A well-known Christian campaigner for religious liberty, Mohammed Hegazy,
has been detained in Egypt for allegedly inciting ‘sectarian strife’. Sources
are concerned he may be tortured.
Hegazy, 31 – now widely known by his Christian name, Bishoy Armia Boulos
– was arrested last Wednesday at a café in Minya, Upper Egypt. Security forces
claimed he’d been working for a Christian satellite TV channel and contributing
to a ‘false image’ that Christians in Minya are a target for
violence.
Boulos’s friends believe his arrest was yet another attempt to persecute
Egypt’s ‘best-known convert from Islam’. Boulos was the first Egyptian ever to
file a legal suit to seek to change his religious identity on his ID card. As a
result, he received death threats, forcing him into hiding. He had previously
been arrested and tortured because of his conversion.
The court ruled against him on the grounds that Sharia (Islamic law) forbids anyone to leave Islam.
An appeals court suspended his case indefinitely in 2010, to await a ruling by
the constitutional court on another case related to religious identity. Both
cases have been on hold since the 2011 revolution, as the constitution is
revised.
(Source: Morning Star News) Christian Post.