Islamic State (ISIS) militants killed a 20-year-old Egyptian Christian in Libya after he refused to deny Jesus Christ and convert to Islam, according to The Christian Post.
“Even if you cut me into pieces, I would never renounce my faith,” Milad Malak told his captors, according to the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern, as reported by the outlet
Malak was the sole Christian among the Egyptian workers the militants held, Open Doors reported, citing two Muslim friends held alongside him and later freed. Open Doors reported that for several days the captors allegedly tortured him and threatened to kill him to force him to give up Christianity for Islam.
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Malak served as a deacon at a Coptic church in Sebarbay, his home village in Egypt’s Gharbia governorate. He left for Libya on Sept. 2 with two Muslim friends from his village, hoping to find work after Egypt’s economy declined. ISIS fighters seized the three men in Zliten on the morning of Oct. 4. His two friends were freed after their families paid $4,700 and are now receiving medical treatment in a hospital in Egypt.
Malak’s family learned of his death from the freed friends and asked the Egyptian government to press for the return of his body, which was handed over several weeks later. Relatives and other Christians gathered on Oct. 28 to mourn him, The Christian Post reported. Libya is ranked No. 9 on Open Doors’ World Watch List of the most dangerous countries for Christians.
Both Open Doors and International Christian Concern linked Malak’s death to the 2015 killing of 20 Coptic Christians and a Ghanaian man by ISIS in Libya, The Christian Post reported. According to Open Doors, the militants took the men to a beach and beheaded them after they refused a final demand to renounce their faith. Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church declared the 21 men martyrs, and Pope Francis added them to the Roman Catholic Church’s list of martyrs in 2023.
This article originally appeared on American Faith and is reposted with permission.
