Mohammed Hegazy (Photo courtesy of Compass Direct)
Egypt (MNN) ― Egyptian authorities raided a Christian bookstore in Cairo March 15 and arrested Shenouda Armia Bakhait, a bookstore employee. He was interrogated for several hours and then released on bail.
Voice of the Martyrs' Todd Nettleton says police also seized the Nile Christian Book Shop store records. Why the raid?
Nettleton says human rights advocate groups suspect it was because an Egyptian Christian, Mohammed Hegazy, had visited the store the previous day.
Hegazy was the first convert to petition the religious court to officially change his religion following his conversion to Christianity. "It's against Islamic law for a Muslim to leave the faith, and so they denied his request to change his ID. He apparently had been to this Christian bookstore just the day before. It's unclear if the police were following him and that's how they came on the store, or if they were watching the store anyway and just picked this particular day to raid."
Although the constitution allows for freedom of conversion, new Christians are often treated with disdain. Still, there are some improvements.
According to Voice of the Martyrs Canada last month, an Egyptian court has ruled that 12 Christians who converted to Islam and then reconverted to Christianity can have their faith officially recognized.
The decision overturns a lower court ruling which said the state need not recognize conversions from Islam because it constituted "apostasy," an act often treated as a capital crime in the Muslim world.
Even with this victory, there is a long way to go in freedom for believers. Nettleton confirms ministry to believers in this area. "In Egypt, that means providing Christian literature, providing Bibles, as well as providing other ministry tools to help them reach out to their Muslim friends and neighbors."
Pray for those facing economic and social challenges because of their Christian faith. Pray, too, that the ministry of churches in Egypt will continue and that the Gospel will be preached throughout this nation.
