Date: Monday 16 July 2007
Subj: Algeria: Christians and the extremist threat.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
On 13 June the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera published a column by Magdi Allam on the persecution of Christians and the lack of religious tolerance in Muslim countries. In the very last paragraph Allam names Algeria, just once, saying ". . .from Algeria to Pakistan, Indonesia to Nigeria, Saudi Arabia to Somalia", Christians are victims of persecution and discrimination. (Link 1)
Allam's assertion that Algeria is a nation where Christians are persecuted drew the ire of the Algerian government, with Liberte Algerie publishing an official response from Algeria's Religious Affairs Ministry on 8 July. MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) reports: "An official response by Algeria's Religious Affairs Ministry to an article in the Italian daily Corriere, which listed Algeria among the Muslim countries in which Christians are oppressed, stated that 'Christians in Algeria enjoy greater rights and liberties than do Muslims in Christian countries'. The ministry also asserted that a new Algerian law mandating two to five years in prison for anyone found guilty of trying to convert a Muslim to another religion was in accordance with international conventions." (Link 2)
These assertions by Algeria's Religious Affairs Ministry, that "Christians in Algeria enjoy greater rights and liberties than do Muslims in Christian countries" and that Algeria's religion laws are "in accordance with international conventions" should elicit a response from religious liberty monitors.
LAW AMENDED; CHRISTIANS ARRESTED
In March 2006, a presidential order that established new conditions for the exercise of non-Muslim religious practice was passed in both the Algerian Ummah council (Senate) and in the Algerian National Assembly (Parliament). The law is essentially an anti-missionary, anti-proselytising law that prescribed prison terms and hefty fines for anyone who "incites, constrains or uses seductive means seeking to convert a Muslim to another religion (. . .), or
who produces, stores or distributes printed documents or audio-visual formats or any other format or means which seeks to shake the faith of a Muslim". (For background see link 3).
On 4 June 2007 the government announced amendments to the religion law. Pursuant to Executive Decree 07/158 of 27 May 2007 all non-Muslim religious activities now fall under the auspices of the newly established National Commission for Non-Muslim Faiths which is chaired by the Minister for Religious Affairs and Wakfs or its representative (a wakf/waqf is a Muslim
trust). The commission is composed of representatives from the Ministry for National Defence, the Interior and local communities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Directorate-General of National Security, the Command of the National Police, the national advisory commission of the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
From now on non-Muslim religious activity may not take place except in recognised and approved associations and structures unless there is prior written permission from the civil authorities. This does not affect Sunday worship in recognised and approved churches but it does acutely restrict spontaneous worship, home fellowships, open air meetings and public ministry.
(Link 4)
According to an article by B Mokhtaria in Le Quotidien D'Oran the new commission now has authority over non-Muslim business and worship. It also has the right to contribute a preliminary opinion regarding the registration of religious associations and the approval of sites for worship. (Link 5)
The spokesman for and advisor to the Ministry for Religious Affairs, Mr Tamine, told Oran that the new laws were promulgated simply to fill in an existing gap in the law as the authorities have become aware of the origins of "extremists" in recent years. He said that the new laws will enable the authorities to crack down on foreign missionaries who enter Algeria on tourist
visas to seduce Algerians and convert them to Christianity by fraud and allurement. According to Mr Tamine, these missionaries act under the cover of religion while in reality, he alleges, their agenda is not religious at all. He maintains that Algeria must resist the activities of these non-Muslim "extremists". He asserts that the new law is not repressive, but protective, and will even protect the Christian expatriate working community from the consequences of religious demonstrations and reactions against Christian "extremism".
CHRISTIANS CHARGED WITH POSSESSION
On 20 June, five Algerian Christians faced court on charges of possession of Christian literature. (Link 6)
One believer appeared before the court for a second time on 27 June and will reappear in court on 19 December. He had been approached by two men pretending to be interested in the gospel on account of a satellite programme they had seen on El Hayat. The men asked the Christian if he could give them a Bible. When he did, the enquirers revealed themselves as police, arrested the believer and confiscated the box of Bibles he had in his possession. Two other believers were reportedly tricked into giving a Bible to a police officer at a road block. They will face court in September. According to sources the Algerian media did not cover the June trials.
Many believe that the Algerian authorities are overwhelmed and confused by the growing phenomenon of Muslims converting to Christianity.
Whilst this is doubtless true, it is also reasonable to question if the government's increasingly repressive policies regarding Christianity are in some measure being driven by a desire to appease increasingly threatening Islamic forces.
THE REAL EXTREMIST THREAT
Algerians know that the real threat to Algerian security and stability, progress and prosperity is Islamic "extremism" and fundamentalist militancy.
In late 2006 the Algerian Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. On 24 January 2007, with the blessing of Osama bin Laden, the group changed its name to The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. On 11 April, around 30 people were killed and 22 wounded when this group detonated two bombs in Algiers, one at a police station and one which ripped the facade off the President's headquarters. (Link 7)
On Wednesday 11 July a 20-year-old jihadist from an al-Qaeda cell bombed an army barracks in Lakhdaria village, 120 km (75 miles) east of Algiers. This suicide truck bombing killed 10 soldiers and wounded 35. (Link 8)
A MEMRI article issued after the 11 April bombings in Algiers entitled "Reactions in the Algerian and Arab Press to the Al-Qaeda Attacks in Algiers" shows that Algerians are under no illusions about the real extremist threat.
MEMRI reports: "Hakim Outoudert, writing in the regional daily La Depeche de Kabylie, questioned the Interior Minister's assertion that the attacks were an isolated event, and called for an ideological battle against fundamentalism in order to dry up the 'terrorist matrix'.
". . . 'Where did these young people contract this evil, if not from within Algerian society, through a bigoted media literature, but above all within the mosques in subversive suburbs? . . . [Should we] do away with fundamentalism, the matrix of terrorism, by drying up [its] ideological ground, or maintain [its] destructive potential by ceding it the terrain of political initiative? One day we'll have to choose. The sooner the better.'" (Link 9)
Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
Links
1) Una manifestazione per i cristiani in Oriente perseguitati
Magdi Allam, 13 Giugno 2007
http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Esteri/2007/06_Giugno/13/magdi.shtml
2) Algerian Religious Affairs Ministry Denies Persecution of Christians In Country. MEMRI. Source: Liberte, Algerie, July 8, 2007
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/2084.htm
3) Algeria: severe new penalties for 'proselytising'
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
By Elizabeth Kendal. Friday 24 March 2006
http://www.worldevangelical.org/news/view.htm?id=408
ALSO, Algeria: Text of Presidential Order Concerning Religion.
http://ea.org.au/default.aspx?id=0b0bd037-22c5-442e-9f2d-6bd6120e1c5e
The Presidential Order was published in the Official Journal of the Algerian
Republic (Journal Officiel de la Republique Algerienne) Number 12, 1 March
2006. The direct link to that journal is:
http://www.joradp.dz/JO2000/2006/012/F_Pag.htm . The Presidential Order
concerning religion is on pages 23 & 24. (French)
4) Restriction de la liberte religieuse pour les Christiens. 18 Juin 2007
http://evangelique-kabyle.blog.mongenie.com/index/p/2007/06/388071
AND – with a clarification submitted from 'Liberte Algerie'
Les messes chrétiennes n'ont pas besoin d'autorisation des walis
Par Samar, Mercredi 27 Juin 2007, Liberte Algerie
http://www.blogdei.com/index.php/2007/07/06/2261-pratique-des-cultes-non-musulmans-en-algerie-les-reunions-chretiennes-n-auraient-pas-besoin-de-l-autorisation-des-walis
5) Une commission pour reguler la pratique des cultes non musulmans.
par B.Mokhtaria, 7 Juin 2007
http://www.lequotidien-oran.com/index.php?news=501222&archive_date=2007-06-07
6) Cinq Chretiens Algeriens devant la justice le 20 Juin.
22 Juin 2007
http://evangelique-kabyle.blog.mongenie.com/index.php?idblogp=391554
7) Al Qaeda claims responsibility for Algiers bombings
ABC, 12 April 2007
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/04/12/1894940.htm
8) Suicide Attack In Algeria Kills Ten, Wounds 35 Soldiers
12 July 2007. By Joseph S. Mayton - AHN Middle East Correspondent
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007888238
9) Reactions in the Algerian and Arab Press to the Al-Qaeda Attacks in Algiers
MEMRI, 17 April 2007, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1546
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD154607
Monday, July 16, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Egypt: Let the apostasy/liberty debate begin.
Date: Thursday 5 July 2007
Subj: Egypt: Let the apostasy/liberty debate begin.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
In April 2007 a lower court ruled against 45 Copts who had converted to Islam or been deemed Muslim on account of the conversion of a parent, but who wanted to officially return to Christianity. The lower court ruled that Muslims, even if they are converts from Christianity, could not be permitted to apostasise (leave Islam). The Copts decided to appeal. (For background see link 1.)
On 1 July 07, despite the government's efforts to get the case dismissed, Judge Essam Abdel Aziz of Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court ruled in favour of the Copts and agreed to consider the merits of their case. The appeal was successful and a retrial has been slated for 1 September 2007.
According to Middle East On-line, human rights groups welcomed the decision. "The decision by the Supreme Administrative Court to consider the case of Egyptian converts to Islam wanting to return to their Church is very positive," said Ramsis al-Naggar, the Coptic lawyer who represented 12 of the plaintiffs. "It proves there is still a window of freedom in Egypt." (Link 2)
"It is a step in the right direction," Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said. "We are hopeful and optimistic that the Supreme Administrative Court will eventually uphold the principles of religious freedom and non-discrimination, both of which are guaranteed under the Constitution and international law." (Link 3)
Associated Press reports, "Court officials said government lawyers objected to Judge Essam Eddin Abdel-Aziz's decision to accept the appeal, arguing the initial verdict issued in April was in line with the principles of Islamic Sharia law." (Link 3)
So let the apostasy/liberty debate begin.
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Egypt: Egypt to rule on apostasy - 1 July 2007
WEA RLC News & Analysis, 29 Jun 2007
By: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
2) Egypt agrees to hear case of Christian converts. 2 July 2007
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=21283
3) Egyptian court accepts appeal from 45 Copts trying to reclaim their religion. 2 July 2007
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/02-07-2007/94407-Egypt_Copts-0
Subj: Egypt: Let the apostasy/liberty debate begin.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
In April 2007 a lower court ruled against 45 Copts who had converted to Islam or been deemed Muslim on account of the conversion of a parent, but who wanted to officially return to Christianity. The lower court ruled that Muslims, even if they are converts from Christianity, could not be permitted to apostasise (leave Islam). The Copts decided to appeal. (For background see link 1.)
On 1 July 07, despite the government's efforts to get the case dismissed, Judge Essam Abdel Aziz of Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court ruled in favour of the Copts and agreed to consider the merits of their case. The appeal was successful and a retrial has been slated for 1 September 2007.
According to Middle East On-line, human rights groups welcomed the decision. "The decision by the Supreme Administrative Court to consider the case of Egyptian converts to Islam wanting to return to their Church is very positive," said Ramsis al-Naggar, the Coptic lawyer who represented 12 of the plaintiffs. "It proves there is still a window of freedom in Egypt." (Link 2)
"It is a step in the right direction," Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said. "We are hopeful and optimistic that the Supreme Administrative Court will eventually uphold the principles of religious freedom and non-discrimination, both of which are guaranteed under the Constitution and international law." (Link 3)
Associated Press reports, "Court officials said government lawyers objected to Judge Essam Eddin Abdel-Aziz's decision to accept the appeal, arguing the initial verdict issued in April was in line with the principles of Islamic Sharia law." (Link 3)
So let the apostasy/liberty debate begin.
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Egypt: Egypt to rule on apostasy - 1 July 2007
WEA RLC News & Analysis, 29 Jun 2007
By: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
2) Egypt agrees to hear case of Christian converts. 2 July 2007
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=21283
3) Egyptian court accepts appeal from 45 Copts trying to reclaim their religion. 2 July 2007
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/02-07-2007/94407-Egypt_Copts-0
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Egypt to rule on apostasy
Date: Thursday 28 June 2007
Subj: Egypt to rule on apostasy - 1 July 2007
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
A hugely important appeal is presently being considered by Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court. The judgment is due to be handed down on Sunday 1 July 07.
This apostasy case has had virtually no coverage in English language media. The appeal, which bears striking similarity to Lina Joy's appeal in Malaysia, has been filed by 45 Copts (Egypt's indigenous, traditionally Christian people) who had either converted to Islam for various reasons or been deemed Muslim on account of their parents' conversion to Islam. These 45 Copts want to officially return to their Christian faith and be legally recognised as Christians on their national identity cards.
For Copts, this process of re-conversion to Christianity requires a court ruling. In more tolerant times the courts have been lenient towards the Copts and ruled to permit the re-conversion. But on 24 April 2007 these 45 Copts discovered that the times have definitely changed, because for them permission was denied. They decided to appeal.
During the 18 June appeal, the Copts' attorney, Coptic lawyer Naguib Gabriel, decried the fact that through the ruling of the lower court, "the government is forcing people to embrace beliefs against their free will. It is forcing them according to their official papers to belong to a religion they don't believe in." Meanwhile the attorney for the government argued that the initial verdict issued on 24 April by Judge Muhammad Husseini was "completely consistent with the principles of Islamic sharia law".
Egypt's Islamic scholars have been divided, with moderates advocating that apostasy should only be prohibited for those born Muslim; and fundamentalists maintaining that Islam decrees that any apostate should be executed. Egypt's Interior Minister Habib el-Adly takes the fundamentalist view and has publicly supported the initial ruling. Compass Direct reports, "The interior minister insisted that Islam, as the state religion of Egypt, demands that any Muslim man who abandons his faith should be killed. But a Muslim woman 'apostate' should only be imprisoned and beaten every three days until she returns to Islam."
Compass Direct notes: "Although there is no legal means for Egyptian Muslims who have converted to Christianity to register a change in religious status, this prohibition has yet to be tested in the courts."
But there can be little doubt that the prohibition on Muslim conversion to Christianity will be tested in the courts soon. Escalating Islamic radicalisation and intolerance, and the amazing and dynamic growth in Arab Christianity are destined to clash in the courts eventually. In the face of rising repressive intolerance, Arabs will demand their right to liberty.
Let the debate begin!
Elizabeth Kendal
------------------------------------------------------------
Egyptian Copts Appeal Religious Identity Ruling
Interior minister demands execution of Christian 'apostates.'
by Barbara G. Baker
ISTANBUL, June 25 (Compass Direct News) – Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court heard a final appeal last week for 45 Coptic Christian citizens who were denied their attempt to legally reclaim their Christian identities after officially converting to Islam.
Of the 45 plaintiffs, half were adults when they changed the required religion section on their national identity cards from Christian to Muslim. The remainder were children whose Coptic parents had become Muslims. All have declared they want to return to their Christian faith.
Arguing before presiding Judge Essam Eddin Abdel-Aziz on June 18, Coptic lawyer Naguib Gabriel declared that a lower administrative court's April ruling against his 45 clients' joint-action suit had "embarrassed the Egyptian government at an international level."
"This [refusal] says that the government is forcing people to embrace beliefs against their free will," Gabriel said. "It is forcing them according to their official papers to belong to a religion they don’t believe in."
Egyptian Christians can easily change their religious status to Muslim, which allows them to receive incentives ranging from employment and marriage options to custody of their children in divorce cases. But the nation's Muslims are not permitted to leave their religion for any other faith.
Gabriel presented an exhibit portfolio of 29 previous verdicts issued by the administrative courts to allow Copts to regain their Christian identities. None of these decisions handed down in the past three years had been challenged or appealed by the state.
The government's attorney, however, argued that the initial verdict issued on April 24 by Judge Muhammad Husseini was "completely consistent with the principles of Islamic sharia [religious law]." He accused the Coptic appellants of adopting Islam for the purpose of "religious manipulation."
Pending an expert legal opinion requested from a state commissar, the court declared it would announce its final verdict on Sunday (July 1). The higher court's ruling is not subject to further appeal.
'MANIPULATING' RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
In the initial court ruling, as reported by Al Ahram newspaper on April 26, the lower court had declared there was a "huge difference" between giving freedom of belief and "manipulating" this freedom by changing from one religion to another.
"Muslims have not forced anyone to believe in Islam, so they are not allowing anyone to desert Islam and leave it," the court was quoted as saying.
But in the same verdict, the court declared that according to the principles of Islamic law, no citizen can be forced to reveal his religious beliefs. It remained unclear whether this stipulation could allow Egyptian citizens to leave blank the religion section on their identity card.
According to a report published on May 8 in the weekly Sout el Oma newspaper, Interior Minister Habib el-Adly threw his support behind the ruling a week later.
In his May 1 memo to the administrative court, El-Adly requested blanket rejection of all cases involving Copts trying to return to their Christian identity after having converted to Islam.
The interior minister insisted that Islam, as the state religion of Egypt, demands that any Muslim man who abandons his faith should be killed. But a Muslim woman "apostate," he wrote, should only be imprisoned and beaten every three days until she returns to Islam.
The newspaper said El-Adly accused the several hundred Copts who have opened court cases to retain their Christian identity of "playing with religion" and disrupting national unity.
DANGEROUS DOUBLE STANDARD
But according to Dr. Muhammad el-Sayed, an expert in the Al Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies, such a verdict can be expected to fan religious hatred and sectarian strife in Egypt.
Quoted in Watani newspaper on April 29, El-Sayed stressed that the ruling contradicted the constitutional guarantee that all citizens are equal.
It is unclear whether the final ruling on July 1 will be enacted retroactively, cancelling previous court rulings that granted Coptic converts to Islam the right to return to their Christian birthright identity.
"We have to appeal this ruling," General Secretary Hafez Abu Saada of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights told Watani after the April ruling. "This is simply because we know that converting to Islam could be under pressure, such as getting a divorce or financial problems. So the individual has the right to choose his religion."
After the initial lower court ruling, Coptic lawyer Gabriel told Compass, "In practice, Egypt has a double standard for any citizen who wants to change his religion."
According to Article 47 of Law No. 143 of the Egyptian civil code, all citizens are required to carry on their person a national identity card. The law stipulates that a change in the citizen's name or religion can only be made by producing either a legal certificate or a court verdict authorizing the change.
"Those who convert to Islam only have to produce a formal certificate of conversion from Al-Azhar [Egypt's official Islamic establishment]," Gabriel said. "But for those coming back to Christianity, a certificate from the Coptic Patriarchate is not enough. They are also required to request a court verdict."
"This process takes at least two years in court," the lawyer noted.
Moderate Islamic scholars in Egypt contend that only birthright Muslims who attack the Islamic faith can be judged as "apostates." They exclude from this category any converts to Islam who later return to their previous faith.
But the Muslim Brotherhood and other hardliners insist that anyone who embraces the Muslim religion and then abandons it is an apostate who should be executed.
LEGAL STALEMATE FOR NON-MUSLIMS
Although next week's verdict will directly affect citizens from Christian background, it will also impact the legal stalemate against both the tiny Baha'i religious community and Egypt's growing number of ex-Muslims who have become Christians.
"This verdict indirectly targets converts to Christianity, and the Baha'is, too," one former Muslim in Cairo told Compass.
"During the past three years, it had become so much easier for former Christians to change back," he said, referring to the first watershed decision in April 2004, which permitted a Coptic-born woman who had converted to Islam to recover her legal Christian identity.
"Now, this ruling is saying, indirectly, that it is impossible to let any Muslim change his religious identity."
Although there is no legal means for Egyptian Muslims who have converted to Christianity to register a change in religious status, this prohibition has yet to be tested in the courts.
When a Baha'i couple launched such a test case several years ago, a landmark lower court ruling in April 2006 recognized the right of Egyptian Baha'is to state their religion on official documents. But six weeks later, the Supreme Administrative Court suspended the verdict and cancelled its implementation, followed by a final overruling of the decision in December 2006.
END
*** A photograph of Coptic lawyer Naguib Gabriel is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
**********
Copyright 2007 Compass Direct News
Compass Direct Flash News is distributed as available to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted by active subscribers only.
For subscription information, contact:
Compass Direct News
P.O. Box 27250
Santa Ana CA 92799-7250
USA
TEL: 949-862-0304
E-mail: info@compassdirect.org
www.compassdirect.org
Subj: Egypt to rule on apostasy - 1 July 2007
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
A hugely important appeal is presently being considered by Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court. The judgment is due to be handed down on Sunday 1 July 07.
This apostasy case has had virtually no coverage in English language media. The appeal, which bears striking similarity to Lina Joy's appeal in Malaysia, has been filed by 45 Copts (Egypt's indigenous, traditionally Christian people) who had either converted to Islam for various reasons or been deemed Muslim on account of their parents' conversion to Islam. These 45 Copts want to officially return to their Christian faith and be legally recognised as Christians on their national identity cards.
For Copts, this process of re-conversion to Christianity requires a court ruling. In more tolerant times the courts have been lenient towards the Copts and ruled to permit the re-conversion. But on 24 April 2007 these 45 Copts discovered that the times have definitely changed, because for them permission was denied. They decided to appeal.
During the 18 June appeal, the Copts' attorney, Coptic lawyer Naguib Gabriel, decried the fact that through the ruling of the lower court, "the government is forcing people to embrace beliefs against their free will. It is forcing them according to their official papers to belong to a religion they don't believe in." Meanwhile the attorney for the government argued that the initial verdict issued on 24 April by Judge Muhammad Husseini was "completely consistent with the principles of Islamic sharia law".
Egypt's Islamic scholars have been divided, with moderates advocating that apostasy should only be prohibited for those born Muslim; and fundamentalists maintaining that Islam decrees that any apostate should be executed. Egypt's Interior Minister Habib el-Adly takes the fundamentalist view and has publicly supported the initial ruling. Compass Direct reports, "The interior minister insisted that Islam, as the state religion of Egypt, demands that any Muslim man who abandons his faith should be killed. But a Muslim woman 'apostate' should only be imprisoned and beaten every three days until she returns to Islam."
Compass Direct notes: "Although there is no legal means for Egyptian Muslims who have converted to Christianity to register a change in religious status, this prohibition has yet to be tested in the courts."
But there can be little doubt that the prohibition on Muslim conversion to Christianity will be tested in the courts soon. Escalating Islamic radicalisation and intolerance, and the amazing and dynamic growth in Arab Christianity are destined to clash in the courts eventually. In the face of rising repressive intolerance, Arabs will demand their right to liberty.
Let the debate begin!
Elizabeth Kendal
------------------------------------------------------------
Egyptian Copts Appeal Religious Identity Ruling
Interior minister demands execution of Christian 'apostates.'
by Barbara G. Baker
ISTANBUL, June 25 (Compass Direct News) – Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court heard a final appeal last week for 45 Coptic Christian citizens who were denied their attempt to legally reclaim their Christian identities after officially converting to Islam.
Of the 45 plaintiffs, half were adults when they changed the required religion section on their national identity cards from Christian to Muslim. The remainder were children whose Coptic parents had become Muslims. All have declared they want to return to their Christian faith.
Arguing before presiding Judge Essam Eddin Abdel-Aziz on June 18, Coptic lawyer Naguib Gabriel declared that a lower administrative court's April ruling against his 45 clients' joint-action suit had "embarrassed the Egyptian government at an international level."
"This [refusal] says that the government is forcing people to embrace beliefs against their free will," Gabriel said. "It is forcing them according to their official papers to belong to a religion they don’t believe in."
Egyptian Christians can easily change their religious status to Muslim, which allows them to receive incentives ranging from employment and marriage options to custody of their children in divorce cases. But the nation's Muslims are not permitted to leave their religion for any other faith.
Gabriel presented an exhibit portfolio of 29 previous verdicts issued by the administrative courts to allow Copts to regain their Christian identities. None of these decisions handed down in the past three years had been challenged or appealed by the state.
The government's attorney, however, argued that the initial verdict issued on April 24 by Judge Muhammad Husseini was "completely consistent with the principles of Islamic sharia [religious law]." He accused the Coptic appellants of adopting Islam for the purpose of "religious manipulation."
Pending an expert legal opinion requested from a state commissar, the court declared it would announce its final verdict on Sunday (July 1). The higher court's ruling is not subject to further appeal.
'MANIPULATING' RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
In the initial court ruling, as reported by Al Ahram newspaper on April 26, the lower court had declared there was a "huge difference" between giving freedom of belief and "manipulating" this freedom by changing from one religion to another.
"Muslims have not forced anyone to believe in Islam, so they are not allowing anyone to desert Islam and leave it," the court was quoted as saying.
But in the same verdict, the court declared that according to the principles of Islamic law, no citizen can be forced to reveal his religious beliefs. It remained unclear whether this stipulation could allow Egyptian citizens to leave blank the religion section on their identity card.
According to a report published on May 8 in the weekly Sout el Oma newspaper, Interior Minister Habib el-Adly threw his support behind the ruling a week later.
In his May 1 memo to the administrative court, El-Adly requested blanket rejection of all cases involving Copts trying to return to their Christian identity after having converted to Islam.
The interior minister insisted that Islam, as the state religion of Egypt, demands that any Muslim man who abandons his faith should be killed. But a Muslim woman "apostate," he wrote, should only be imprisoned and beaten every three days until she returns to Islam.
The newspaper said El-Adly accused the several hundred Copts who have opened court cases to retain their Christian identity of "playing with religion" and disrupting national unity.
DANGEROUS DOUBLE STANDARD
But according to Dr. Muhammad el-Sayed, an expert in the Al Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies, such a verdict can be expected to fan religious hatred and sectarian strife in Egypt.
Quoted in Watani newspaper on April 29, El-Sayed stressed that the ruling contradicted the constitutional guarantee that all citizens are equal.
It is unclear whether the final ruling on July 1 will be enacted retroactively, cancelling previous court rulings that granted Coptic converts to Islam the right to return to their Christian birthright identity.
"We have to appeal this ruling," General Secretary Hafez Abu Saada of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights told Watani after the April ruling. "This is simply because we know that converting to Islam could be under pressure, such as getting a divorce or financial problems. So the individual has the right to choose his religion."
After the initial lower court ruling, Coptic lawyer Gabriel told Compass, "In practice, Egypt has a double standard for any citizen who wants to change his religion."
According to Article 47 of Law No. 143 of the Egyptian civil code, all citizens are required to carry on their person a national identity card. The law stipulates that a change in the citizen's name or religion can only be made by producing either a legal certificate or a court verdict authorizing the change.
"Those who convert to Islam only have to produce a formal certificate of conversion from Al-Azhar [Egypt's official Islamic establishment]," Gabriel said. "But for those coming back to Christianity, a certificate from the Coptic Patriarchate is not enough. They are also required to request a court verdict."
"This process takes at least two years in court," the lawyer noted.
Moderate Islamic scholars in Egypt contend that only birthright Muslims who attack the Islamic faith can be judged as "apostates." They exclude from this category any converts to Islam who later return to their previous faith.
But the Muslim Brotherhood and other hardliners insist that anyone who embraces the Muslim religion and then abandons it is an apostate who should be executed.
LEGAL STALEMATE FOR NON-MUSLIMS
Although next week's verdict will directly affect citizens from Christian background, it will also impact the legal stalemate against both the tiny Baha'i religious community and Egypt's growing number of ex-Muslims who have become Christians.
"This verdict indirectly targets converts to Christianity, and the Baha'is, too," one former Muslim in Cairo told Compass.
"During the past three years, it had become so much easier for former Christians to change back," he said, referring to the first watershed decision in April 2004, which permitted a Coptic-born woman who had converted to Islam to recover her legal Christian identity.
"Now, this ruling is saying, indirectly, that it is impossible to let any Muslim change his religious identity."
Although there is no legal means for Egyptian Muslims who have converted to Christianity to register a change in religious status, this prohibition has yet to be tested in the courts.
When a Baha'i couple launched such a test case several years ago, a landmark lower court ruling in April 2006 recognized the right of Egyptian Baha'is to state their religion on official documents. But six weeks later, the Supreme Administrative Court suspended the verdict and cancelled its implementation, followed by a final overruling of the decision in December 2006.
END
*** A photograph of Coptic lawyer Naguib Gabriel is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
**********
Copyright 2007 Compass Direct News
Compass Direct Flash News is distributed as available to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted by active subscribers only.
For subscription information, contact:
Compass Direct News
P.O. Box 27250
Santa Ana CA 92799-7250
USA
TEL: 949-862-0304
E-mail: info@compassdirect.org
www.compassdirect.org