Egyptian Christian students face trial for insulting Islam

CAIRO: Three Coptic Christian students face charges of insulting Islam and will stand trial this week after appearing in a video mocking Muslim prayers, one of a series of court cases that reflect Muslim-Christian tensions in Egypt. The students, all in high school, will stand trial on Thursday after their teacher was sentenced to three years in prison after a separate trial over the same charges of insulting Islam, according to lawyer Maher Naguib. The 30-second video, filmed by the teacher, showed the students pretending to pray with one kneeling on the floor while reciting Qur’anic verses and two others standing behind him and laughing. One waved his hand under a second’s neck in a sign of beheading. AP