Suspect accused of killing priest in Alexandria arrested: Interior Ministry

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2013 file photo, Egypt's Pope Tawadros II visits al-Muharraq Monastery, in Assiut province, Egypt. On Sunday, May 9, 2021, Egyptian officials said authorities have executed a defrocked monk convicted of the 2018 killing of Bishop Epiphanius, an abbot in a desert monastery north of Cairo. The abbot’s killing has exposed a side of the church that few in Egypt — Muslim or Christian — knew existed, including the growing power and independence of monks in remote monasteries who appear to be at odds with Pope Tawadros II and the church’s central leadership. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

The Ministry of Interior announced that the suspect accused of killing a priest in Alexandria on Friday has been arrested.

The ministry issued the first official statement about the killing of the priest of the Adra Church in Muharram Bey neighborhood in Alexandria, who was killed Friday while walking in the Corniche area.

An “old man” stabbed him with a knife leading to his death.

The accused was arrested and the Public Prosecution took over the investigation.

The Ministry of the Interior said in a statement Friday: “An elderly man was arrested for assaulting a Christian cleric while he was walking on the Alexandria Corniche.”

“The security services of the Alexandria Security Directorate were able to arrest a 60-year-old man who assaulted a Christian cleric while walking on the Corniche in the Sidi Bishr area of Alexandria using a knife he possessed.

The injured was transferred to a hospital for treatment, but he died while being treated.

“Legal action has been taken,” the statement read.

Social networking pages reported the killing of father Arsany, the priest of the Adra Church of Muharram Bey, after being attacked and stabbed in the neck by a person on street.