The body of an Egyptian who died while detained in Libya arrived at Cairo International Airport late Tuesday.
Ezzat Attalah, a Coptic Christian who was charged alongside four others for proselytizing in Libya, reportedly died of high blood pressure and enlarged cardiac muscles, according to a medical report. Attalah’s family took his coffin to his hometown in Assiut Governorate for burial.
Dozens of Copts staged a protest outside the Libyan embassy in Cairo, demanding that the real reasons behind Attalah’s death be divulged, as well as the release of the other four prisoners.
Earlier this month, Libya released 20 Egyptians accused of missionary activity. Libyan authorities had previously arrested about 50 Egyptian Copts in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi over charges of proselytizing and illegally entering the country.
Two Egyptians were killed and two others wounded when a service building owned by the Coptic Orthodox Church was bombed in Misrata, Libya, last December.
Unidentified assailants threw a homemade bomb at the building.
Edited translation from MENA
