By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
BENGHAZI, LIBYA (Worthy News)-- The bodies of seven Egyptian Christians who were working in Libya were discovered Monday morning in a suburb east of Benghazi. The bodies were found with their hands bound and Morning Star News reported that each man had been shot in the head, strongly suggesting that they had all been executed.
According to International Christian Concern's sources in Egypt, on Sunday evening masked gunmen broke into a building housing Egyptian workers; the gunmen then demanded to know whether the residents were Muslims, or Christians. Upon discovering that eight men were indeed Christians, they forced them outside and loaded them into a vehicle.
However, one of the men, Kareem Rizk, managed to escape and then made his way to the Egyptian embassy where he reported the abduction.
Since the impromptu execution of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Islamists have been free to carry out religious cleansing through kidnapping and execution, Ashraf Ramelah, President of Voice of the Copts, told ICC.
"Even though democracy was the stated goal of Gaddafi's toppling, it was not the goal of his murder in the street by Islamists," he said.
Hal Meawad, spokesman for Coptic Solidarity, told ICC that the execution of seven Copts in Libya was a sign of the suffering of Christians in the Middle East for the whole world to see.
"We don't need tears and mourning of the dead," said Meawad. "We need action to preserve lives and alleviate the suffering of the innocent before it is too late."