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| Africa: North |
| Copt Jailed and Tortured in Egypt for Trying to Marry Muslim in Allanland |
| 2004-12-04 |
| From Compass Direct An Egyptian Christian jailed without charges since March 2003 has become emotionally disturbed and lost vision in one eye from torture and lack of medical treatment, his widowed mother declared last week. Initially detained for 52 days at Lazogly, Cairo's notorious State Security headquarters, Hany Samir Tawfik has been continuously jailed since he was re-arrested 21 months ago, on March 3, 2003. Tawfik, 28, was arrested at the Cairo international airport upon his return from Saudi Arabia on June 15, 2002. Saudi authorities had reportedly deported him back to Egypt, saying the Coptic Christian had been suspected of wanting to marry a Muslim girl and convert her to Christianity. ..... However, no known charges were filed against Tawfik before an Egyptian court. So after nearly two months of what the young man's family and acquaintances described as "severe mistreatment" at Lazogly, he was set free. But seven months later, he was again arrested by security police, who sent him to Torah Prison near Helwan, outside Cairo. Several months later, he was transferred to Al-Gharbaliat Prison, located in the desert near Alexandria, where he now remains. According to Tawfik's family and church sources, police re-arrested him when he refused their demands to spy on an evangelical Christian pastor known to be ministering among Muslim converts to Christianity. "Hany said after the police picked him up, they showed him the house of this pastor and said they would only release him if he agree to spy on him and his activities," his mother told Compass. "When he refused, they put him in jail." The pastor in question confirmed to Compass that he had known Tawfik three years ago, when he began attending a Coptic evangelical church. "I consider him my spiritual son," the pastor said. Although Egypt's constitution and laws do not specifically prohibit proselytizing, individuals suspected of helping Muslims convert to Christianity are subject to heavy police harassment and regularly arrested for either "insulting heavenly religions" or "inciting sectarian strife." First registered as a political prisoner, Tawfik was re-classified in January 2004 under criminal statutes. His most recent case file number, issued by the Abbassiya Police Station in Cairo on August 3, was listed as No. 13826. Although lawyers have submitted court objections to Tawfik's detention without charges, the police have used Emergency Law regulations to re-arrest him every 45 days, minutes after the court orders him released. Security authorities approached by the local press and diplomatic missions claim Tawfik remains in jail awaiting a decision from the interior minister on his case, which allegedly involves issues of "national security." Tawfik's mother said State Security officer Ahmet Mustafa told her bluntly, "Forget your son!" But he refused to say why he was under arrest. The officer claimed he had no jurisdiction over her son, whose case he said was being handled in person by Egypt's interior minister, Habib el-Adly. Tawfik's mother has appealed directly to Interior Minister Habib el-Adly to release her son in an open letter published by two Cairo newspapers. Watani newspaper printed her letter of appeal on October 17, followed by the liberal El-Osboa weekly on November 8. His mother's persistence to win her son's release has brought repercussions from State Security officials. Once last year, two police officers knocked at her door at 4 a.m., forcing her to get up and accompany them to the police station to "discuss" her son's case with them. "I have been suffering over my son for nearly two years now, without any hope," Tawfik's mother said. Her son has been brought back to a police station in Cairo's Shobra district at least twice, presumably to appear briefly in court. Although unable to visit him since he was moved to Al-Gharbaliat, his mother has been allowed to meet him a few times in the police station, she said. Tawfik complained of "black water in my right eye" this past spring in letters shown to Compass which he wrote from prison. "He has lost complete use of his right eye now," his mother said. Tawfik's mother said her son told her the police had taken away his Bible and destroyed it in front of him. "He cried when the authorities ripped it up and then went on to hit and beat him," she said. "He said they told him he was a 'special' case, so they had been told to give him extra suffering." .... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |