The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) – an Egyptian NGO working for religious rights and freedom – called on the government to ensure that the people found guilty for the violence that left one dead and three monks kidnapped for a brief period of time are held accountable.

Currently, the Coptic church and the Muslim Bedouin residents of the adjacent village to the monastery are negotiating to resolve the tensions between the Christians and Muslims in the area.

A dispute over land in Minya in May quickly turned into street battles that left one Muslim man dead and three Copts wounded as well as three Coptic monks kidnapped.

Local Muslims in the Deir Abu Fana village some 150 miles south of Cairo claimed that an expansion project at a Coptic monastery was being made on illegal property. Copts took offense and began protesting in a nearby town, some chanting, "with our blood and soul, we will defend the cross."

The demonstrators called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to intercede in order to end the conflict. But according to Coptic accounts Muslims attacked them, wielding rifles and shooting, wounding two. Then, in a surprise move, three monks were kidnapped and taken to the nearby mountains before being released hours later.

"The monks have been released, but fighting is still ongoing," a police official in Minya told the Middle East Times immediately after the incident, adding that "this incident is not separate from the tensions that exist in and around Minya. Groups of Muslims and Copts live in the mountains and are little warlords in themselves."

For months, Egyptian police have been attempting to end the sectarianism that has grown rampant in the central areas of the country, but as evidenced by sporadic clashes, have been thus far unsuccessful.

Father Dumadius told Al-Jazeera that at least 60 men with weapons stormed the Abu Fana Monastery.

"They split into several groups. One group proceeded to destroy the wall. Others entered a chapel used by the monks and destroyed and burned property," he said.

Hossam Bahgat, the executive director at EIPR, said that negotiations should be continued, but it should not remove responsibility on both sides for the violence that happened in Minya.

"Negotiating a consensual resolution to the land dispute in Abu Fana is a welcome, if tragically overdue, initiative," said EIPR executive director Hossam Bahgat. "But the serious crimes committed in the context of that dispute must not go unpunished if the government is serious about preventing their recurrence."

EIPR urged the public prosecutor to ensure that the criminal investigation into the events is completed, and that perpetrators are referred to trial.

Hearings are scheduled for the immediate future for the pretrial of 15 people, including two Copts, who were arrested in connection with the assaults. They are being investigated for the murder of the Muslim farmer, attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping, the possession of unlicensed weapons and ammunition, assault on a place of worship and the burning of its subsidiary buildings as well as the destruction of crops.

An independent investigation by EIPR says that two of the monastery's monks were shot during the assault, while other monks "sustained broken bones, muscle tears and bruises due to physical blows, whipping, dragging and pelting with stones."

"We are not contesting the government's insistence that the Abu Fana land dispute did not start for religious reasons," said Bahgat.

"But kidnapping and abusing monks, denigrating their beliefs and destroying their church are all heinous crimes committed on sectarian grounds and could constitute dangerous precedents if left without punishment," he said.

The incident has left many Egyptians worried that sectarian strife is rapidly increasing in a nation that has long boasted of its tolerance. With approximately 10 percent of Egypt's population being Christian, fears of a spiral out of control in recent years have been engrossing the nation.

"Sure, I am questioning whether the government is taking this sort of thing seriously," an Egyptian activist working on religious issues, told Middle East Times, asking that she not be named.

"What is happening is that the government is allowing people to take things into their own hands and that results in more violence."