September 28, 2008

• Egypt: Former Muslim still in hiding one year after conversion to Christianity

  by Ethan Cole, Christian Post

  Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 11:46 (BST)

  Egypt’s most well-known convert to Christianity is still hiding a year
  after he filed the landmark case to become the first Egyptian Muslim to
  sue the government for rejecting his application to officially change
  his religion.

  Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy, 25, had lost his case in January when an
  Egyptian judge ruled that a Muslim who converted to Christianity cannot
  legally change his religious status.

  Now, eight months after his case was closed and a year after he filed
  the case, Hegazy is still hiding out of fear for his life.

  Since January 29 when the court ruled against him, Hegazy, his wife and
  baby daughter have had to move five times, according to the persecution
  watchdog agency, Compass Direct News.

  “The verdict for my case was discriminatory [on the part] of the
  judge,” Hegazy told Compass in an interview last month. The judge had
  based his decision on Islamic law that says someone can convert “up”,
  or to more recent religions, such as from Judaism and Christianity to
  Islam, but not vice versa.

  But even after the media stopped reporting on his case, Hegazy said he
  still remains a target – as all converts do – of Islamic militants.

  During the trial, Hegazy’s face was splattered across TV channels and
  newspapers, making him easy to recognize to any extremists.

  “The most difficult thing for me is that the lives of my wife and daughter are in danger all the time,” Hegazy said.

  He recalled last October that a friend had called and said one of his
  lawyers had given authorities his address and he should quickly move.

  Hegazy and his family moved immediately and within a day the
  fundamentalists came to attack them. The extremists camped around his
  former house for several days and set fire to the apartment next door
  to his, killing the female resident inside.

  The female neighbour was his wife’s best friend who had helped them during their difficult time in hiding.

  “The church denied that she was killed, and it was never reported publicly,” he said.

  Hegazy dreams that he and his family can leave the country someday, but
  they do not have passports. Obtaining passports would require them to
  go back to their hometowns where Hegazy says they will be killed as
  soon as they arrive.

  “Even if it’s not family, others will do it, so I can’t take that risk,” he said.

  A convert is “stuck” between the pressure from an Islamic government, Islamic society, and a weak church, Hegazy said.

  He does not think his case alone can be resolved, but thinks a change
  is possible if Egyptian converts overseas and in Egypt filed a joint
  case.

  Human rights groups also need to push harder for convert cases, he said.

  Egypt has the largest Christian population in the Middle East, which makes up about 10 per cent of the country’s population.

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