A Coptic Christian blogger arrested in Egypt on false charges of insulting Islam, then held for almost two years without charge under the country’s Emergency Law, has been released from prison.
Hani Nazeer, 31, a high school social worker and blogger, was arrested Oct. 3, 2008, in response to a link to a Coptic website he placed on his web log, “The Preacher of Love.”
The Coptic website had a link to an online copy of “Azazil’s Goat in Mecca,” a controversial book written in response to “Azazil,” a novel critical of Christianity.
During his imprisonment, Nazeer said he was beaten, pressured to convert to Islam and was exposed to constant deprivation.
Because of recent reforms to the Emergency Law, Nazeer was released July 22.
Some of the 30 hardened criminals housed with him in a single cell tried repeatedly to convert him to Islam, he said.
Nazeer said he wasn’t tortured individually, but that on one occasion guards beat him and other prisoners with sticks during a visit by a police major.
He said he was able to get a Bible in prison and was even able to discuss Christ with two ethnic Copts who were incarcerated on felony charges.
In May, Egypt amended the Emergency Law to stipulate that only people suspected of committing terrorist acts or of selling illegal narcotics could be arrested.
Azza Taher Matar, a member of the International Relations Unit at the Arabic Center for Human Rights Information, said it is likely that the reforms to the Emergency Law will lead to authorities filing more charges of religious defamation against people in an effort to work around changes to the
law. (CD)
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