, it is "trying to stoke sectarian tensions and social unrest" in the North Sinai, according to Reuters, and is "scoring some success."