A masked armed man blocked the road ahead before five more emerged from hiding and dragged Mamdouh Eskander Farid from his car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey tied my hands and gagged me to stop my screams. Then one hit me on the back of my head with the butt of his rifle and I lost consciousness,\u201d\u009d said the 58-year-old Christian worker at a health clinic in Minya province, Upper Egypt. When he came to, he did not know where he was, but Mr Farid\u2019s ordeal had just begun. His captors wanted \u00c2\u00a3180,000 \u201d\u201d an inordinate ransom for a man who supports a family of nine on just \u00c2\u00a3120 a month.<\/p>\n
Like many other Christians in Egypt, Mr Farid will be spending the festive season in fear \u201d\u201d terrified of a spate of kidnappings that poses a new threat to their beleaguered minority, which makes up about 10 per cent of Egypt\u2019s majority Muslim population. Dozens have been abducted and some tortured by armed gangs who have demanded ransoms of between \u00c2\u00a34,000 and \u00c2\u00a330,000.<\/p>\n