The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) has postponed till 16 May ruling on the case of legalising the religious status of Muslim converts who wished to revert to their Christianity. The Interior Ministry had denied these re-converts the right to cite their religion as “Christian” in legal documents, despite a lower court ruling in their favour in February 2008. The SAC demanded expert legal opinion on the matter from the State Commission Authority which promptly presented its report to the court in favour of the re-converts.
The postponement of a ruling has aroused the ire of the plaintiffs and their lawyers who saw the move as uncalled-for procrastination.
Muslim killed by Copt
Last week, sectarian tension erupted in the district of Karmouz, Alexandria during the funeral of Mohamed Abdel-Razeq, 36, who was killed by his Coptic neighbour Ayman Nagi. During his funeral, hundreds of Muslims cried for revenge from the Copts; they began throwing stones at Coptic-owned houses and businesses, breaking the windows of two shops. The police cordoned off the area in order to prevent acts of violence.
Alexandria governor General Adel Labib said that the Copt and Muslim had had a fight last January following which the Copt moved with his family to another house, but someone recently informed Nagi that Abdel-Razeq had broken into his closed flat in Karmouz. Nagi fought with Abdel-Razeq and stabbed him, but he died in the hospital the following day. The incident is definitely criminal, General Labib said, not sectarian.
Church closedScores of Christians conducted a sit-in to protest against the closure of the Evangelical church of Sabaa village in Samalout, Minya, Upper Egypt. The church was built four years ago and serves 50 Christian families, but application for its licence has been lying in the drawers of officials, with no response, for a full year.