Egypt: Muslim kidnappers target Christians.

Kidnapping infidels and releasing them for ransom or killing them -- whichever is more advantageous for the Muslims -- is fully sanctioned in Islamic law: "As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, 'When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks' (Qur'an sura 47, verse 4)" — Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance), trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate, (London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192.
"Kidnappers Target Christians in Egyptian Province," from the Associated Press, April 4 (thanks to Lookmann):

MATAI, Egypt (AP) — Ezzat Kromer's resistance to his kidnappers did not last long. One of the masked gunmen fired a round between his feet as he sat behind the wheel of his car and said with chilling calm, "The next one will go into your heart."

The Christian gynecologist says he was bundled into his abductors' vehicle, forced to lie under their feet in the back seat for a 45-minute ride, then dumped in a small cold room while his kidnappers contacted his family over a ransom.

For the next 27 hours, he endured beatings, insults and threats to his life, while blindfolded, a bandage sealing his mouth and cotton balls in his ears.

Kromer's case is part of a dramatic rise of kidnappings targeting Christians, including children, in Egypt's southern province of Minya, home to the country's largest concentration of Christians but also a heartland for Islamist hard-liners.

The kidnappings are mostly blamed on criminal gangs, which operate more freely amid Egypt's collapse in security since the 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Crime has risen in general across Egypt, hitting Muslims as well. But the wave of kidnappings in Minya has specifically targeted Christians, and victims, church leaders and rights activists ultimately blame the atmosphere created by the rising power of hard-line Islamists.
They contend criminals are influenced by the rhetoric of radical clerics depicting Egypt's Christian minority as second-class citizens and see Christians as fair game, with authorities less likely to investigate crimes against the community.

Over the past two years, there have been more than 150 reported kidnappings in the province — all of them targeting Christians, according to a top official at the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police.

Of those, 37 have been in the last several months alone, the official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Kromer, a father of three, was snatched on Jan. 29 as he drove home from his practice in the village of Nazlet el-Amoden. By the next day, his family paid 270,000 Egyptian pounds — nearly $40,000 — to a middleman and he was released.
"I cannot begin to tell you how horrifying that experience was," Kromer told The Associated Press in his hometown of Matai, 110 miles (180 kilometers) south of Cairo. His left cheek where he was punched repeatedly is still sore, as is his index finger, which one kidnapper repeatedly bent back, threatening to break it.

He says he was left with the feeling that, as a Christian, the country is no longer for him. He has abandoned his profitable practice in Nazlet el-Amoden and is making preparations to move to Australia. "My wife would not even discuss leaving Egypt. Now she is on board," he said.
"There are consequences to Islamist rule," he ruefully said. "Things are bad now. What is coming will certainly be worse."

Responding to the allegations that authorities do not aggressively investigate crimes against Christians, Minya's security chief Ahmed Suleiman said it is because victims' families negotiate with kidnappers rather than report the abductions.

"We cannot be held responsible for kidnappings that are not reported to us," he said, blaming hardened criminals for the kidnappings.

Christians say they don't bother to report because they have no confidence in the police.
Essam Khairy, a spokesman for the hard-line Islamist group Gamaa Islamiya in Minya, said "there is not a single case of Christian kidnapping that has a sectarian motive or linked to the Islamist groups."

He blamed the "security chaos" in Egypt and said the way to stop kidnappings is to create popular committees — vigilante groups that the Gamaa Islamiya has been promoting since a spate of strikes in the police last month....

Of course! Security chaos! That's the only cause!

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/04/egypt-muslim-kidnappers-target-christians.html