Christian persecution in Egypt has intensified in recent months, as believers there have faced more and more targeted attacks and forced closures of churches.

The persecution watchdog, International Christian Concern (ICC), reports that it is becoming standard practice for Egyptian authorities to close a church whenever a Muslim mob forms to attack Christians and churches.

ICC's Claire Evans pointed to an incident taking place on October 27, when a mob attacked St. George Church in a small village in Minya province.

"Even though the Christians did not start this – they clearly did not start it – they're the ones who are being punished by having their church closed," she explained.

Evans told OneNewsNow that it is very typical for authorities to close down a church in that situation.

"Mobs will form, or violent groups, or an individual will realize and tell themselves ‘All I have to do is give an appearance that some violence will occur,” he explained. “You don't even have to start a mob – you just have to complain to the authorities – and the authorities will respond by closing down the church.”

Egyptian authorities try to give the appearance that they are all about safety, but they are actually about giving militant Muslims a free ticket to persecute Christians.

“And they'll say they're doing it for security reasons – to protect Christians – 11, but it's not protecting them and it's just encouraging this kind of activity unfortunately," Evans pointed out.



She says this shows once again are merely being punished for being Christians.

"Christians in Egypt are suffering for no other reason than for their faith," Evans asserted.