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.



Lebanon Health Ministry Says One Dead in Israeli Strike in South 

Mourners attend the funeral of Hezbollah fighters, killed before the November 27 ceasefire with Israel, in southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel on April 6, 2025. (AFP)
Mourners attend the funeral of Hezbollah fighters, killed before the November 27 ceasefire with Israel, in southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel on April 6, 2025. (AFP)
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Lebanon Health Ministry Says One Dead in Israeli Strike in South 

Mourners attend the funeral of Hezbollah fighters, killed before the November 27 ceasefire with Israel, in southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel on April 6, 2025. (AFP)
Mourners attend the funeral of Hezbollah fighters, killed before the November 27 ceasefire with Israel, in southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel on April 6, 2025. (AFP)

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike in the country's south killed one person Monday, the latest such raid despite a delicate truce between Israel and Hezbollah, and after a US envoy visited.

The "Israeli enemy" drone strike on the town of al-Taybeh near the border "led to the death of one citizen", the health ministry said in a statement.

An Israeli security source said the Israeli military "struck a Hezbollah terrorist" in the Taybeh area.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said the strike hit "in front of a motorcycle repair shop" in the town, in south Lebanon's Marjeyoun district.

Israel has continued to launch strikes on Lebanon since a November 27 ceasefire that largely halted more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of total war.

Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Sunday killed two people in south Lebanon's Zibqin, as the Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah operatives in the area.

Israeli strikes last week also targeted other south Lebanon locations and even Hezbollah's south Beirut bastion.

The NNA also reported Israeli strikes on prefabricated homes in south Lebanon's Naqoura area on Sunday. Such homes have usually been set up for returning residents whose homes were destroyed in the conflict.

The truce accord was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.

Visiting US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus discussed the situation in south Lebanon and economic reforms with senior Lebanese officials at the weekend, with talks also addressing Hezbollah's disarmament.

In an interview with Lebanese television channel LBCI broadcast on Sunday, Ortagus said Washington continued to press Lebanon's government "to fully fulfil the cessation of hostilities, and that includes disarming Hezbollah and all militias", adding it should happen "as soon as possible".

Hezbollah was left severely weakened in the latest conflict with Israel.