VZCZCXYZ0025
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #0256 0421607
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 111607Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8118
INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS CAIRO 000256 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DRL/IRF FOR COFSKY 
NSC STAFF FOR PASCUAL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIRF PHUM PGOV EG
SUBJECT: EGYPTIAN COURT RULES AGAINST CONVERT 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU)  On January 29, the Cairo Administrative Court 
denied the petition of Mohamed Hegazy, a Muslim-born convert 
to Christianity, to change the religious affiliation on his 
national identification card from Islam to Christianity. 
While Hegazy has the right to appeal the decision, he will 
probably not do so because, according to his lawyer Gamal Eid 
of the Arab Network for Human Rights, the court dismissed the 
case because of "procedural defects," defects that an appeal 
cannot correct. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)   Following the court's decision, we met with Gamal 
Eid.  Eid told us that regardless of the procedural defects 
in the case (see below), Hegazy's case has merit and he would 
continue his efforts to secure Hegazy's rights, possibly by 
filing a lawsuit on behalf of Hegazy's wife, also a 
Muslim-born convert to Christianity.  Eid described the 
lawyer who originally filed the case on Hegazy's behalf in 
August 2007 as an "extremist" who sought to win the case 
through publicity.  He said this approach attracted other 
extremists, which while bringing Hegazy extensive public 
attention, did nothing to achieve official recognition of his 
conversion. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Eid told us that the most significant procedural 
defect in the case was that Hegazy's original lawyer, who 
subsequently withdrew, failed to file a statement from the 
Coptic or any other church certifying Hegazy's conversion. 
According to Eid, the Coptic Church is reluctant to issue 
such statements, but said that perhaps other denominations 
would.  Eid told us that Hegazy contemplated filing suit 
against the Coptic Church to obtain a certificate of 
conversion, but decided not to do so, aware that such a 
lawsuit would draw even more attention and controversy to his 
situation.  Hegazy intends to remain in Egypt, despite 
threats, and is hopeful that the government will ultimately 
permit him to officially document his conversion. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Comment: This appears to be the first time that a 
Muslim-born convert to Christianity has filed suit to obtain 
government recognition.  Because the court dismissed Hegazy's 
case on procedural grounds, a decision Eid told us was 
legally proper, it is difficult to use the case as a gauge of 
the Egyptian court system's position on religious freedom. 
The conversion of a Muslim-born Egyptian to Christianity is 
probably the most sensitive religious issue in the country. 
How Egypt's courts and bureaucracy respond to any subsequent, 
procedurally sound case brought by a Muslim-born convert to 
Christianity will be illustrative of the government's 
commitment to the guarantee of religious freedom contained in 
Egypt's Constitution. 
RICCIARDONE