Press review based on al-Shurūq al-Jadīd (July 23, 24, 25) (p. 1, 1, 4, 1); al-Misrī al-Yawm (July 23, 24, 25, 26) (pp. 1, 1, 1, 5, 5); al-Ahrām (July 25, 26) (p. 3, 1, 34); al-Ahrār (July 23, 25) (p. 1, 1); al-Ahrār (July 25) (p. 1); al-Dustūr (July 23, 24, 25) (pp. 1, 1, 3, 3, 1, 4, 1); al-Wafd (July 23, 24, 25) (pp. 1, 1, 1); Rose al-Yūsuf newspaper (July 23, 24) (pp. 1, 1, 5, 1); Akhbār al-Yawm (July 24) (p. 1); al-Usbū‘ (July 23) (p. 1, 3, 5); al-Sharq al-Awsat (July 23) (p. 2); Watanī (July 25) (p. 1); al-Akhbār (July 23, 25) (p. 23, 1); al-Fajr (July 26) (p. 9); Rose al-Yūsuf magazine (July 24-30) (pp. 20-21)
On the evening of July 23, 2010, the crisis of Kāmilyā, the wife of 30-year-old Priest Tadāwus, came to an end after state security handed her over to religious leaders of the Coptic Orthodox Church. (Watanī,July 25,p. 1)
“The security forces in Cairo handed Kāmilyā over, a teacher of science in the Banī Sālim preparatory school in Deir Mwās, to the Church, and she is fine,” said
Anbā Aghabius, the Bishop of Deir Mwās and Dilga, in statements to Watanī newspaper. (Watanī, July 25,p. 1)
Security officials found Kāmilyā on July 24 with some of her relatives. (Rose al-Yūsuf newspaper-July 25- p. 1)
Investigations by security forces in al-Minya had ruled out criminal suspicions concerning the disappearance of Kāmilyā, as witnesses said she had applied for a 15-day leave of absence from the school where she works, and told her colleagues not to be concerned if she did not return. (Akhbār al-Yawm, July 24, p. 1)
Witnesses said that Kāmilyā withdrew 21,000 Egyptian pounds from her bank account and phoned her husband from their own house to tell him that she was planning to go to her mother’s. (Akhbār al-Yawm, July 24, p. 1)
“I was not kidnapped. I left by my own free will and stayed for five days with a female friend of mine in Cairo due to family-related matters,” Kāmilyā said in a statement. (Al-Akhbār, July 25, p. 1)
Hundreds of Copts and about 30 priests from Deir Mwās staged a demonstration and strike in Saint Mark’s Cathedral in the Cairo district of al-‘Abbāssīya, demanding the return of Kāmilyā, who had disappeared on Sunday (July 18). (Al-Dustūr, July 24, p. 1)
The protesters chanted slogans against the government and security forces, appealing to Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to quickly return from the United States and intervene to settle the crisis to bring the priest’s wife back. (Al-Dustūr, July 24, p. 1)
Incidents took a sectarian turn after Shihāta Zākhir, Kāmilyā’s father, accused a teacher named Muhammad in his daughter’s school of “being behind her disappearance”. (Al-Dustūr, July 24, p. 1)
Security forces in al-Minya summoned and investigated the teacher concerning Kāmilyā’s disappearance, but released him after finding that he was not involved in the abduction of Kāmilyā. (Al-Dustūr, July 24, p. 1)
Priest Marqus, of the Deir Abu Mwās Church, said “the priest’s wife has been kidnapped,” accusing security forces of “dereliction and lack of seriousness about the search for Kāmilyā”. (Al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, July 23, p. 1)
However, a security official said that initial investigations have confirmed that the priest’s wife “has disappeared, but was not kidnapped, as there are no criminal acts involved and even her family did not accuse anyone of kidnapping her”. (Al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, July 23, p. 1)
On July 25, al-Wafd newspaper, the mouthpiece of the opposition party al-Wafd, reported that the priest’s wife left her house after family differences, adding that security forces had found her in the house of one of her female friends.
The Church witnessed jubilant gatherings in celebration of Kāmilyā’s return. Coptic-Christian citizens congratulated Priest Tadāwus for her return, while Pope Shenouda III expressed thanks to the Egyptian police from the United States. (Al-Wafd, July 25, p. 1)
