An Egyptian Christian woman has been jailed for her father’s brief conversion to Islam over 40 years ago which made her legally a Muslim despite her official papers stating that she is a Christian, her lawyer said Thursday.
Shadia Nagui Ibrahim, 47, was sentenced Wednesday to three years in jail on the charge of fraud for stating she is a Christian on her marriage certificate, according to Agence France-Presse.
Under Egyptian law, a person’s official religion is based on the father’s religion.
Nagui Ibrahim’s father converted to Islam in 1962 after leaving home when she was two years old. Three years later he reconciled with her mother and returned home, re-converting back to Christianity. He had someone forge his document to say he was Christian.
In Egypt, it is extremely difficult to near impossible to officially change one’s religion from Islam. However, it is easy to officially change one’s religion to Islam.
The man who forged Ibrahim’s document was arrested in 1996 for creating dozens of false documents. In the process, the man confessed he made false papers for Ibrahim.
Authorities detained Ibrahim and informed Shadia that on paper her father and her are still Muslim.
Under Egyptian law it is illegal for a Muslim woman to marry a Christian man.
Although she was unaware of her father’s conversion, she was charged with “providing false information on official documents” for stating she was Christian on her 1982 marriage certificate, according to AFP.
Nagui Ibrahim was sentenced to three years in 2000 but her case was dropped. However, in August she was again detained and on Wednesday sentenced to three years after one brief court session, her lawyer said.
Her case follows another convert legal battle earlier this year which threw Egypt in an uproar. An Egyptian man who converted to Christianity from Islam, in an unprecedented act, sued Egypt for rejecting his application to officially change his religion on his identification papers.
Covert Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy was forced into hiding because Muslim extremists threatened to kill him for leaving Islam after his case made national headlines.
Egypt has no law banning conversion from Islam, but the country’s Muslims look upon apostasy very negatively with some even calling for punishment by death.
Egypt’s population of 80 million is about 90 percent Muslim and only about 10 percent Christian. Although the percentage of Christians in Egypt is small, it represents the largest Christian population in the Middle East.
Comments
Draven.
You are so mistaken. Seems history is not your strengh. Let's look at human rights violations of some ATHEIST systems like China, the former Soviet Union, Vietnam, or Cambodia. Let's look in history of secular goverments violations like Italy, Japan or Germany just 50 yeats ago. No bro, the reality is that waht causes one person to impose his rules over others even if they have to kill them is Pride, Egoism, Hate, in other words, Sin. It's man's deceitful heart.
So it is worthless to change the outer structures, if the heart remains unchange. Jesus (not religion) changes the heart!
Of all the religions on earth, Islam is the one that feels the most threatened. The Muslim's numerical supremacy is obviously not a comfort to them. What are Muslims afraid of? Is it possible that they know that if people heard about the love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus on the cross that it would have such a devastating impact on them and that they would come in droves to Christ? Are they scared about a gospel that tells people that God actually loves them? Let us pray for Muslims to be able to know the one true God.
Egypt has received over $50 billion in military aid from the US since 1975. $1.3 billion annually. Military aid that would no doubt be used to persecute Christians. You lot ought to sort that one out.
North American Christians need to thank God every day for our freedoms--while we still have them. I'm ashamed to say I hardly ever pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters.
This is what religion does when it has enough power, regardless of whether it's Christianity, Islam, or any other form of mythical fantasy worship.
http://dravenwriter.blogspot.com
The silence from the Christian "leaders" who signed a letter apologizing to Muslims clerics is deafening.
Nice place, Egypt. You have to have the government's approval to practice whatever religion you want.
This is the face of Islam. Even if you want to ignore the "fanatics" this is just normal, middle of the road Islam, our "ally". This is not happening hundreds of years ago, this is happening today. The persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ is being committed daily all over the world by Muslims and we have a group of Christian leaders making apologies for the Crusades...something just doesn't seem right.