Egypt's Christians Protest Islamic State Abductions

Dozens of Copts protested in Cairo on February 13, calling on Egyptian president AbdelFattah Al Sisi to take action to rescue 21 of their relatives abducted by Islamic State militants in December and January. The protest came after photos of the kidnapped featured in an Islamic State English-language publication on February 12.

Families and relatives organised a protest at a journalists’ union, as well as a prayer outside a Cairo church.

The images showed the captives wearing orange jumpsuits associated with hostage killings orchestrated by IS. It is not clear whether any executions have in fact taken place.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said it was working to verify the authenticity of the images. This footage shows the protest. Credit: YouTube/AswatMasriya