Family Of Four Murdered In Jersey City

[Pharo Of Egypt]

دماء الشهداء تصرخ للعدالة

[yaweeka]

Copts fear Christian conversion sparked unsolved murders

By Maria Sliwa
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Evangelical Christians in the United States have reason to keep an eye on the murder investigation of four Coptic Christians slain last month in New Jersey. Family members who viewed the bodies say they suspect the brutal slayings were a warning not to proselytize to Muslims. They say that the body of Sylvia Armanious was clearly the most viciously attacked in the killings, causing them to wonder if it was because she was too vocal in sharing her faith.

"Sylvia talked about Jesus to everyone," her uncle Ayman Garas said. "She was extremely religious."


On Jan. 14, the bodies of Amal Garas, 37, her husband, Hossam Armanious, 47, and their daughters, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8, were found in their home bound and gagged, with puncture wounds to their throats. The unsolved murders were thrust into the spotlight again earlier this month, when the relatives of the victims went to Washington, D.C., to meet with lawmakers and hold a press conference on their concerns about the case.

"We aren't looking for trouble, we are just looking for the facts," Emil Garas, an uncle of one of the victims, said.

While Dr. Monir Dawoud, the acting president of the American Coptic Association, says that proselytizing is not a common practice among Coptic Christians, it is quite common for the denomination of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church Sylvia attended in Jersey City. Congregants at this church call themselves "born-again."

A number of Sylvia's friends, who attend the Mid East Evangelical church, say a problem ensued after Sylvia befriended the Muslim daughter of a Halal butcher she encouraged to convert to Christianity. They say that they fear Sylvia's Christian influence on this girl may have provoked the harsh retribution that followed.

Fellow churchgoers say they are worried that the Jersey City murders will encourage an increase in the persecution of converts (and those who convert them) in the U.S., as is the case in Egypt.

According to Freedom House, a nonpartisan organization that monitors the global spread of democracy, Coptic Christians in Egypt live in fear and subjugation. "While Egypt has no explicit law against apostasy, the influence of sharia law on the civil code is creating a de facto law." Each year thousands of Copts convert to Islam, many under pressure, and Christians have an emigration rate three to four times that of Muslims. Coptic church sources estimate that over a million Copts have left Egypt in the past 30 years.

But Hamed el Shenawany, the president of the Al Huda Islamic Center in Jersey City, says that though it is possible that a "crazy fanatic" could have sought retribution for this kind of thing, this is not the case with most Muslims in the United States. "America is the land of the free and Muslims are free to convert to any religion they want," el Shenawany says.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, senior terrorism analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based Investigative Project, a terrorism research center, disagrees. "It's an unfortunate fact that even in the West many converts from Islam to Christianity are driven underground in the practice of their new faith because they fear retaliation," he says.


A number of converts in the U.S. have received serious threats, particularly if they're outspoken in their new faith. Although obtaining information on these threats can be difficult, because they're generally under-reported, without digging too deeply I can think of at least 10 cases since the mid-1990s in which apostates from Islam living in the West have reported threats, in places that include Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Britain and the Netherlands. In some cases, the apostates have reported actual physical violence.


Mohamed Saleh (who changed his name for this article for fear of retribution) is a former Muslim from Egypt who says he fled to America in 1992, after he was severely beaten for converting to Christianity. He says he was threatened in 2001 when he began discussing his faith with Muslims on PalTalk, a New York City-based internet chat service. Though Saleh admits that his debates were often too fervent on the Net, he was shocked to find photos of himself and family members, along with all of his contact information, on a radical Islamic website called Gegadeath.com. Below Saleh's picture was a statement of warning. After he appeared on Gegadeath, Saleh says he received numerous death threats on the phone and quickly moved to another state.

Last month, Ahmed Mohamed, 36, a former Muslim in Colorado, was one of the targeted Christians whose photo and contact information were posted on another radical Islamic website, Barsomyat.com, for debating Muslims on PalTalk. He says that since his information was posted, he has received numerous threats on the phone, in person and in letters he has received in the mail. Mohamed says, though sometimes afraid, he is prepared to die for his faith.

Last Tuesday, New Jersey Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said that though no suspects have been identified in the murders, all leads are being pursued.

According to information obtained by Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, from sources close to the murders, the Halal butcher had planned the killing for months and several of his accomplices are still in the country. Spencer says police are investigating these allegations.

Though Family members live in inconsolable grief, they say they continue to hope that the murderers will soon be identified.

"I think of Amal, Hossam, Sylvia and Monica all the time." Sylvia's grandmother Ferail Garas said. "Like a movie, their deaths keep playing over and over in my mind. Whenever I am alone, I cannot stop ing."

"I just want the killers of my family found."


Maria Sliwa is a freelance journalist based in New Jersey and the founder and publisher of Freedom Now News.

[Pharo Of Egypt]

ATM Videos May Lead To N.J. Family's Killer

NEWARK, N.J. -- For the first time since an Egyptian family was tied up and murdered in Jersey City in January, Hudson County authorities say they're confident they'll be able to catch whoever did it.

Surveillance videos from an automated teller machine may lead authorities to the killer of the Armanious family, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said Tuesday.

Someone using Hossam Armanious' debit card removed thousands of dollars from several of his accounts during a string of ATM visits in the days following the murders of Armanious, his wife and their two young daughters.

The suspect used the Bank of America card at ATMs in Jersey City and midtown Manhattan starting on Jan. 15, the morning after the four were found stabbed to death inside their home, and continued for five days, DeFazio said.

The prosecutor said Tuesday investigators were able to identify the make and model of a car that drove up to an ATM in Jersey City, and were working on reading the license plate number from the ATM video.

"I think we're going to get someone with this, I really do," DeFazio said.

The withdrawals, during which Armanious' personal identification number was entered, provide new evidence to support the theory that robbery was the motive for the killings.

Members of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox community to which the Armanious family belonged have blamed the killings on Islamic extremists. Friends of the family have speculated that Armanious might have angered Muslims with his postings in an Internet chat room frequented by Christians and Muslims.

Hudson County prosecutors and the FBI, while never dismissing the religion angle, have focused on a financial motive. DeFazio said that while religion still has not been ruled out, such a motive "is looking less and less likely."

The killings, in which family members were bound and gagged and stabbed repeatedly in the head with knives from their home, have exacerbated tensions between Muslims and Christians in Jersey City and elsewhere in northern New Jersey.

Some in the area's Coptic community refuse to believe that robbery was the primary motive, and continue to push for the killings to be classified and investigated as hate crimes. Although there was evidence of robbery at the house, a large amount of jewelry remained untouched

http://www.wnbc.com/news/4245090/detail.html

[sammy]

الأخ يوساب بإسم جديد..يآدى المصيبة...ضربتين فى الرأس توجع

ك.ك. ياحبيبى بعد الشر على أخونا يوساب... صاحبك من نوع ..." الرب يحفظك" واخدلى بالك...

[knowjesus_knowlove]

واخدلك بالى قوى خالص مالص يا أبو السام ولكن أنا مصر أنه يوسابى النزعة وليس " الرب يحفظك" النزعة
إقرأ كل ردوده هنا وإنت أكيد ستغير رأيك ...

http://www.copts.net/forum/search.php?searchid=20430

وربنا يشفى الجميع

Two people have been arrested in the murder of a New Jersey family -- a case that caused religious tensions.

The victims were members of an Egyptian Christian family -- a husband and wife and their two children. Their bodies were found in January.

The slayings caused animosity between Christians and Muslims in New Jersey. Friends of the victims speculated that the father had angered Muslims by posting in Internet chat rooms under the user name "I Love Jesus." And many Coptic Christians in New Jersey and elsewhere blamed Islamic extremists.

But prosecutors aren't giving a motive for the slayings. They've said robbery may have been a factor.

Someone used the victims' A-T-M card to withdraw thousands of dollars from a bank account in the days after the slayings.

[iwcab]

ممكن الوضوع يكون دينى وسرقة فى نفس الوقت لأن الوصايا الإسلامية توصى بالسلب فى حالة القتل

[knowjesus_knowlove]

المشاركة الأصلية بواسطة sammy

ك.ك. ياحبيبى بعد الشر على أخونا يوساب... صاحبك من نوع ..." الرب يحفظك" واخدلى بالك...

عندك حق يا أبو السااااااااااااام...

الأخ أبو نقطة طلع تقية إبن حرامية وليس يوسابى النزعة....

إنت كسبت المرة دى
http://www.copts.net/forum/showthrea...6819#post46819

[sammy]

المشاركة الأصلية بواسطة knowjesus_knowlove

عندك حق يا أبو السااااااااااااام...

الأخ أبو نقطة طلع تقية إبن حرامية وليس يوسابى النزعة....

إنت كسبت المرة دى
http://www.copts.net/forum/showthrea...6819#post46819

واشمعنى المرة دى؟ أنا باكسب فى الحكاية دى على طول... يابنى أنا باشمهم ... أمال مشرف أونطة أنا ...أنا ولا فخر أول واحد عرفت إن كيرلس حقيقى ,غن ساد فور ذات ربنا ينجحه مطرح ماهو موجود حقيقى, وعرفت الفشنك برضه ولا عاوزنى أفكرك؟؟؟

[Bohira]

الأهرام

العالم
43189 ‏السنة 129-العدد 2005 مارس 6 الأحد

كشف غموض مذبحة نيوجيرسي
توجيه الاتهام لشابين أمريكيين بقتل الأسرة المصرية المهاجرة

جيرسي سيتي ـ من علاء رياض
أعلن إدوارد دي فازيو المدعي العام لمقاطعة هدسون بولاية نيوجيرسي الأمريكية أمس توجيه الاتهام لشابين أمريكيين بقتل الأسرة المصرية بمدينة جيرسي سيتي بغرض السرقة واحالتهما للقضاء مؤكدا في بيان له أن الغرض من القتل لم يكن بسبب الدين‏,‏ وأن الدافع الوحيد للجريمة البشعة كان الجشع والحاجة للمال‏.‏ واحيل المتهمان إلي قاضي التحقيقات الذي امر بحبسهما علي ذمة التحقيق وكفالة‏10‏ ملايين دولار لكل منهما‏.‏

وبذلك وضع المدعي العام الأمريكي نهاية لما اثارته قضية قتل الأسرة المصرية المسيحية في نيوجيرسي من توتر بين الجالية المصرية بالولايات المتحدة طوال الشهرين الماضيين‏,‏ بسبب تزايد الأصوات التي حاولت لصق الجريمة البشعة بأسباب دينية وربطها بأحداث داخل مصر‏.‏

وقال المدعي العام ان احد الجناة كان يقطن بالدور الأعلي بنفس المنزل الذي تقيم فيه اسرة حسام ارمانيوس‏,‏ وأن المتهمين قاما بسرقة كروت الائتمان البنكية الفيزا الخاصة بارمانيوس‏,‏ وحصلا منه علي الأرقام السرية الخاصة بالفيزا تحت تهديد السلاح‏.‏

وقد كشف المدعي العام عن تفاصيل مثيرة خاصة بالجريمة الشنعاء‏,‏ وقال إن المتهم الأول هو شاب أمريكي يدعي إدوارد ماكدونالد‏25‏ عاما وهو مستأجر للدور الأعلي لسكن المجني عليهم‏,‏ وشاركه في الجريمة شاب أمريكي آخر يدعي هاملتون سانشيز‏30‏ عاما‏.‏ وقد اقتحم الاثنان مسكن حسام ارمانيوس‏47‏ عاما‏,‏ في‏11‏ يناير‏2005,‏ وطلبا منه تسليمهما كروت الائتمان البنكية الخاصة به‏,‏ وبدأ في تعذيبه للحصول علي الأرقام السرية‏.‏

واثناء تهديد الأب لمعرفة الأرقام السرية‏,‏ تعرفت الابنة الصغري مونيكا‏8‏ سنوات علي احد اللصوص وهو جارهم ماكدونالد بالرغم من تغطية وجهه‏,‏ وخوفا من افتضاح امره ذبح الطفلة الصغيرة بعد تكبيلها وشل حركتها داخل غرفتها‏,‏ ثم بدأ سانشيز شريكه في الجريمة بعمليات القتل البشعة لباقي افراد الأسرة المصرية‏,‏ التي هاجرت لأمريكا منذ نهاية التسعينيات‏,‏ وهم الأب وزوجته أمل جرس‏32‏ عاما والأبنة الكبري سيلفيا‏15‏ عاما ثم هربا‏.‏

وقال المدعي العام إنه تم الكشف عن المشتبه فيهما بعد أن سجلت أحدي كاميرات المراقبة المثبتة بماكينة الصرف الآلي بأحد البنوك شريطا كاملا لأحد الأشخاص في اثناء قيامه باستخدام بطاقة الفيزا الخاصة برب الأسرة المصرية‏.‏ وأكد أن الدافع للجريمة كان السرقة فقط نافيا وجود اية دلائل علي كونه عملا إرهابيا أو نتيجة للتعصب الديني‏.‏

وكان المدعي العام لمقاطعة هدسون قد أخطر السفير شريف الخولي قنصل مصر العام في نيويورك بالقبض علي مرتكبي المذبحة‏,‏ وأكد أنه تم تكثيف البحث وتضييق دائرة الاشتباه في عقب الكشف عن عمليات سحب لنحو‏3‏ آلاف دولار من حسابات رب الأسرة بعد أيام من وقوع الحادث‏.‏

http://www.ahram.org.eg/Index.asp?CurFN=worl3.htm&DID=8417

[Bohira]

Robbery Cited As Motive in Family Slaying

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer

March 5, 2005, 9:29 AM EST

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- The slaying of an Egyptian family that has caused tension between local Christians and Muslims was motivated by robbery, not religious fanaticism, authorities said.

Two men on parole for drug offenses -- one of them the Armanious family's upstairs tenant -- were charged with four counts of murder in the killings.

Many in New Jersey's Coptic Christian community had speculated that Hossam Armanious angered Muslims with opinions he posted in Internet chat rooms under the user name "I Love Jesus."

"I'd like to make one thing perfectly clear: The motive for these murders was robbery. This was a crime based on greed, the desperate need of money," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

Authorities said Hossam Armanious, 47, his wife, Amal Garas, 37, and their children, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8, were slain three days before their bodies were found Jan. 14, bound and gagged with puncture wounds to their heads and necks.

In the days after the slayings, about $3,000 was withdrawn from Armanious' bank account using his ATM card, and investigators were able to get surveillance video from cameras over those cash machines, officials said.

Edward McDonald, 25, who rented a second-floor apartment above the family, and Hamilton Sanchez, 30, were arrested Thursday. They pleaded not guilty to murder charges and were ordered held on $10 million bail.

"I didn't kill nobody, man," Sanchez said as he was led from the courtroom.

DeFazio said officials believe a planned robbery spiraled out of control when the 8-year-old loosened her bonds and recognized McDonald. He is accused of killing her to avoid identification, and Sanchez is accused of killing the three others, DeFazio said.

The murders spread fear throughout the region's Coptic Christian community and spurred tensions that erupted in scuffles and anti-Islam slogans being shouted during the family's funeral.

The arrests were welcomed by Christian and Muslim groups who said they were disturbed by the religious tension.

"Everybody is relieved that there is no religious implication behind it," said Maged Riad, a spokesman for the worldwide head of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-family-slain,0,7361248.story