Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Cairo’s highest civil court has ruled that 12 Copts who converted to Islam and then reverted to Christianity can have their faith officially recognised.
The decision overturns a lower court ruling which said the state need not recognise conversions from Islam because it constituted apostasy, an act that in the Muslim world is often treated as a capital crime.
Egyptian law does not officially condemn apostates to death but discourages conversions as a threat to the nation. None the less, converts are often victims of acts of violence, marginalised by the dominant society and often murdered by Muslim fanatics or even family members.
“It’s a big step for religious freedom in Egypt,” said Ramsis Raouf el-Naggar, a lawyer who worked on behalf of the 12 converts. For him the ruling was a victory for freedom of religion.
Still the court’s decision will have a limited application since it is based on a very narrow interpretation of the law.
The judge ruled that Copts cannot be considered apostates for converting from Islam because they had been born Christian. Their re-conversion cannot therefore be considered apostasy.
Now the 12 men can have their identity papers changed to show their old religion, a requirement under Egyptian law.
One of them said that he was “happy” because now his children can be registered as Christian.
Local Christian sources told AsiaNews that in Egypt at least 10,000 Christians convert to Islam every year for a variety of reasons, including divorce (since the Coptic Church does not allow it), marrying a Muslim or pursuing a career in the public service and the armed forces.
This means that the court’s ruling cannot serve as precedent for Muslim-born converts whose conversion will still go unrecognised.
Last month, the same court ruled against Mohammed Hegazy, a Muslim who converted to Christianity and applied to have his official papers conform to his new religion.