Muslim-born Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy, 24, sued Egypt’s Interior Ministry for refusing to recognize his change of religion in his national identity card. The change of religious affiliation allows those designated as Christians to openly attend church and religious classes.
However in a statement lawyer Mamdouh Nakhla, director of the Al Kalema Center for Human Rights, said that he would no longer represent convert Hegazy, for the sake of "national unity" after he received death threats from Egypt’s secret police.
Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency, said the developments forced Hegazy to go underground.
COPTIC CONVERSIONS
Since 2004, dozens of Coptic converts to Islam have won the right to return to their original faith, but Hegazy is the first Muslim-by-birth to attempt the legal change, the news agency said.
Though conversion is not specifically outlawed in Egypt, Muslim converts to Christianity are often forced to live double lives, hiding their faith to avoid torture at the hands of family members and police, Egyptian Christians and rights groups say.
GROWING PRESSURE
It comes amid growing pressure on Christian rights activists. This week two Egyptian Christians were for their work on the Web site of a Christian Arab group based in Canada.
Adel Fawzi and Peter Ezzat were arrested for their activities as senior members of the Cairo branch of Middle East Christian Association, which has its headquarters in Ontario, Canada, BosNewsLife monitored.
Coptic Christians comprise about 10 percent of Egypt’s population. Rights watchers claim Copts have increasingly experienced persecution from militants of majority Muslims. Egypt’s government has said it will tackle Muslim extremism, but rights groups say not enough has been done to tackle the problem. (With BosNewsLife Research)
