About 10% of Egypt is Christian. Not only the Copts, but also our 300,000 Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters in Egypt suffer sporadic persecution, discrimination, and harassment, and as we see so often, frequently Egyptian officials do little or nothing to alleviate their plight. Converts to Christianity suffer particular difficulties.
“Christians arrested for their faith in Egypt are running out of time,” by Kelsey Zorzi, The Hill, August 28, 2024:
Aug. 22 marked the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, a day that was created by the United Nations five years ago to highlight the plight of minorities around the world who are persecuted for their religion or belief. Religious persecution is on the rise globally, and it takes many forms. One form that is becoming increasingly popular is that of prolonged pretrial detention. Individuals from religious minority groups are imprisoned after the authorities learn of their faith, but no official charges are brought. No trial takes place. The process itself is the punishment. This is taking place in Egypt right now. A 55-year-old father of five has been languishing in an Egyptian prison for two-and-a-half years for no reason other than his status as a religious minority. Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, a Yemeni citizen, was raised in a Muslim family and practiced Islam throughout his adult life in Yemen until he and his wife converted to Christianity. Because of her conversion, Abdo’s wife was murdered by her extended family — they covertly switched out her cooking oil with gasoline, causing an explosion when she was preparing breakfast one morning in 2014. With Abdo and his children’s lives similarly at stake for their Christian affiliation, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees granted Abdo and his children refugee status and they fled to Egypt to seek asylum. Abdo remarried in Egypt and his family was settling into their new country until he was arrested in December 2021. To this day he has not been officially charged with a crime, nor has he had an official court hearing. The government has given Abdo’s lawyers very limited access to him, allegedly citing him as a “security” risk. His arrest came about after he and another man, Nour Girgis, who was born into an Egyptian Christian family, joined a Facebook group with other converts. The group provided what seemed like a safe and peaceful space for those who had converted to Christianity to discuss theological questions. But shortly after participating in this group, both Abdo and Girgis were arrested. Girgis, like Abdo, has also been held in prison to this day, without official charges or an end in sight to his detention. Egypt has one of the largest populations of Christian minorities in the Middle East, with approximately 16 million Christians living in the country, according to one estimate. The majority of Christians in Egypt are Coptic Christians, who are viewed differently by the authorities than converts from Islam to Christianity. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the persecution of Christians in Egypt has remained consistent over the last several years, with the government selectively protecting religious minorities. Under Egyptian law, religious minorities, including those who leave Islam, have equal rights with Muslims. Article 64 of the Egyptian Constitution states that freedom of belief is absolute. However, only members of “revealed” religions (Muslims, Christians and Jews) can publicly practice their faith and build places of worship. No law criminalizes or prohibits Egyptian Muslims from converting to Christianity. In practice, however, the authorities view conversions from Islam to Christianity as challenges to the authority of the state and catalysts for sectarian violence….
