Egypt: Murderer of Alexandria Priest Receives Death Sentence

Father Arsanios Wadeed Rizkallah, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Karmouz (Twitter)
Father Arsanios Wadeed Rizkallah, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Karmouz (Twitter)
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Egypt: Murderer of Alexandria Priest Receives Death Sentence

Father Arsanios Wadeed Rizkallah, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Karmouz (Twitter)
Father Arsanios Wadeed Rizkallah, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Karmouz (Twitter)

An Egyptian criminal court on Saturday sentenced to death by hanging the defendant in the murder of Father Arsanios Wadeed Rizkallah, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Karmouz.

Last month, the criminal court in Alexandria asked the country’s top mufti, the highest religious authority for Islam, to weigh in on the case of the defendant who is accused of stabbing to death the Coptic Christian priest.

A decision from Grand Mufi Shawky Allam on whether the suspect should be given the death penalty and executed is a non-binding opinion, but it significantly influences the court’s ruling.

During previous sessions, the court examined videos of surveillance cameras, which monitored the accused during his attack on the victim on the evening of 7 April as he was walking along the Mediterranean corniche in Alexandria’s Sidi Bishr District.

The priest’s killing had sparked widespread discontent in Egypt while security and judicial authorities began investigations.

The Coptic Orthodox Church said the victim was attacked with a sharp object in the neck.

Several Islamic institutions, including Egypt’s Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayyeb offered their condolences to Head of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros and Christians over the murder of Arsanios Wadid.

Initially, the accused confessed to attacking Arsonios, but he later claimed that he was not conscious while committing the crime and that he suffered from mental disorders ten years ago that affect his actions.

Egypt’s Prosecutor General Hamada el Sawy had ordered jailing the accused pending investigations, along with placing him under medical observation in a public hospital specialized in the mental diseases.

But after listening to the testimonial of nearly 17 eyewitnesses of the incident and receiving the reports of the Forensic Medicine Authority and the Alexandria Poison Center regarding the anatomical characterization of the victim’s body, Egypt’s Prosecutor ordered referring the accused man to the criminal court for trial.



Sudan Officially Denies Sending Presidential Envoy to Israel

 A destroyed tank in a street in Khartoum (Archive - Reuters) 
 A destroyed tank in a street in Khartoum (Archive - Reuters) 
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Sudan Officially Denies Sending Presidential Envoy to Israel

 A destroyed tank in a street in Khartoum (Archive - Reuters) 
 A destroyed tank in a street in Khartoum (Archive - Reuters) 

The Sudanese government, currently based in Port Sudan as a temporary capital, has officially denied sending any envoy to Israel.

This comes in response to Israeli media reports claiming that the head of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and de facto Prime Minister, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, had secretly dispatched a personal envoy to Tel Aviv.

The alleged mission was reportedly aimed at seeking military and diplomatic support, promoting Burhan to the new US administration, allaying Israeli concerns over Khartoum’s growing ties with Tehran, and aiding the Sudanese army in its war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In a brief statement broadcast by the state news agency (SUNA), Minister of Culture and Information and official government spokesperson, Khalid Ali Aleisir, said that the media reports were “completely unfounded.” He asserted that the Sudanese government had not sent “any envoy” to Israel and called on media outlets to “exercise accuracy, objectivity, and professionalism, and to avoid spreading unreliable information.”

These comments were issued following a report by The Jerusalem Post and other Israeli media outlets on Monday, which claimed that Burhan had secretly dispatched his former chief of staff, Lieutenant General Al-Sadiq Ismail, to Tel Aviv last week to meet with Israeli officials.

The Jerusalem Post stated that the purpose of the secret visit was to coordinate Israel’s support in promoting Burhan to the new US administration, providing military aid to the Sudanese army in its conflict against the RSF, and encouraging the advancement of normalization efforts with Tel Aviv — including finalizing Sudan’s involvement in the Abraham Accords.

This is not the first time Burhan has stirred controversy over Sudan-Israel relations. On February 3, 2020, he surprised Sudan’s civilian leaders in the transitional government when he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda. At the time, Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the two agreed to initiate cooperation as a step toward normalizing relations.

In response to local and Palestinian backlash over the meeting, Burhan defended his decision, saying it was driven by the desire to “serve the higher interests of the Sudanese people.” However, this justification failed to convince his civilian counterparts in the transitional government, led by then-Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.