ICC Note: Just weeks after a similar incident, yet another Christian Egyptian soldier has died under mysterious circumstances. The authorities claim that he died from an accidental misfire while cleaning his gun, but the doctor says that the bullet entered from the back. The entry and exit wounds indicate that someone else shot him. Christian soldiers serving in Egypt’s military are regularly the target of discrimination and harassment. Throughout the years, an alarming number of Christians soldiers have died under mysterious conditions.

05/01/2018 Egypt (Morning Star News) –  Another Christian soldier in Egypt has died under mysterious circumstances.

The family of Mikhail Farahat Saad received notice from the army on April 22 that their son had died in a military camp in North Sinai Governorate, near El Arish, reported Al Karma TV. He was 22.

When his body last week was transported to the southern Egyptian town of Qusiya, where his family lives, his death certificate stated he died from a “gunshot wound that resulted in his death,” according to Al Karma.

At first a nurse and a soldier accompanying the body denied any knowledge of the cause of death, but later they said he died when a rifle accidentally fired while he was cleaning it, according to Al Karma.

A relative who is not a member of his immediate family told Al Karma in a live phone interview on April 23, however, that a doctor at Qusiya General Hospital who examined the body said the bullet wound entered from the back and exited from the front, shattering the jaw. The entry and exit wounds indicated someone else shot him, he said.

The relative, identified only as Yousef, told Al Karma’s Dr. Mona Roman that Saad had spent 2.5 years in the army and was not a novice in gun maintenance and cleaning safety regulations.

At this writing the army has issued no official explanation for his death.

The family is reportedly asking for an immediate investigation into the cause of death. They learned that there was a suspect in custody and that he was being interrogated, according to reports citing the Qusiya police station and the Arish police station. Authorities have released no further information.

The family had to bury Saad before further investigations or examination of the body by a coroner, due to the delayed transfer to the family of the body, which showed advanced decay, Yousef said.

Saad was the latest of several Christian soldiers to die in military camp, with the army citing “suicide” as the cause of death in most cases.

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For interviews with Claire Evans, ICC’s Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: [email protected].