Persecution of Christians Gopalganj District. Foreign missionaries are allowed in the country if they restrict their activities to social improvements and refrain from proselytizing. The Coptic Pope Shenouda III was internally exiled in 1981 by President Anwar Sadat, who then chose five Coptic bishops and asked them to choose a new pope. They refused, and in 1985 President Hosni Mubarak restored Pope Shenouda III, who had been accused of fomenting interconfessional strife. Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in extremist Islamist groups such as the Gama'at Islamiya during the 1980s was accompanied by increased attacks on Copts and on Coptic Orthodox churches; these
Talaat Sadat Talaat Sadat Talaat Sadat (; February 26, 1954 – November 20, 2011) was an Egyptian politician, lawyer and former political prisoner. He was the nephew of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Talaat was arrested on 4 October 2006 after giving an interview in which he implicated Egyptian military forces in his uncle's 1981 assassination. His trial by military authorities ended on 31 October with a conviction for defaming the Egyptian armed forces, resulting in a one-year prison sentence. His arrest and conviction was criticized by the United States State Department. Following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, even though he was