Published on: 23 October 2024
DOHI STAFF
Can you be arrested in Egypt for simply discussing your Christian faith with Muslims in a Facebook group? Tragically, the answer is ‘yes!’
Though religious freedom conditions continue to slowly improve in Egypt, the government’s active enforcement of blasphemy laws and harsh restrictions on religious expression not only make life uncomfortable for the country’s religious minorities, but downright intolerable.
Egyptian Christian Nour Fayez Ibrahim Gerges is currently being detained on charges of blasphemy and terrorism in connection with the creation of a Facebook group he used for the evangelistic purposes of discussing his Christian faith, as well as a vehicle for helping people interested in changing their religion from Islam to Christianity.
On November 1, 2021, Gerges was told to report to a local police station by his employer. Once there, authorities placed Gerges under arrest. His whereabouts were not made immediately known to family and friends.
On December 25, 2021, Gerges appeared before a state security prosecutor and was charged with leading a terrorist group and despising monotheistic religions.
In February 2023, the Cairo Criminal Court reinstated his detention.
In June 2024, it was reported that Gerges was being held in Al-Ashir Prison in Al-Ashir City. No trial date has been set as far as the USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom) knows.
Reports from advocacy groups state that Gerges has been subject to abuse and torture by Egyptian prison officials.
“Door of Hope International calls on the Egyptian government to immediately release Christian activist Nour Fayez Ibrahim Gerges from detainment. The investigation against him should be closed at once and no further legal action be taken against him. It is every man’s human right to express his religious opinions!” Paul H. Popov, President of DOHI
