Court suspends Mohammed Hegazy's lawsuit
pending outcome of separate case.
CAIRO, Egypt, May 17
(CDN) -
An Egyptian
convert to Christianity said he is devastated by a recent court decision
to suspend a lawsuit he filed to change the religion on his
identification card from Muslim to Christian.
The First
District of the Court of the State Council on April 27 suspended
Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy's case until the Constitutional Court rules on a
challenge to Article 47, a section of the civil code that in theory
allows Egyptians to change the religion listed on their ID card.
Hegazy,
27, said the suspension endangers his children's welfare and will force
them to lead a double life indefinitely - at home they will be taught
to live in accordance with the Bible, and outside it they will be taught
to live according to the Quran.
If they ultimately decide to
follow Jesus, Hegazy said, his children will be declared "apostates" and
be persecuted the rest of their lives for "leaving Islam." Hegazy, who
has suffered severely after Egypt's religious authorities declared him
an apostate, including being imprisoned by State Security Investigations
(SSI) several times, said he filed the case so his children would avoid
the same fate.
"I didn't want them to have to go through the
same harassment and persecution that I went through," he said. "My
daughter won't be able to go to school without constantly fearing for
her safety. She might even be killed simply because she is my daughter."
Hegazy is arguably the most well-known Muslim convert to
Christianity in Egypt. He rose to national prominence in August 2007
when he became the first Muslim convert in Egypt to sue for the right to
change the religious status on his identification card to "Christian."
Hegazy said he became a Christian in 1998 after seeking God during
a period of intense study of religion. In his final assessment, he
said, he found that Islam was void of the love and forgiveness found in
Christianity.
Not long after his conversion, Hegazy said, he
was arrested by SSI agents who tortured him for three days. In 2001, the
SSI arrested Hegazy for writing a book of poems critical of the agency,
which has been accused of abusive practices to preserve the regime. In
2002, the SSI arrested Hegazy and held him for more than two months in a
prison he compared to a "concentration camp."
In addition to
the government response to his conversion, Hegazy said his mother and
father have attacked him repeatedly for becoming a Christian.
"In
the culture in Egypt, for a person to change his religion, it's a big
deal because it's a question of honor and tradition," Hegazy said. "My
dad and my mom took it in a really bad way and would beat me."
Hegazy
married another convert from Islam, Katarina, in 2005. Katarina also
wants her ID changed but fears government reaction; there are numerous
reports circulating among Egyptian Christians about female converts
being arrested and tortured by the SSI or simply disappearing in Egypt's
prison system under Egypt's Emergency Law. Renewed last week for
another two years, the law grants the government broad powers of
arbitrary incarceration that human rights groups have roundly
criticized.
Delay Tactic
When Hegazy filed
his suit in 2007, he and his wife were expecting their first child.
Overnight, Egyptian media propelled him into the national limelight. And
the persecution got much worse.
Two religious scholars from
Al-Azhar University, one of the leading voices of Islamic thought in the
Middle East, publicly declared it was legal to kill Muslims that
convert to Christianity. In one incident, extremists surrounded a home
where Hegazy had once lived and stayed there for several days. In
another incident, a group of men ransacked and set fire to Hegazy's
apartment while he was away.
Throughout his legal proceedings,
several of Hegazy's attorney's have dropped out of the case after
receiving death threats, being sued or being arrested. On Jan. 28, 2009,
a court ruled that Muslims were forbidden to convert to another
religion and ordered Hegazy to pay the costs of hearing his case. He
appealed.
Hegazy lives in hiding. Unable to work, the former
journalist is supported by friends and other Christians. Last month's
ruling will likely delay a decision in Hegazy's case for several years
and keep him and his family in limbo.
"The court is using this
decision as a way of delaying having to make an ultimate decision,"
Hegazy said.
The couple's first child, Mariam, is now 2 years
old, and their second child, Yousef, is 3 months old. Because Hegazy and
his wife are unable to change their ID to reflect their true faith, the
government lists both of their children as Muslims. If they choose to
become Christians, they will be considered apostates who, in accordance
with longstanding interpretation of the guiding scriptures of Islam,
must be killed by faithful Muslims.
"It makes me feel like
religion in Egypt isn't something you can choose by your own free will;
it's something that you are forced to be, and nobody has a choice to
choose what their religion is," Hegazy said. "It bothers me a lot
because my kids know they are being brought up as Christians in their
home and their parents are Christians, but they can't practice their
religion outside the house."
Inconsistent Rules
Every
Egyptian citizen age 16 or older must carry a state-issued ID card that
is required for opening a bank account, enrolling children in school
and for starting a business, among other activities. Religious identity
also determines to which civil or family court one is subject.
Of primary importance to Hegazy is that the religion indicated on the
ID card determines what religious education classes a child is required
to take in school.
There is a stark contrast in Egypt between
the treatment of Christians who want to change the religious affiliation
on their ID card to Islam and Muslims who want to change their
affiliation to Christianity. Generally speaking, because Muslims
consider the preaching of Muhammad to be the last of three revelations
from God to man, in practice "freedom of religion" in Egypt means only
the freedom to convert to Islam.
Article 47 of Egypt's
constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but the constitution also
states that Islam is the official religion of Egypt. Article 2 of the
constitution states that Islamic law, or sharia, is "the principle
source of legislation" in Egypt.
The difference between the
treatment of converts to Christianity and converts to Islam is
illustrated in the case of Samy Aziz Fahmy. The week before the court
postponed Hegazy's case, Fahmy, a Coptic Christian from Saayda village,
changed his legal status to Islam. He received his ID card reflecting
his new religion on the same day he applied for it - on the day he
turned 18, the legal age for conversion.
"I think it's very
weird and not fair that when Christians want to convert to Islam there's
no problem, their papers go through and there's no discrimination
against them," Hegazy said. "But when Muslims want to convert to
Christianity, all of the sudden it's a big deal."
Hegazy is
not alone in his legal battles. After he filed his case, other Muslim
converts sought court action to change their IDs. Like Hegazy, most are
in hiding of some sort. Hegazy's lead attorney, Ashraf Edward, said he
is working on several ID cases. He estimates there are more than 4
million converts to Christianity who want to change the religion listed
on their ID, though the basis for that figure is unclear.
"There
are a lot of people who want to change their ID, but they're afraid of
turning it into a court case because they don't want to be persecuted,"
Edward said.
International Condemnation
Human
rights groups and government agencies around the world have condemned
Egypt for its record on religious freedom. In a report issued earlier
this month, the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom outlined Egypt's problems with identification cards and the
treatment of converts from Islam, taking note of Hegazy's case.
"The
Egyptian government generally does not recognize conversions of Muslims
to other religions," the report states. "Egyptian courts also have
refused to allow Muslims who convert to Christianity to change their
identity cards to reflect their conversions. In the first such case,
brought by Muhammad Hegazy, a lower court ruled in January 2008 that
Muslims are forbidden from converting away from Islam based on
principles of Islamic law. The court also stated that such conversion
would constitute a disparagement of the official state religion and an
enticement for other Muslims to convert. Hegazy, who has been subjected
to death threats and is currently in hiding, has appealed the ruling."
The report cited numerous other problem areas in regard to freedom
of worship in Egypt, and the country remained on USCIRF's Watch List
for 2010. Egypt has been on the list since 2002. Among the changes
USCIRF said are necessary in Egypt is how religion is reported on
Egypt's national ID card.
The commission said Egypt must
"ensure that every Egyptian is protected against discrimination in
social, labor, and other rights by modifying the national identity card,
either to omit mention of religious affiliation or make optional any
mention of religious affiliation."
END
