Two Egyptian boys charged with Quran desecration

Cairo Two Coptic Christian boys in Egypt accused of tearing up a copy of the Quran have been placed in juvenile detention, a lawyer for the boys said.

A series of incidents involving religious insults, including protests last month over a film made in California that mocked the Prophet Mohammad [PBUH], have increased tensions between Muslims and Christians in Egypt.

Residents of Marco village in the province of Beni Suef south of Cairo filed complaints against the two brothers, Mina Nadi, 9, and Nabeel Nadi, 10, who were then detained on Tuesday and charged with blasphemy, lawyer Jamal Eid said.

Residents of the village and reporters said a passerby had on Monday seen the children ripping up pages of a copy of the Quran.

The passerby took the two boys to the local priest to condemn them for the incident, the residents said, but he was not satisfied with what he viewed as the priest’s insufficient reprimand and decided to file a complaint to the police.

It was not immediately clear why the children had desecrated the Quran, but some residents said the boys were playing and were not incited by anyone to conduct the act.

Residents said that prosecutors had ordered that the boys be detained for seven days pending an investigation.

Security was stepped up around the village on Tuesday to prevent a potential flare-up of sectarian violence after a group of Muslims gathered around the police station where the children were being held to demand their prosecution, residents said.

Around 10 per cent of Egypt’s 83 million people are Christian, many of whom have been concerned about the political rise of Islamists after a popular the exit of Hosni Mubarak last year.