article_snippet.sent: Cairo (CNN)An Egyptian court has sentenced 71 people to life in prison for 71 people role in the August 2013 burning of a Christian church in the Giza province village of Kafr Hakim, state news reports.
article_snippet.sent: The Virgin Mary Church was torched and looted by a mob, some of whom chanted against Coptic Christians and called for Egypt to become an "Islamic state," one of at least 42 churches and many more businesses and homes targeted that August, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch reports.
article_snippet.sent: Others attacked included St. George Church in Sohag, a city south of Cairo on the Nile River, and Prince Tadros Church in Fayoum, which is southwest of Cairo, according to reports.
article_snippet.sent: Some blamed the church and other attacks on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that backed Mohamed Morsy.
article_snippet.sent: Christian churches across Egypt stormed, torched .
article_snippet.sent: Journalist Sarah Sirgany reported from Cairo and CNN's Greg Botelho reported and wrote this story from Atlanta.
highlights_snippet.sent: The Virgin Mary Church was burned along with dozens of others in August 2013 .