WATANI International
MARED (Egyptians against Religious Discrimination) was recently joined by some 30 rights groups in issuing a declaration concerning the situation of the twins Andrew and Mario Medhat Ramsis.
“The verdict issued on
The statement traced the story of the 13-year-old twins from 2000, when their father, Medhat Ramsis, deserted his family and converted to Islam. In 2005 Mr Ramsis demanded custody of the twins, clearly, it is claimed, to irritate their mother. He followed this with a demand that the twins convert to Islam, which bothered the twins and led them to rebel and refuse to take part in Islamic religion classes in school. The education minister responded to the mounting pressure for a postponement on a decision about studying Islam until the legal conflict was resolved.
In reference to Egyptian law, article no. 20 of the 1929 law, which was modified in 2005, stipulates that women have the right of custody until the child is 15. The Egyptian Constitution also approves the principle of citizenship and equality of all citizens before the law without discrimination. Accordingly, the statement said, the recent verdict breached the law and Constitution, which depended on the advantage of the father’s religion—in this case Islam—rather than the mother’s, which is Christianity.
The statement also said the verdict was in contradiction of international children’s rights agreements ratified by
MARED believes “the twins were exposed to a severe injustice when they were forced to convert to Islam for being in their father’s custody, and thus they were forcibly deprived from their mother.”
The group and its co-signatories called for several demands:
· The general-prosecutor’s office ought to do all it could to use his authority to appeal against the verdict.
· Both the National Council for Human Rights and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood should collaborate to put pressure on all the systems concerned with the aim of regaining the rights of the twins.
· Laws that disagree with the principle of equality between citizens and that promote religious discrimination should be reviewed to accord with the Constitution and the international treaties that