Egyptian President pledges justice for Christian mother beaten and stripped by mob

Egypt's President has pledged that the members of a mob that beat and stripped an elderly Christian woman and paraded her through the streets will face justice. After rumours spread that the woman's son had had an affair with a Muslim woman, on 20 May the mob torched and looted several Christian homes in the village of Karma in the southern province of Minya, and attacked the 70-year-old grandmother.

"They burned the house and went in and dragged me out, threw me in front of the house and ripped my clothes. I was just as my mother gave birth to me and was screaming and crying," the woman, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.

In comments broadcast live on television, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said such attacks divide Egyptians, and said "We are all one and the law must take its course."

In the wake of the attack, al-Sisi condemned the attack, and said all properties damaged by the mob would be rebuilt at state expense within a month.

Before the attack, the man accused of the affair reportedly had to flee the village with his wife and children.

Orthodox Coptic Christians make up about 10% of Egypt's 90 million population, and claim to have long faced discrimination and persecution.