Release International

Release International, which serves persecuted Christians worldwide, is urging Egypt to release Christian convert Mohammed Hegazy, who was arrested for allegedly attempting to report that Christians were at risk from violence.

Release says Mr Hegazy's continued detention casts doubt on assurances of religious freedom in Egypt's new constitution, and reflects the vulnerability of Christians in Egypt - especially those from a Muslim background.

Mohammed Hegazy was detained in December. There are conflicting details, but it is thought he could have been researching attacks against Christians in Upper Egypt by Islamist extremists.

Security forces have charged him with contributing to a 'false image' that Christians in Minya were being targeted, and of stirring up sectarian violence.

Attacks against scores of Christian churches, homes and businesses by extremists have been widely reported by the media and human rights organisations, and have been verified first-hand by Release International.

'There was nothing "false" about that violence,' says Release's UK director Colin King, 'as Brotherhood supporters took their anger out on Christians in reprisal for the removal of President Morsi.'

In the latest attack, on January 28, gunmen opened fire on the Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in Giza, killing a security officer.

The authorities in Minya claim Mr Hegazy was filming for a Coptic Christian TV channel, which the TV company has categorically denied. Friends of Mr Hegazy believe the real reason for his arrest was because of his prominence as a convert to Christianity who had been jailed and tortured under the old regime for changing his faith.

Mr Hegazy, who is 31, has been described as Egypt's 'best-known convert from Islam'. He became a Christian in 1998, taking the name Bishoy Armia Boulous.

He received international media attention as the first Egyptian Christian convert to file a lawsuit to try to change the religious identity shown on his ID card. Death threats were made against him. Islamic scholars demanded his execution, and the minister for religious endowments publicly affirmed the legality of executing Muslims who converted to Christianity.

In January 2008, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled against Mr Hegazy, basing its ruling on Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution and Sharia (Islamic law).

Mr Hegazy's wife, Christine, also changed her faith. According to Mr Hegazy the tipping point was the issue of love. He wrote: 'Islam wasn't promoting love as Christianity did.'

According to press reports, parents on both sides have threatened to kill the couple and they have been ostracised by other family members. They had to go into hiding with their daughter Miriam.

'The continued detention of Mohammed Hegazy, as he is best known, reveals two things,' says Colin King of Release. 'The authorities are reluctant to face the truth about attacks against Christians, which are continuing, and converts to Christianity remain at serious risk despite the country's new constitution, which is supposed to protect religious freedom.

'Release is urging the Egyptian authorities to let Mohammed Hegazy go free, and to protect the country's Christian minority from further attack.'

Christians in Egypt have long been discriminated against in society and in the workplace. Their future remains precarious, believes Release, even though Egypt's new constitution appears to offer more rights to Christians and other minorities.

Egyptians voted overwhelmingly to endorse that constitution, which continues to uphold Islam as the state religion and Sharia law as the principal source of legislation.

The problem lies with the interpretation and application of the constitution, which will be applied solely by Islamic judges, as no provision has been made for Christians to serve as judges in Egypt.

Observers warn that without any mechanism to enforce the rights of Christians, those rights are likely to remain every bit as theoretical as they have in the past.