Thirty-year-old Said Mansour Rezk Abdelrazek is due to stand trial at Egypt’s Terrorism Circuit Court on 15th June and faces a potential life imprisonment or death sentence.
The fiancée of an Egyptian man who is facing trial over converting to Christianity has issued an urgent appeal for journalists to “break the silence” over what she describes as “state-sanctioned religious persecution”.
He is officially recorded as an international religious prisoner of conscience by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
Sophie F who is Australian has joined Amnesty International’s “Urgent Action” appeal to bring attention to a “severe, time-sensitive international human rights crisis unfolding in Egypt”. They say Said's only "crime" is converting from Islam to Christianity and attempting to legally update his religious designation on his national identity card so he can marry his fiancé in a church.
According to his partner, following his conversion to Christianity, Egyptian authorities targeted him through arbitrary arrests and surveillance. In 2018, Said fled to Russia, where he sought asylum and obtained temporary protection status for a year. In 2024, the Russian authorities deported him back to Egypt where campaigners say he was subjected to horrific physical torture, including being severely beaten and suspended for hours in a "crucifixion" position to force him to renounce his Christian faith. He has steadfastly refused to return to Islam.
The campaign says Said’s case “exposes a deeply disturbing systemic reality” that “Egypt routinely weaponises anti-terrorism laws to silence peaceful citizens and religious minorities”. Freedom of religion or belief is part of Egypt’s constitution and the campaign says that by prosecuting private faith as a national security offence, it is in breach of its own laws.
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