Tag: Egypt

Egyptian bishop advocates for convert rights

December 11, 2014 Egypt Churches, Constitution, Converts, Egypt, Religious freedom

Bishop Mounir Hanna Anis of the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt has declared that Egyptian Muslims who become Christians should be issued identity cards and other official documents, just as they are granted to citizens who convert to Islam from other religions. “The Egyptian Constitution guarantees freedom of belief. However, not all . . . Read More

Lawyer: ‘Egyptian convert’s arrest linked to leaving Islam’

December 9, 2014 Egypt Egypt, Minya, Mohammed Hegazy, Sharia, Upper Egypt

The first Egyptian citizen to attempt to change his legal religious identity from Muslim to Christian, Mohammed Hegazy, has been in jail for a year now, awaiting a verdict on separate misdemeanor charges, due on Dec. 28. Hegazy faces a five-year prison sentence if an appeal court upholds his conviction . . . Read More

‘Kidnapping,’ forced conversion and collective punishment haunt Egypt’s Copts

November 24, 2014 Egypt Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Kidnapping, Muslim Brotherhood, Samalut, Upper Egypt

It’s been two months since Coptic Christians in an Upper Egypt village endured a traumatic sequence of events ending in heavy police abuse. The victims still have not received any justice from the state security authorities who broke the law and violated its citizen’s human rights. On Sept. 16, in . . . Read More

Jailed Egyptian convert awaits appeal hearing

November 12, 2014 Egypt Egypt, Mohammed Hegazy, Port Said

Hegazy’s lawyer Karam GhobrialWorld Watch Monitor A jailed Egyptian Muslim convert to Christianity is scheduled Sunday, Nov. 16 to appeal his conviction on a misdemeanor — if he can get to the courtroom. But according to his lawyer, prison and security police officials have not confirmed they will permit . . . Read More

IS urges militants to target Egypt’s Copts

November 10, 2014 Egypt Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Suez

Islamic State leader Abu Musab al-Maqdisi has called on jihadists to target Egypt’s Copts and judges, saying, “Targeting, pursuing and killing them is a means to serve the cause of our chaste prisoners held by the tyrants.” Egypt’s most active Islamist militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, allegedly pledged allegiance to . . . Read More

‘Freedom of Religion’: comprehensive report launch

November 4, 2014 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Central African Republic, China, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Maldives, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Qatar, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zimbabwe

A report showing that religious freedom is compromised in nearly 60 percent of countries worldwide is expected to send a signal to governments and religious leaders that this is an issue that can no longer be ignored. The international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need’s Religious Freedom in . . . Read More

Gender equality suffers under faith restrictions

October 8, 2014 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, Women

The rights of women and girls declines rapidly, the greater a country’s level of religious intolerance, a new study claims. The study is by the Religious Freedom and Business Association, run by Brian Grim, former Pew Research Centre Religion expert. He analysed data from Pew’s Government Restrictions on Religion Index . . . Read More

Egyptian fire crew in no hurry to put out church fire

September 9, 2014 Egypt Cairo, Copts, Egypt

The pounding on the door shook Mina Hanna awake. A neighbour had urgent news: Fire at the church. It was 3 a.m. on Aug. 20. Hanna and his younger brother, Ibrahim Saber, ran to their church, Mar Girgis Coptic Orthodox, in the Sharara village in the centre of Abu Qurqas, . . . Read More

4 men abducted in Libya for being Christian

August 28, 2014 Libya Copts, Egypt, Libya, Sirte, Tripoli

The Libya Herald has reported that a family of four Egyptian men, who were targeted specifically because they are Christian, was kidnapped in Libya on August 27 near Sirte. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedom said they were travelling with three Muslims when they were abducted at a checkpoint . . . Read More

Egypt’s damaged churches begin to re-open

August 14, 2014 Egypt Beni Suef, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Sohag

A year after a wave of anti-Christian violence , 10 have re-opened, says the Coptic bishop overseeing church restoration. that Bishop Morcos of Shubra Al Khaimah said “the army in cooperation with some concerned companies” has restored the 10 churches, which are in the Beni Suef, Sohag and Minya governorates . . . Read More

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