The court ruled Saturday, February 9, that the 12, who were born Christian Copts, could mark "Christian" on their compulsory identity cards, in place of the "Muslim” mention which was used after their conversion. It overturned an April 2007 ruling by a lower court forbidding them to convert to Christianity on grounds it would be "apostasy".
Many Muslims see abandoning Islam as an act of apostasy, which is potentially punishable by death. However the court cautioned Saturday, February 9, that their IDs will have to specify they had "adopted Islam for a brief period", judicial sources said.
The ruling is seen as a small victory for human rights advocates in Egypt. "This is an historic decision, a victory for freedom of religion in Egypt and in keeping with Article 46 of the constitution which calls for freedom of religion," the plaintiff’s lawyer Ramses al-Naggar told reoporters.
IDENTITY BACK
One of the plaintiffs, 27-year-old- Yasser Helmi agreed. "I have won my identity back. I am alive again," he said in published remarks. "I couldn’t get an identity card and my life had ground to a halt."
Saturday’s case reportedly included Coptic Christians who had converted to Islam to obtain a divorce as Islamic law allows men to end a marriage easily.In Egypt, Copts who represent six to 10 percent of the 76-million population, are known to convert to escape the strict rules of their church, which bans divorce or to marry a Muslim woman. However rights groups also say that Copt women have been "forced" to change their religion and marry Muslim men, often
after being kidnapped.
Egypt’s tiny evangelical community would argue that Christianity cannot be viewed as "a religion" but as "a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" something, hey say, can not be inherited by traditions or identity papers. The court decision came amid a wider legal battle over identity cards and minority rights in Egypt.
COURT REJECTION
On January 29, a court rejected a request by a Christian convert from Islam to have his new religion officially recognized by the state. Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy, 25, attempted to change his religion on his identification papers, saying he wanted to raise his future child as a Christian.
However the Court of Administrative Justice in Cairo said that Hegazy, who was the country’s first former Muslim to sue Egypt over the issue, had not followed proper legal procedures. That same day there was more positive news for other minorities from the Court of Administrative Justice, which prohibited the Egyptian government from withholding official documents to Baha’is, a small religious group in Egypt.
They were forced to register as Christians, Muslims or Jews, the only three options approved by the government. Those who refused to accept any of those three were penalized: they could not register their children in school or open a bank account, for example.
Earlier in January, Egypt’s attorney general ordered the release of a Coptic woman jailed due to a mix-up over her religion. Shadia Nagui Ibrahim, 47, was sentenced to three years in prison after she listed her religion as Christian not knowing her father’s brief three-year term as a Muslim in 1962 made her official religion Islam. There has been international pressure on Egypt to become more tolerant towards different religions.
