Egypt Holds 4 Coptic High Schoolers On Blasphemy Charges

Fox News reported yesterday on four 15 to 16 year old Coptic Christian boys being held by authorities in Egypt on blasphemy charges, apparently because of a 32-second video clip they made mocking an ISIS beheading. The video was made on their teacher's cell phone while the boys were on a school-related religious excursion. In early April, Muslim residents of the boys' village of Al-Nasriyah filed a complaint and their teacher was arrested. Negotiations between Christians and Muslims in the community led to the Copts banning the teacher from the community. Meanwhile marches and attacks on homes and businesses by local Muslims forced parents of the four boys to turn them over to authorities. (A fifth boy escaped the village.) Last week a judge refused to release the four boys so they could take their year-end exams, holding them for two more weeks while the investigation continues.