Aug. 22 marked the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, a day that was created by the United Nations five years ago to highlight the plight of minorities around the world who are persecuted for their religion or belief.
Religious persecution is on the rise globally, and it takes many forms. One form that is becoming increasingly popular is that of prolonged pretrial detention. Individuals from religious minorities are imprisoned after the authorities learn of their faith, but no official charges are brought. No trial takes place. The process itself is the punishment.
This is taking place in Egypt right now.
A 55-year-old father of five has been languishing in an Egyptian prison for two-and-a-half years for no reason other than his status as a religious minority.
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, a Yemeni citizen, was raised in a Muslim family and practiced Islam throughout his adult life in Yemen until he and his wife converted to Christianity. Because of her conversion, Abdo’s wife was murdered by her extended family — they covertly switched out her cooking oil with gasoline, causing an explosion when she was preparing breakfast one morning in 2014.
With Abdo and his children’s lives similarly at stake for their Christian affiliation, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees granted Abdo and his children refugee status and they fled to Egypt to seek asylum.
His family was settling into their new country until Abdo was arrested in December 2021. To this day he has not been officially charged with a crime, nor has he had an official court hearing. The government has given Abdo’s lawyers very limited access to him, allegedly citing him as a “security” risk.
His arrest came about after he and another man, Nour Girgis, who was born into an Egyptian Christian family, joined a Facebook group with other converts. The group provided what seemed like a safe and peaceful space for those who had converted to Christianity to discuss theological questions.
But shortly after participating in this group, both Abdo and Girgis were arrested. Girgis, like Abdo, has also been held in prison to this day, without official charges or an end in sight to his detention.
Egypt has one of the largest populations of Christian minorities in the Middle East, with approximately 16 million Christians living in the country, according to one estimate. The majority of Christians in Egypt are Coptic Christians, who are viewed differently by the authorities than converts from Islam to Christianity.
According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the persecution of Christians in Egypt has remained consistent over the last several years, with the government selectively protecting religious minorities.
Under Egyptian law, religious minorities, including those who leave Islam, have equal rights with Muslims. Article 64 of the Egyptian Constitution states that freedom of belief is absolute. However, only members of “revealed” religions (Muslims, Christians and Jews) can publicly practice their faith and build places of worship.
No law criminalizes or prohibits Egyptian Muslims from converting to Christianity. In practice, however, the authorities view conversions from Islam to Christianity as challenges to the authority of the state and catalysts for sectarian violence.
The principles of Shari’a law regulate the personal status and religious affairs of Muslims in Egypt. Under certain interpretations of Shari’a law, conversion from Islam to Christianity warrants the death penalty. The family members of Christian converts are also discriminated against and are targets of violence, threats and social exclusion.
As a result, many Egyptian converts are forced to lead a double life, where they profess their Christian faith in private and act publicly as Muslims.
Those who choose not to live in secret risk not only societal discrimination and harassment but also state punishment. Numerous laws in Egypt are routinely used to get around the state’s official protection of minorities and punish converts.
For example, Article 98(f) of the Egyptian Penal Code criminalizes actions or expressions of “unorthodox religious views, including…disparaging or contempt of any divinely-revealed religion or its adherents, or prejudicing national unity or social harmony.” Such vaguely worded laws allow the authorities leeway to criminally prosecute religious minorities at their discretion.
Most commonly, Christian converts are detained over false accusations of “terrorism” but are never officially charged or tried, as there is no evidence to substantiate such allegations.
Terrorism is defined broadly in Article 86 of the Egyptian Penal Code and includes “all use of force, violence, threatening or frightening” with a goal of “disturbing public order, or exposing the safety and security of society to danger.” It also prohibits “preventing or obstructing the work of public authorities, worship houses or educational institutions, or interrupting the application of the constitution, laws or statutes.”
Terrorism laws have been used as weapons against minority groups, including Jews, who were prohibited by the Supreme Administrative Court in 2020 from observing their annual Abu-Hasira celebration.
Earlier this month, Abdo announced in a heartbreaking letter to his wife and children that he would start a hunger strike to protest his unjust and unlawful detention. The lack of due process has brought him to a breaking point. With no charges or upcoming hearings to give him hope of release, he is protesting the injustice against him with the only means he has left, his very life. With his health rapidly deteriorating, it is feared that his days are very limited.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who also serves as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Global Human Rights Subcommittee and co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said that it is now “more urgent than ever” that Abdo be released. Smith asked the government of Egypt to “release Abdo into a safe situation,” and appealed to the UNHCR to “protect and prioritize vulnerable or endangered applicants, including Christian converts from Islam and those accused of blasphemy.”
As Smith is well aware, it is not uncommon for prisoners of conscience to die in custody. Since 2022, individuals who were wrongfully imprisoned because of their religious beliefs and breathed their last breaths in custody include Dzhemil Gafarov in Russia, Asghar Kalar in Pakistan, Abune Antonios in Eritrea, Mahsa Amini in Iran and Phan Van Thu in Vietnam.
International pressure in Abdo’s case has been lacking, with the conflict in the Middle East leaving little air space for individuals across the region who are suffering grotesque human rights abuses unrelated to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. U.S. diplomatic pressure, which is historically strong in cases such as Abdo’s, has dwindled as diplomatic relational capital is being reserved for a resolution in Gaza.
In light of the difficult relational dynamics the U.S. government is in, members of Congress, like Smith, have an opportunity and an obligation to fill the void and pressure Egypt to release Abdo and Girgis. It can also threaten punitive measures as outlined in the International Religious Freedom Act if these cases are not swiftly addressed.
Kelsey Zorzi serves as director of advocacy for Global Religious Freedom with ADF International. She leads efforts to address and counter global persecution against Christians and other religious minorities.