Following the release of two Coptic children from custody on Thursday, the Civil Rights of Christians movement cancelled Saturday morning’s protest outside the High Court of Cairo.
The two children, aged nine and 10, were accused of urinating on the Quran.
The movement called on the authorities to protect the children, their families, and all the Copts in the village of Marco in Beni Suef after receiving threats from individuals that the movement described as "religious hardliners."
"Do international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Freedom House have to issue strongly-worded statements for the Egyptian authorities to listen to the voice of reason and release the children?" said Emad Thomas, spokesperson for the movement.
A source from the general prosecutor’s office told AFP that prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud decided to release the two minors because of their young age.
Egyptian police arrested the children earlier this week for insulting Islam by allegedly urinating on a paper containing verses of the Quran, a judicial official said on Wednesday.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
