Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

Coptic Christian Teen Kidnapped by ISIS Miraculously Rescued and Reunited with Family in Egypt

Photo Credit: World Watch Monitor
Photo Credit: World Watch Monitor
Share Tweet
By Meg Storm
Writer

October 17, 2017

A Coptic Christian teen, who was kidnapped by members of the Islamic State in Egypt over the summer, has miraculously been reunited with her family. Marilyn, a 16-year-old from south of Cairo, had been missing since June 28, and it was feared that she would be “converted to Islam, then married off or sold.” But through the tireless work of her family and village priest, authorities were able to track down her captors and secure her release on September 30.

READ: Crosses Beginning to Appear Across Iraq as ISIS Continues to Lose Ground

As World Watch Monitor reported, Marilyn’s disappearance followed the troubling yet growing trend in the region. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a former Islamic kidnapper explained how Islamist networks routinely target Coptic girls. They gain the young women’s trust by telling them they love them and want to convert to Christianity.

“They start a romantic relationship until, one day, they decide to ‘escape’ together,” the informant explained. “What the girls don’t know is that they are actually being kidnapped. Most of the time they will not marry their kidnapper, but someone else.”

The former kidnapper explained that the group he was part of “rented apartments in different areas of Egypt to hide kidnapped Coptic girls. There, they put them under pressure and threaten them to convert to Islam. And once they reach the legal age, a specially arranged Islamic representative comes in to make the conversion official, issue a certificate and accordingly they change their ID.”

Marilyn was allegedly tricked in the same way and was kept in an apartment outside Cairo. During her captivity, a video surfaced of her holding a Quran and claiming to have converted to Islam. Her mother, Hanaa Aziz Shukralla Faraq, maintained that her daughter was coerced and only made the statements under duress.

“She was holding the Quran as if she was holding a medal,” she said. “I see she is under pressure.”

In the days and weeks that followed the kidnapping, Marilyn’s family wrote letters to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the interior minister, and many other high-ranking figures. While it is unclear what, if any, role that played in her release, her village priest, Father Boutros Khalaf, told World Watch Monitor that police were able to locate the teen after confirming she was somewhere within 10th of Ramadan city.

“We went to the local police station and they really did their best to reach her and managed to arrest her kidnapper, Taha, and his brother, Gaber, and release Marilyn,” he explained. “She returned back to her family on Saturday, September 30 after 92 days.”

The priest shared that Marilyn had “not been treated well” by her kipnappers and was “very happy to be back with her family.”

“We thank God for answering our prayers and the prayers of many other people,” he concluded. “And we thank all the policemen in the police station that helped us so much in releasing our daughter, Marilyn. We appreciate their great efforts.”

(H/T: Christian Today)

Latest

  • News

    Ministry Offers Radical Hope for Addicted, Imprisoned, Afflicted Men Who Have Hit Rock Bottom

  • News

    Christian Baker Terrorized by Disturbing Threats, Legal Chaos Over Cake Refusal Won’t Back Down

  • Faith

    Tim Allen Begins Reading New Testament, Reveals Which Book Has Left Him ‘Amazed’

  • News

    Evangelist Nick Vujicic Urges Christians to Embrace Biblical Counseling

  • Faith

    ‘This Is the Core Belief of New Thought’: Apologist Uncovers Deceptive Theologies


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent Posts

  • Ministry Offers Radical Hope for Addicted, Imprisoned, Afflicted Men Who Have Hit Rock Bottom
  • Christian Baker Terrorized by Disturbing Threats, Legal Chaos Over Cake Refusal Won’t Back Down
  • Tim Allen Begins Reading New Testament, Reveals Which Book Has Left Him ‘Amazed’
  • Evangelist Nick Vujicic Urges Christians to Embrace Biblical Counseling
  • ‘This Is the Core Belief of New Thought’: Apologist Uncovers Deceptive Theologies

Archives

  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • culture
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.