These Two Coptic Christian Brothers Refused to Deny Christ Even In Face of Death

Leah Marieann Klett : Dec 2, 2015
Gospel Herald

"They were targeted and killed because they are Christians. They kept the faith and refused to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. They are our Church's martyrs. We are proud of them. They aren't dead but have been saved by God in Heaven. They have entered into glory, and they are in a better place than all of us. They've got their crown in Heaven, and they are with Jesus now. No more pain for them, only joy and peace." -Fr. Sulaiman Botros, the priest of Mar Girgis Coptic church.

(Libya)—Two Coptic Christian brothers executed by Islamic State extremists earlier this month in Western Libya have been remembered by their church family as martyrs who kept the faith and refused to deny Christ even in the face of certain death. (Photo: Funeral for brothers/Reuters/via Christianity Today)

According to a report from the Christian persecution monitoring agency International Christian Concern, 37-year-old Wasfy Bakhit Gad Mikhail, his brother, 31-year-old Sabry Bakhit and their younger brother, 27-year-old Fahmy Bakhit migrated to Misrata, Libya, in 2013 hoping to find employment to provide for their families in Upper Egypt.

On Nov. 6, Wasfy received a phone call from a Libyan man asking him if he would be able to put a concrete roof on a building. Excited about the opportunity, Wasfy gave the man the address and arranged for him to pick him up so that he could go to the job site and give a cost estimate.

After the man had arrived, Wasfy and Fahmy went with him to give him a quote, while Sabry stayed at home. Although expected home later that day, the brothers never returned.

"I waited for them all day and night to come back, but they didn't return," Sabry told ICC. "I stayed up all night and was very worried about them."

Sabry and his cousins continued to search local hospitals and police stations for the two brothers, but they were nowhere to be found.

A week after Sabry's brothers disappeared, their bodies were found on Nov. 13 about 40 miles outside of Misrata with gunshot wounds to their heads. After the bodies had been taken to the hospital, it was determined that they were killed on Nov. 12.

The news of the brothers deaths didn't reach Sabry until four days later: "On Monday, Nov. 16, a Libyan friend told us that two men were found killed in Wasi Kiam area, and their bodies are in the morgue of Zliten hospital," he explained. "When we arrived at the hospital, it was a very big shock to us when we saw their bodies. They were the bodies of my two brothers, both of them shot in the head. It was terrible."

Sabry said that he was told at the hospital that when his brothers' bodies were found, they were wearing black gloves with Islamic phrases written...

Continue reading here.