| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa North |
| Egypt rules that only conversions to Islam are legal |
| 2008-02-04 |
| Campaigners have expressed shock and regret after an Egyptian judge ruled that it is only legal to convert to Islam, but not to any other religion. The ruling came in the case of Mohammed Hegazy, who was suing the Egyptian Interior Ministry for the right to change his religion from Islam to Christianity on his official identification. But last week Judge Muhammad Husseini ruled that it was only lawful to convert to Islam, and not to another religion. Hegazy’s lawyers told Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) that the judge argued in his ruling that Islam is the final and most complete religion, therefore to convert to a religion that preceded Islam is to insult the “great religion” and it cannot be allowed. The judgment was based on Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution which establishes sharia law as “the primary source of legislation”. Under traditional Islamic jurisprudence, apostasy, or converting from Islam, is punishable by death. Although Egyptian law does not criminalise conversion, CSW says that in practice converts from Islam to another religion often face legal barriers and risk serious harassment, ‘including torture at the hands of the security police’. Hegazy and his lawyers are now waiting for the full transcript of the court ruling to be released before deciding whether they can appeal the decision. His wife, Zeinab, is also considering lodging her own legal challenge to change her religion to Christianity. Since lodging the case, Hegazy and his wife have had to go into hiding as a result of threats made against them. Their daughter was born on January 10, 2008, while they were in hiding. Hegazy’s first lawyer, Mamdouh Nakhla, resigned from the case reportedly under duress. His current lawyers previously lodged a request to restart the court proceedings because of incomplete evidence presented to the court. However, the judge ignored this request when he rejected the case. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #7 The father responsible for the recent honor killings of both his daughters near Dallas boasted long before he killed them that murdering them would be legal in Egypt. As far as I am concerned Egypt and any other Muslim country is nothing but a thug ridden nation. |
| Posted by: www 2008-02-04 18:21 |
| #6 Nice vision sw. I'm a Lutheran, but if I was shopping for a faith, I'd try the one you describe. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. Dick Marcinko didn't call the CIA "Christians in Action" by accident... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-02-04 16:36 |
| #5 Alrighty then. Start their own branch and call it u'pyors islam. Declare a pubah, and issue a fartwart claiming, "That in order to understand the state mandated religion fully we must first completely understand the Holy Bible." Practice as a Christian fully, fartwhat #2: "Sand is on the ground. The desert sand is hot. Hot is the work of the devil. Therefore touching your head to the ground is communicating with the devil. Therefore we pray standing and kneeling." Adopt the Ankh as their symbol as it is a traditional Egypt symbol. Get a big-assed PR system and blast Ave Maria, Ode to Joy, Girls Wanna Have Fun, Eminem's Without Me, and Stuck Mojo 5 times a day with large subwoofers pointed outwards. Oh, and consolidate their district armed to the teeth. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-02-04 12:17 |
| #4 Expect a Canadian Human Rights Commission to reach the same decision. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-02-04 09:27 |
| #3 Take note Britain. This will be your pleasure shortly. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 2008-02-04 09:24 |
| #2 "There is no compulsion in religion." "But we're sure gonna act like there is." |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2008-02-04 08:16 |
| #1 Very progressive. This is why everything cool in Egypt was made 5,000 years ago. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-02-04 08:12 |