Free Republic

The ATM card of slain Jersey City Heights resident Hossam Armanious was used several times in the week after his death to withdraw thousands of dollars from his bank account, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward Defazio said yesterday.The withdrawls, made on several occasions from banks in the Jersey City Heights and in mid-town Manhattan, continued for up to a week after the bodies of Armanious, his wife, Amal Garas, and their daughters, Sylvia and Monica, were found inside their Oakland Avenue apartment on Jan. 14.

Shortly before nine o'clock one Monday evening earlier this month, Hatin Sürücü left her five-year-old son asleep in their small apartment in the Tempelhof district of Berlin and made her way to a bus stop in the main Oberlandgarten Strasse. Minutes later, a volley of pistol shots rang out but no one came to help Mrs Sürücü, 23, who was of Turkish origin. A bus driver discovered her body, with multiple wounds to the head and chest, about 40 minutes later and called the police. Last week, Mrs Sürücü's three brothers, aged 18 to 25, who were arrested six days...

Downplaying of radical Islamic ritual murder of Christian Egyptian in Jersey City, N.J. is part of a much wider problem --- one that's been ongoing for years Connecting the dots

The police seem to have no leads in the case of the Armanious family—husband, Hossam, 47, wife, Amal Garas, 37, and their daughters Monica, 8, and Sylvia, 15— who were found murdered in their Jersey City home last month, but the family's Coptic-Christian co-religionists and their supporters have no doubts. They are certain it was the work of Muslim extremists. Some say the Islamist murderers received support from the Egyptian government. One pro-Israel leader of the Coptic community insists compromised Coptic clergymen bear their share of guilt, too. Each member of the family was bound and gagged before their throats...

'There are no suspects at the present time' Armanious family murders remain unsolved Ricardo Kaulessar Reporter staff writer MOURNING IN THE AFTERNOON - Relatives of the murdered Armanious family remember them at a vigil on Saturday afternoon. Last week, when Hudson County Prosecutor Edward J. DeFazio was asked about the status of the investigation into the Armanious family murders, he gave the same answer that he has given to all inquiries since the discovery of the murders on Jan. 14: "There are no suspects at the present time." The Armanious family - Hossam Armanious, 47, his wife Amal Garas, 37,...

On America's Most Wanted, spotlight tonight on: Hossam Armanious, his wife Amal and their daughters, Sylvia, 15 and Monica, 9 were found murdered in their Jersey City, New Jersey home. They had been tied up, gagged and stabbed to death. Police are trying to determine if this was a hate crime, as the family were devout Coptic Christians. Police believe that more than one person may have been involved in the four homicides.

Relatives Of Slain NJ Family Meet With FBI, Lawmakers Hudson County Prosecutors Office Leading Investigation Feb 15, 2005 6:31 pm US/Eastern NEW YORK (CBS) Relatives of a slain New Jersey family took their demands for justice to the capital on Tuesday. With the suspect or suspects still on the loose, family members came to ask federal authorities to play a major role in this investigation. "Up to this moment, we still suffer and we're going to suffer, especially on occasions when we get together," says Ayman Garas, the victim's brother. Their desperate search for justice brought them together on Tuesday...

One month ago today, Jersey City police walked into a blood bath and ended up in a case rife with international intrigue. The killings of Hossam Armanious, his wife Amal Garas, and their two young daughters have spawned news stories across the globe, spurred religious tension in an American inner city and captured President Bush's attention. The case has taken investigators from Africa to cyberspace and inside the teachings of Islam. It's put them at the uncomfortable crossroads of a centuries-old ideological battle between Egyptian Christians and Egyptian Muslims. And it's left them at the core of a potential political...

Relatives of Slain N.J. Family of Four Speak Out for First Time in Washington, D.C. Press Conference Thu Feb 10, 1:35 PM ET Contact: U.S. Copts Association, 202-737-3660 or copts@copts.com, Web: http://www.copts.com Relatives of the slain Armanious family of four will speak at their first press conference since the brutal murders on Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. at the National Press Club's Zenger Room in Washington, D.C. U.S. Copts Association president Michael Meunier will join the Armanious family's relatives in addressing the investigation's status and expressing the family's point of view on the horrific crime. The family will also...

The gruesome murder of a Coptic Egyptian family in New Jersey last month has fueled a whirlwind of accusations, with some hawkish commentators blaming Islamist radicals and some locals seeing the Egyptian government’s hand.Hossam Armanious, 47, his wife and their two daughters were found bound and gagged at their home in Jersey City on January 14 with their throats slit and with several stab wounds. Law enforcement authorities say they have found no evidence that religion motivated the killings and that they are considering robbery or a vendetta as a more likely cause. The results of the autopsy are expected...

Bishop leads Coptics amid slay probe Wednesday, February 09, 2005 BY JEFF DIAMANT Star-Ledger Staff After the bishop's weekly class on Coptic Christian doctrine was over, the children in the audience ran up to greet him and get the candy he was doling out. With a wide smile emerging through his beard, Bishop David, the 37-year-old head of the Coptic church, sat comfortably in a small chair at St. Mark's Church in Cedar Grove as he talked to the kids and handed out the chocolates. Advertisement "We love the children very much, and we believe we have to look after...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in New Jersey: An Islamic Murder of Coptic Christians?.Anyone following the investigation into the mid-January slaughter of the Armanious family (husband, wife, two young daughters), Copts living in Jersey City, N.J., knows who the presumptive suspects are: Islamists furious at a Christian Egyptian immigrant who dares engage in Internet polemics against Islam and who attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity.The authorities, however, have blinded themselves to the extensive circumstantial evidence, insisting that "no facts at this point" substantiate a religious motive for the murders.Somehow, the prosecutor missed that all four members of this...

Anyone following the investigation into the mid-January slaughter of the Armanious family (husband, wife, two young daughters), Copts living in Jersey City, N.J., knows who the presumptive suspects are: Islamists furious at a Christian Egyptian immigrant who dares engage in Internet polemics against Islam and who attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity.  The authorities, however, have blinded themselves to the extensive circumstantial evidence, insisting that “no facts at this point” substantiate a religious motive for the murders.Somehow, the prosecutor missed that all four members of this quiet family were savagely executed in the ritualistic Islamist way (multiple knife attacks and...

The New Jersey man brutally murdered with his family was just one of a number of Christians systematically tracked by a radical Islamic website because they debate Muslims on the popular Internet chat service PalTalk.com.

Christians on PalTalk Chat Service Tracked by Radical Islamic Web Site An explosive New York Sun article reprinted at the Counterterrorism blog. As you can see, I was consulted on this story, and I will be posting more about it momentarily: A radical Islamic Web site systematically tracks Christians on PalTalk.com, an Internet chat service on which a New Jersey man received a death threat two months before he and his family were murdered. The password protected Arabic Web site, at the address www.barsomyat.com, features pictures and information about Christians who have been particularly active in debating Muslims on PalTalk....

Omega Letter Christian Intelligence Digest Why is this Story Buried? Terror - IslamTuesday, February 01, 2005Jan MarkellA few weeks ago a New Jersey Coptic Christian family was slaughtered in their home. They had fled from Egypt due to Islamic persecution, hardly suspecting jihad to come to their front door in America. But in all likelihood, it did. The Armanious’ family made the mistake of dialoguing with Muslims in person and on line. It seemed like they actually “converted” a few to the Coptic faith, but now some are wondering if the new “converts” were practicing “taqiyya” or religious deception....

The distinctive way in which a New Jersey Coptic Christian and his family were murdered resembled executions by radical Islamists shown on the Arab sattelite channel al-Jazeera, according to relatives and a close friend. Hossam Armanious, an immigrant from Egypt, was found Jan. 14 with his wife Amal Garas and two daughters, bound and gagged with their throats slashed. Authorities have not determined whether the murders are tied to Islamic radicals, but they say Armanious received a death threat from a Muslim through an Internet chat service.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- The FBI is trying to determine whether an Islamic Web site that tracked users of an online chat room had anything to do with the killings of a Christian Egyptian family. The site, barsomyat.com, is no longer online. But before it was shut down by its Minnesota hosting company, it reportedly featured photos of Hossam Armanious and his wife, Amal Garas, referring to him as a "filthy dog" and "his filthy wife," according to the New York Sun.

The New Jersey man brutally murdered with his family was just one of a number of Christians systematically tracked by a radical Islamic website because they debate Muslims on the popular Internet chat service PalTalk.com. The password-protected Arabic website www.barsomyat.com, includes the kind of death threat received by Hossam Armanious, a Coptic Christian from Jersey City, N.J., who was found Jan. 14 with his wife and two daughters, bound and gagged with their throats slashed, the New York Sun reports. Two months before his murder, according to authorities, Armanious received a death threat from a Muslim PalTalk user: "You'd better...

Christians on PalTalk Chat Service Tracked by Radical Islamic Web Site By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross Special to the Sun A radical Islamic Web site systematically tracks Christians on PalTalk.com, an Internet chat service on which a New Jersey man received a death threat two months before he and his family were murdered. The password protected Arabic Web site, at the address www.barsomyat.com, features pictures and information about Christians who have been particularly active in debating Muslims on PalTalk. One page from barsomyat.com features a group of photographs of a Syrian Christian, "Joseph," who now lives in Canada. Barsomyat.com's users have posted...