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Egyptian lawmakers rile Congress with US gun violence jab

In a letter to Congress protesting a US travel advisory, an Egyptian parliamentary delegation downplayed the threats to Coptic Christians in the country, comparing the statistics on violence against them to shootings in US cities.
The U.S. Capitol Building is lit at sunset in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2016.  REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RTX2VXTZ

An Egyptian delegation’s angry assertion that the death of “less than 100” Christian Copts is “non comparable” to US gun violence is backfiring on Capitol Hill.

In a letter dated July 26, 18 Egyptian lawmakers furious at a recent State Department travel warning insist that “perception is always worse than the truth in this part of the world.” The letter was leaked by a congressional source dismayed by the apparent downplaying of the terrorist threat against religious minorities.

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