For Egypt’s embattled Coptic Christian minority, tattoos aren’t a fashion statement but rather an indelible, and defiant, mark of their faith. In effect, the small black cross tattoo that ...

Tattoo artist in Cairo Karin El Minawi, Cairo / glb 06/19/2015 June 19, 2015. As a testament to their faith, Egypt's Coptic Christians traditionally have a cross tattoo on their right wrist.

Slaves of Christ. During these long periods of maltreatment, the Coptic practice of tattooing arose. Ancient (pre-Christian) Egyptian tattooing can be definitively traced back to 2000 B.C.

There are plenty more who want to be inscribed indelibly as Coptic Christians. "The tattoo was once used to identify Christian orphans whose parents had been killed in war," said Girgis. "So they ...

The first stop in the Coptic village is a reconstituted booth from a Coptic moulid (popular religious festival) in which Copts would have a tattoo of a small cross engraved on to their wrists. The ...

But in Egypt, women, ... where we proudly wore Coptic cross tattoos. ... The department’s annual reports on human rights and human trafficking do not mention Coptic women in their sections on Egypt.