Al Kosheh has a Christian majority. The priests say the police officers involved were all Muslims. One priest who declined to be named said the village was singled out for bad treatment because it was slightly wealthier than the surrounding Muslim-majority villages. This is about the bad behavior of the police. He suggests that the police, panicking about an outbreak of sectarian violence if a Muslim was implicated in the murders, decided they needed a Christian suspect.
Police make little distinction between ordinary piety and terrorism.
On a checkpoint on the way back from Kosheh, this correspondent witnessed a young man being dragged off the minibus for having a beard. The young man replied that a relative had died 15 days ago, referring to the Upper Egyptian tradition of leaving the beard to grow after a death in the family. When it comes to mistreatment at the hands of the police, citizens of all faiths are equal.