Government Puts Christian Director of Girls’ Home on Trial

(Compass) – The Egyptian Christian director of a home for troubled Coptic girls goes on trial January 16 in Cairo on charges of holding a 16-year-old Coptic girl against her will and without her parents’ permission, and also of trying to rape her. Shafik Saleh Shafik, 57, claims the case against him is an attempt to close down his recovery ministry among Coptic girls who are being enticed to leave their Christian families and convert to Islam. “The state security police wrote on their report about me that I am a ‘very dangerous man,’ because I am preaching Christianity,” Shafik told Compass. The case began September 6 when Magda Refaat Gayed escaped from Shafik’s facility the morning after her family placed her there, claiming she was beaten and raped. In violation of Egyptian law, police have refused to return the girl to her parents’ custody, sending her instead to a facility operated by an Islamic group. Shafik’s “safe-house” has been closed down.