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A Christian mother recently lost a custody battle for her 13-year-old Christian twins to their Muslim father in Egypt, but vows that she will not give up her children even if it means having a criminal record for not complying with court order.
Kamilia Gaballah has fought her ex-husband, Medhat Ramses Labib, in 40 different cases since he left her and converted to Islam in order to remarry in 1999, according to persecution watchdog group Compass Direct News.
Since their separation, Gaballah has raised her sons as Christians and they are said to hardly know their father. The twins have publicly stated that they want to live with their mother and will go on a hunger strike if forced to live with their estranged father and his new wife.
In addition to the children’s desire to live with their mother, the Egyptian law also states that all children under the age of 15 years old will be under the custody of their mother.
Even Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, the country’s most respected Islamic scholar, has issued a fatwa (religious ruling) that said Gaballah should have custody of her sons.
But the Appeal Court of Alexandria ignored Egyptian laws and the children’s wishes and ruled on Sept. 24 that twins Andrew and Mario should be raised by their father and his new wife.
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“This decision was dangerous because it was not taken in accordance with Egyptian law but according to sharia (Islamic) law,” said Naguib Gobraiel, Gaballah’s lawyer and president of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations.
“They want to stay with their mother,” said Gobraiel. “They don’t know anything about Islam and sharia. They are Christians and go to church on Sundays.”
The lawyer emphasized that the ruling by the Appeal Court judge is not even based on sharia but is arbitrary since the country’s State Mufti granted custody to the mother in April 2006.
Ramses, 21, the older brother of the twins, accused the judge of being biased in favor of his father because he converted to Islam.
Their mother, Gaballah, said, “I am so sad and afraid about their (twins’) psychology because they are facing something that is fundamentally against all the principles I have taught them.”
She added, “I cannot see how I can comply with the people who are taking my rights away from me and taking my children from me to give them to an unworthy father and another woman.”
If the twins are forced to live with their father, they legally have the right to choose whom to live with in two years, when they turn 15. But given that the court did not adhere to Egyptian custody law in this case, it is most likely that it will again not allow the boys to choose who to live with once they reach that age.
“How can they think we live in a civilized and secular country when they are applying sharia law on us?” lawyer Gobraiel demanded. “We will send a message to human rights organizations in Egypt and around the world to help us. We are angry and we want to declare it!”
Egypt has the largest Christian population in the Middle East, making up about 10 percent of the country’s population. But in recent years sectarian violence and intolerance towards Christians have increased.
