CAIRO, Apr 02, 2009 (AFP) - Villagers have set fire to Bahai homes in southern Egypt after a member of the religious minority told a television talk show that the Bahais were well established in Egypt, a security official said on Thursday.
Furious villagers rampaged through Sharoniyah, near Sohag in southern Egypt, on Monday and Tuesday, setting fire to and damaging four Bahai homes, the official told AFP.
The fire spread to two Muslim homes which were also damaged, the official said.
The villagers also threatened the village's roughly 30 Bahais with death, the official said, after which all of them fled.
Police have detained six people in relation to the attacks who are currently being questioned, with additional police deployed in the area.
The arson attacks were the culmination of unrest that began with stone throwing immediately after a Bahai named Ahmed called a talk show that was discussing the religious minority on Saturday night.
Ahmed, who now lives in Cairo after fleeing persecution in Sharoniyah, described the village as "full of Bahais," which showed that Egypt's around 2,000 Bahais are not just a minority in Cairo.
Several Egyptian human rights organisations denounced the "criminal aggression" against the Bahais and called on the authorities to prosecute those responsible.
Bahais frequently complain of persecution in Egypt, which until recently only allowed citizens to put Islam, Christianity or Judaism as their religion on identity cards. A recent court ruling has allowed citizens to leave the religion field blank.
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Copyright AFP 2009.
