Religious Atmosphere:

Extremist Groups:

• The Supreme Guide Of the Muslim Brotherhood--This illegal political organization is dedicated to the adoption of the Shari’a law in Egypt. They have conducted numerous terrorist actions against government institutions and are known to commit acts of violence against Christians. The leader of this group, Mustafa Mashhour, was quoted in the April 3, 1997 issue of Al-Ahram as saying that Copts would not be allowed to serve in the military under Sharia law which is a standard principle of Islamic law.
         
• Al-Gamaa Islamiya (Islamic Group)--This is one of Egypt's largest fundamentalist groups. Its members are dedicated to turning Egypt into an Islamic state. They seek to bring this about by destabilizing the government through attacks on Christians, public officials, and foreign tourists.
               

• 12/02/03 Egypt (Barnabas Fund) The Christian husband of a Muslim convert to Christianity has been apprehended trying to leave Egypt. He was then held in the custody of a notoriously cruel and vindictive security official. On Friday 28 November Egyptian Christian Bolis Rezek-Allah was arrested trying to leave the country. This was a desperate attempt to escape the mounting persecution he is suffering at the hands of the Egyptian authorities because of his marriage to Enas Badawi, a Christian converted from a Muslim background. After being apprehended at the Libyan border he was held for 12 hours, when a police database identified him, before being released. Yesterday Rezek-Allah was again detained and taken to the HQ of the Security Police in Cairo, known as the Lazghouly Office, for interrogation. He was put in the custody of Hussein Gohar, a security officer who is notoriously vindictive towards converts from Islam and those close to them. Gohar has threatened Rezek-Allah that he will find his wife Enas (who is still being sought by police) even if she has gone abroad, and that once he has done so he will kill Enas in front of her husband. Rezek-Allah was released but police say they will continue to block him from leaving the country despite the fact that he has obtained the correct documentation to leave for Canada. Bolis Rezek-Allah was originally singled out by police persecution in the summer of 2003, when he was arrested on the charge of marrying a Muslim. In accordance with shari’a (Islamic law), it is illegal in Egypt for a Christian man to marry a Muslim woman. Enas Badawi had actually converted from Islam to Christianity before the marriage, but since the Egyptian authorities do not recognise conversions to Christianity, she was still a Muslim in the eyes of the law. Rezek-Allah was initially held in prison for three months, during which time he was also accused of helping Muslims convert to Christianity. The couple then decided to emigrate to Canada where Rezek-Allah, who is a pharmacist, hoped to find work. On 24 September Rezek-Allah was pulled off a flight bound for that country where he was due to take qualifying exams. On that occasion the police did not detain him, but have kept him under close surveillance since then and continue to prevent him from leaving the country. Please pray for the safety of Rezek and Enas Badawi.

• 12/02/03 Egypt  (Compass) -- Two Egyptian Coptic Christians jailed by Saudi authorities have been released 17 days after their arrest for establishing an expatriate house church in the capital of Riyadh. Dr. Sabry Awad Gayed and Eskander Guirguis Eskander, both 38, were informed when they were discharged from prison on November 11 that they were being released “with the approval of their sponsors.” The charges against the men were not dropped or the case closed. The two men were released by specific orders of Prince Sultan, who had been asked to review the file against the two Christians, said to be jailed for no valid reason. The Saudi Ministry of Interior typically deports expatriate Christians accused of involvement in “illegal” worship activities. But after Gayed was set free, his Saudi employer told him that he was trying to transfer him to one of his other medical clinics in a different area. The two Christians were not physically abused and were given “respectful” treatment during their 17 days in custody.

• 11/29/03 Egypt (Compass) -- Five weeks after her arrest tipped off a major crackdown against Egyptian converts to Christianity, Miriam Girguis Makar was sent back to El-Kanater Women’s Prison outside Cairo for another 15 days. Makar, 30, was arrested on October 20 at her home in Alexandria in front of her two teenage daughters. Her husband was also detained, beaten and interrogated, but he was released on November 1. Makar has been accused of falsifying Christian identity papers for herself and other former Muslims. When brought before the state prosecutor on November 20, she was remanded back to jail until December 5. At least 22 other Christians, some converts from Islam and others of Coptic descent, were detained and interrogated in the harsh sweep following Makar’s arrest. One convert died while in police custody, and the others face legal prosecution. Under Egyptian law, Muslims are not allowed to change their religious identities to any other faith, although Christians are free to convert officially to Islam.

• 11/28/03 Egypt (Barnabas & Assist) Police in Cairo released on bail four more of the 22 Alexandrian Christians who were arrested late October after they abandoned the Muslim religion and accepted Jesus Christ in their lives, The Barnabas Fund said Friday Nov 28. The human rights organization, which supports Christians in Muslim nations, cautioned however that Mariam Girgis Makar is the only remaining in custody and that security forces "seem determined to make an example of her."  It said a scholar from the Al-Azhar Islamic University in Cairo has been called in by the police to aid them in their case against Mariam, a convert from Islam. The Egyptian government has in the past defended its record on human rights, saying it is cracking down on extremists. However The Barnabas Fund said it is concerned that the police "are seeking advice about bringing charges concerning crimes against Islam which they could prosecute her for. Although the other converts and their supporters have been released, charges are still outstanding against them." Earlier human rights reports suggested the Christians had been subjected to torture and intimidation. The police have recalled Mariam's husband, Yusuf Samuel Makari Suliman, also a convert, for a writing sample to compare it with that on an official document. "All the converts and those who had helped them were originally indicted under charges related to falsifying their names on documents. A Christian who converts to Islam in Egypt can receive new ID papers with a new Muslim name within 24 hours. However there is no reciprocal arrangement for a Muslim who converts to Christianity," the Fund said.  The pressure on Christians in Egypt comes at a time when Muslim violence is spreading throughout the middle east, human rights groups say. The Barnabas Fund said it is especially worried about terrorist organizations. "In Egypt, the birthplace of modern Islamism, the groups that assassinated President Sadat in 1981 waged a terror campaign against the Egyptian government in the 1980s and 1990s. (They) have always regarded the indigenous Christian community, the Copts, as enemies of Islam because of their demands for equal treatment.." The call for equal treatment is "seen as a rejection of what Islamists consider to be their God-ordained subordinate status in the Islamic order. This subordinate dhimmi status is characterized by humiliation and subjugation, and includes limitations on public expression of Christianity," said The Barnabas Fund. It also includes a total ban on Christian mission amongst Muslims. Indigenous Christians are also accused of anti-Muslim alliances with what Islamic militants call "the imperialist West", including the United States.

• 11/28/03 Egypt (ICC) -- In Egypt, it has recently become fashionable for Copts (a persecuted/minority orthodox Christian sect) to put the Christian fish symbol on bumper stickers for their cars. Muslims have responded by creating shark bumper stickers. The stickers are sold in Christian book stores. The Muslim stickers are sold in Muslim bookstores and often have the phrase "no god but allah" printed within the shark.

• Egypt, October 29 (Compass) -- In a harsh crackdown over the past 10 days, Egypt’s state security police have arrested and tortured a Christian couple from Muslim background, along with 11 other Egyptian citizens accused of forging Christian identity papers for former Muslims. At least 10 more Christians have since been detained and subjected to torture in the sweep, said to be headed by two security police officers known for illegal and cruel tactics against Christian converts.  through a hard, hard time.”

• Egypt, October 27 (Compass) -- An Egyptian Coptic Christian teenager kidnapped a month ago by Muslims who claim she’s converted to Islam is being refused direct access to her Christian family. According to Nagy Edwar Nagy, his sister disappeared on September 27, the day after she had celebrated her 19th birthday at their family home. Ingy Nagy Edwar, is reportedly being held against her will by a Muslim couple in the Haram district of Giza governate, adjacent to Cairo. State security police officials temporarily detained her father and other male relatives a few days after her disappearance, showing them an alleged declaration of conversion to Islam signed by the girl. That same day, the Giza State Security Directorate held a hearing on the girl’s case, producing Ingy herself dressed in an Islamic veil. “She was not in a normal mood,” Nagy stated. At a second hearing on October 18, the girl did not come, sending word instead that she was very sick. Ingy’s family believes the girl is being given drugs which affect her moods. A third hearing on Ingy’s case has been set for Saturday, November 1, when her father will press for his parental rights to regain custody of his daughter. “She told me by phone she wants to commit suicide,” Nagy told Compass last week. “She is going through a hard, hard time.”

• CAIRO, EGYPT  (ANS & Banabas Fund) -- 22 CHRISTIANS IN EGYPT "BEATEN AND TORTURED" Part of massive crackdown against believers
  By Stefan J. Bos. Some 22 Christians, including many secret converts from Islam to Christianity, have been arrested by Egyptian police and are "being beaten, interrogated and tortured," a major Christian rights group said Friday, Oct. 24. The well informed Barnabas Fund, which supports persecuted believers, said the abuses began when 2 Christians were taken from Alexandria to police stations in the capital Cairo as part of a fresh "dramatic" anti-Christian crackdown that began Tuesday, Oct. 21. Thursday Oct. 23 that number rose to 22 as other "converts and Christians who have tried to assist them were rounded up and arrested in dramatic sweeps by police," the Barnabus Fund added in a statement send to ASSIST News Service (ANS). "Local Christians fear the arrests will continue and many other converts from Islam, who have been living quietly as Christians may now be arrested in the next few days," said the Barnabus Fund, which runs a major international campaign on behalf of converts.  The Egyptian authorities have not yet reacted to the charges, however there has been among hardliners about what they regard as Western (Christian) influences in the mainly Islamic country, where Christians make up about 6 percent of the population.
  
  FALSIFYING ID PAPERS
  Officially the 22 arrested Christians being charged "with falsifying ID papers," apparently because they changed their Muslim names into Christian names, the Barnabus Fund reported. "Whilst Egypt has no law against apostasy from Islam, in practice converts are actively punished by the police in this 90% Muslim country. (They) often face imprisonment, beatings and torture on various pretexts in order to try to force them to return to Islam." A Christian who converts to Islam in Egypt can receive ID papers with a new adopted Muslim name within 24 hours, but "it is impossible for a Muslim who converts to Christianity to change their name to a Christian one at all," said the Barnabus Fund. "Thus they will always be regarded as Muslims in the eyes of the law."
  
  TORTURE AND INTERROGATION
  The initial arrest of the first Christians, Yusuf and Mariam, came about as a result of information obtained by police through the torture and interrogation of a Christian who revealed that the married couple were converts from Islam, the organization said. They allegedly were involved in leading other Muslims to convert to Christianity. "An investigation was opened by police in the Al-Muski quarter of Cairo and the couple was eventually arrested in Alexandria, "beaten, abused, tortured and taken by police to a station in Al Muski," in the capital. Cairo Christians have reportedly brought food for the couple but the police has so far reportedly refused to allow this to be given to them. Local Christians have managed to obtain the services of a team of Christian and Muslim lawyers to defend the accused.
  
  HUSBAND RELEASED
  "They have managed to secure the release of Yusuf who will be fined" and was expected leave the police station later Friday, October 24, while a court case against him is still be outstanding. His wife Mariam will be held in prison for a month whilst the investigation is being conducted against the couple. She was due to be transferred to a prison later Friday, Oct. 24. The other 20 Christians who have been arrested were held at a police station in el Galaa, Cairo, "but could be moved from there at any time," to a yet unknown location, the Barnabus Fund said. The latest reported crackdown comes only months after Naglaa, a female Egyptian convert from Islam and her Christian husband Malak were arrested on similar charges of falsifying ID papers. They have been held in prison since 26 February 2003.
  Police have reportedly tried to force Naglaa to give up her Christian faith and return to Islam, to leave her husband, and to raise her children as Muslims
  
  KILLINGS IN PRISON
  Human rights workers say that many converts have faced imprisonment, beatings and torture. Some are said to have died in prison, while others have fled Egypt, Africa's second largest country with over 66 million people. "Converts have sometimes been arrested under the country’s emergency legislation which allows for the holding of suspects without charge or trial for indefinite periods, " the Barnabus Fund said. The Fund has urged Muslim religious leaders to condemn the harsh treatment of converts "and to make public statements calling for a reform of shari’a teaching on apostasy."  That would "clearly affirm that Muslims who choose to convert to another faith are free to follow their personal convictions without fear of punishment or harassment."

(Egyptian) Coptic Homes and Property Attacked in
Response to Plans for New Church
 
PRESS RELEASE… U.S. Copts Assoc. Contact: Christine Tadros
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Phone: 202.737.3660
 

Washington D.C.(11/12/2003) – On Friday, November 7, 2003, numerous Christian individuals and their properties were attacked following a disagreement with their Muslim neighbors over plans for a church. The ensuing conflict led to the injury and hospitalization of numerous Copts (Egyptian Christians) and the destruction and burning of several Coptic homes.

The disagreement appears to have developed over plans to convert a small Christian library into a church. After Friday prayers, sources report to the U.S. Copts Association that the electric power sources had been cut off, first in the region of the village most heavily populated with Copts, then ultimately in the entire village. Shortly, thereafter, a large Muslim crowd converged and commenced destruction of Coptic property. The library itself was attacked and its foundation compromised. As the violence increased, four Coptic homes were burned, eight other homes burglarized, Coptic cropland uprooted, and seven Coptic businesses attacked and looted.

In the ensuing violence, Coptic men and women were violently assaulted, resulting in the injury of eleven Christians, a number of whom were subsequently hospitalized.

Christians reportedly called police officials fifteen minutes following the commencement of the assault. Police officials, only a 30-minute trip away, arrived several hours later, after much destruction had been wreaked upon the Christian community.

While some reports have issued statements regarding the arrest of a few individuals, the matter has characteristically received little attention from local and national authorities. Police intervention in matters relating to the Copts has been repeatedly inadequate, often failing to contain the violence targeted towards the community.

• December 1, 1998 - Egyptian Organization of Human Rights Secretary-General Hafez Abu Saada was arrested for publishing a report of the "El-Kosheh Incident" (see August 14, 1998 entry) that the government deemed to be harmful to the international image of Egypt and for allegedly accepting foreign funds to do so. He was released December 6^th on bail. However now, the author of the article was reportedly in the process of being arrested also.
                
  
• October 11, 1998 - Because of their reporting of the "El-Kosheh Incident"to human rights NGO’s, Bishop Wessa of Baliand and two Coptic priests have been arrested and accused of spreading matters damaging to nation unity and social peace (Article 86 penal code), using religion to incite strife and damaging to nation unity and social peace (Article 98 penal code), attempting to influence the outcome of a court case and investigation (Article 171, 187 penal code), delivering an insult or criticism while carrying out their duties as priests (Article 201 penal code), and presenting false information in an investigation (Article 145 penal code).
              
  
• August 14, 1998 - Two young Christian men were killed in the village of El-Kosheh, Dar Assalam and Governate of Soha, Egypt. The local Coptic Bishop reported that the consensus of the village was that the killers were three Muslim men who were known to police. The police made no effort to apprehend this individuals but rather rounded up nearly 1,200 Christians, including men, women, and children, during the course of the following week. During their detainment, it is reported that these people suffered verbal abuse and physical abuse that included electrical shock, whippings, beatings, and being hung from their feet for extended periods of time. It is believed much of this activity was aimed at obtaining false confessions to the murders. It was been reported that 11 year-old Romani Boctor was suspended from a spinning ceiling fan for several hours in an attempt to get his father to confess to the murders. It is also reported that a fourteen-month-old baby was beaten in front of her mother to get the mother to confess. A 14 year-old girl was sexually assaulted in an attempt to make her lose her virginity. This was so the police could claim that her father and fiance killed the two men for having a sexual encounter with the girl. All the detained individuals were released within a week. No suspects in the crime have been arrested.
      
• Ongoing - The Egyptian government continues to refuse to intervene on the behalf of parents whose daughters are abducted and forced to convert to Islam and then married to Muslim men. By doing so, the police fail to uphold two Egyptian laws. One prevents the conversion of any individual under the age of 16. The other prohibits the marriage of a young woman between the ages of 16 and 21 without the approval and presence of her guardians. Police rarely take action to enforce these laws in the case of abductions of Christians.
            
• Ongoing - Various groups--A common act in rural Egypt is for Muslims to extort money from Christian businesses. This practiced is often justified by the Koranic injunction to charge Christians Jizya, a tax levied on non-Muslims. Extremist groups often use this practice to fund their operations.
             
• Ongoing--Various individuals - It is reported that conversions from Christianity to Islam are often coerced. Poor Christians are often offered financial incentives to convert. There have been a series of reports of Christian girls being abducted and forced to convert to Islam. The International Coptic Federation claims it has documented 218 cases of abduction but it is very difficult to determine the degree of coercion used. In some cases, the girl desires to marry a Muslim boy and is willing to convert to do so. The conversion is performed by the girl saying a one-sentence confession. Seduction, rape, bribery, threats, and violence can also be factors in these cases. The government does little to protect its citizens from such abuses. Please see below for a full description of the government's neglect of its duties.

Prisoners: William Shayboub Arsal (see June 5, 2000 above) and Sourial Gayed Isshak (see July 16, 2000 above). It is highly possible that there are other Christians being held. Muslim Human Rights advocate, Dr. Ibrahim is also being held (see May 21, 2001 above).

Suggested Actions You Might Take:

• Pray for the Christians of Egypt that they may be protected from harm and that the Christian message may be heard and received by all Egyptians.
               
• Write a respectful letter to one or more of the government officials listed below. Express your continuing concern for the safety and well being of the Christian community in Egypt. Request information about what steps the government is taking to ensure their protection and freedom to practice their faith as laid out in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights documents.
             
• Contact the elected national officials (Senators, Congressman etc.) for your area as well as the U.S. State Department and express concern for the well being of the Christians in Egypt asking them to make an inquiry into their status.
             
• Please keep us informed of any replies or results you may receive! Contact ICC by email at ICC

*We make every attempt to keep up with and reflect changes in the national government of Egypt and the current human rights situation. We appreciate your feedback if you find any discrepancies in this information. You can contact us by e-mail at: icc@persecution.org. Thanks.