WATANI International
28 June 2011
The administrative court, headed by Judge Kamal al-Lamei, has rejected the case by Islamist lawyers that the Coptic Orthodox Church is holding Kamelia Shehata, the wife of the priest Taddaus Samaan of Deir Mawwas in Minya, Upper Egypt, against her will.
Shehata who had left her home back in July 2010 following domestic problems, was found a few days later by the police and returned to her church and family. Islamists since then claimed Shehata had converted to Islam and was being held by the Church to force her to remain Christian. Despite official declarations by al-Azhar, the only body in Egypt authorised to enact Islamic conversions, that Shehata had never so much as stepped into al-Azhar, and despite her appearance with her husband and little son on TV to declare they were back as a family together, Islamists held their stance. They staged countless violent, abusive demonstrations in Alexandria and Cairo demanding that she be handed over to them, and went to court requesting her appearance in public to declare her religion.
Today the court rejected the case of the Islamic lawyers on grounds that there was no evidence that Shehata was being held by the Church. The court heard the testimony of Anba Ermiya, secretary to Pope Shenouda III, and Bishop of Deir Mawwas Anba Aghabius who both denied Shehata was captive by the Church.