Coptic Christians win right to revert to their faith

CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court — its highest civil court — has permitted 12 Coptic Christians who had converted to Islam to revert to their original faith, the second such recent victory for religious minorities in the predominantly Muslim nation. The Feb. 9 ruling, which overturns an April 2007 decision by a lower court, allows the 12 Christians to carry government identity papers indicating their religious choice.

Egypt’s secular courts often defer to Shariah, or Islamic law, which forbids conversions from Islam, in such circumstances, according to international human right’s experts. At least some of the Coptic Christians were men who converted to Islam in order to obtain a divorce, which is proscribed by the Coptic Orthodox Church.

"The judges’ decision marks a happy ending to an absurd and unnecessary court fight," said Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. The national identification cards are required for education, employment, financial transactions and other purposes. The Muslim identification subjected the Christians to Muslim family law and determined their children’s religion and education, according to Human Rights Watch, which says it has documented 211 similar cases in Egypt.