CAIRO – An Egyptian court on Sunday convicted and sentenced to death a Muslim man for killing six Christians and a Muslim guard last year — the latest in a series of moves by authorities seeking to calm religious tensions following a massive suicide bombing outside a church two weeks ago.
The violence has raised fears of a deepening and potentially explosive Muslim-Christian divide in this key U.S. ally, which is already beset by a widening income gap and frustration over government corruption and a lack of democratic reform.
Sunday's hearing was held in the southern Egyptian city of Qena, where the trial began 11 months ago, amid tight security, with hundreds of riot police sealing off roads leading to the courthouse.
Chief defendant Mohammed Ahmed Hassanein, also known by his alias Hammam al-Kamouni, broke down on hearing the sentence read out by presiding judge Mohammed Fahmy Abdul-Maugoud. "I am a victim, I did not do it," screamed Hassanein. He was convicted of first degree murder and terror-related charges.
The State Security Court, whose rulings cannot be appealed, will announce next month verdicts for the other two defendants in the case, judicial officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information with the media.
The death sentence comes as Egypt's government is scrambling to contain Christian anger after a Jan. 1 suicide bombing at a church in the port city of Alexandria that killed 21 worshippers.
The two attacks took place almost exactly a year apart and both struck worshippers leaving Mass in the days leading up to Orthodox Christmas, which Egypt's Coptic Christian minority celebrate on Jan. 7.
Exacerbating Christian anger, an off-duty policeman boarded a train in southern Egypt last week and opened fire, killing a 71-year-old Christian man and wounding five others, including the man's wife. The shooting and the suicide bombing have sparked several Christian protests, some violent.
Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's estimated 80 million people, complain that cases of attacks against members of their community usually languish in the courts and police often turn a blind eye to discrimination or violence against them. The government denies any discrimination against the Christians.
Many Christians welcomed the news of Hassanein's conviction.
"Finally a criminal is punished instead of blaming insane and crazy people," said 46-year-old Cairo school teacher Magda Ibrahim, alluding to a government practice of often blaming attacks on Christians on people with mental problems.
"It's like pain relief," said Mata Gad, a 47-year-old contractor who has lived for more than 30 years next to the Saints Church targeted in the Alexandria bombing. "It is hard for us Christians to trust the government. We place our trust in God only."
Hassanein was accused of opening fire from an assault rifle, killing the seven victims outside the church in the southern town of Nag Hamadi. The attack was believed to have been in retaliation for accusations that a local Christian man raped a Muslim girl.
The two other defendants are accused of being accomplices who waited in the car and, according to court records, egged him on during the shooting. They face up to 25 years in prison. Their verdicts will be announced Feb. 20.
The three were arrested three days after the attack.
The suicide attack outside the Alexandria church reopened long festering wounds in a Christian community that says its members feel like second class citizens in their own country.
The government has responded with moves to calm their fears, including freeing dozens of Christians detained after rioting in November over the construction of a building in a Cairo suburb that local officials said was meant to be a services center but was being turned into church in violation of its permit. Two Christians were killed in those protests.
Authorities also have beefed up security outside churches and shown uncustomary lenience in dealing with Christian protesters. President Hosni Mubarak bestowed one of the nation's highest honors on a famous Christian surgeon in a heavily publicized celebration last week.
In a thinly veiled response to the Christian complaints about the judicial system, Mubarak has told senior judges that "slow justice" breeds bitterness among Egyptians, urging them to speed up trials.
On a popular level, the government lent its support to several initiatives by ordinary Egyptian Muslims and civil society groups to show their solidarity with their Christian compatriots, allowing Muslims to attend Christmas Mass in churches and to stage joint demonstrations renouncing sectarianism.
"The Alexandria bombing could have produced a negative reaction," said Samir Morcos, an expert on Christian-Muslim relations. "But what happened is that Muslims and Christians alike were united in the face of the common danger facing the foundations of their state. What is needed now is to institutionalize this spirit."
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Associated Press reporter Maggie Michael contributed to this report.
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