Place Egypt on watch list, Commission on International Religious Freedom says

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is calling on the Trump administration to place Egypt on a watch list after a Christian man was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor for allegedly violating the country’s blasphemy laws “for his online content critical of Islam.”

“Egypt is systematically enforcing laws, policies, and judicial decisions that repress non-Muslim religious life for those who have expressed religious beliefs that deviate from the state’s endorsed interpretation of Islam,” the USCIRF said in a Jan. 28 statement. “In recent months, Egyptian state security has escalated detentions, particularly against Christians and nonbelievers for purported violation of Egypt’s blasphemy law.”

The statement comes after an Egyptian court sentenced a Christian man named Augustin Samaan to five years in prison for “contempt of religion.” In addition, the statement said new reports have found that 14 members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (Ahmadis), who have been detained since March, “have been pressured by Shiekhs from the state-backed Al-Azhar religious authority to renounce their faith.”

Samaan’s appeal hearing, which was originally scheduled for Jan. 26, has been postponed until Feb. 2 due to “difficulties in bringing the defendant to court,” raising concerns among advocates, according to Coptic Solidarity.

“The Egyptian government’s efforts to quash Egyptians’ right to religious freedom by detaining religious minorities, like Christian convert Said Abdelrazeq and nonbelievers Maged Zakaria Abdel Rahman and Sherif Gaber, is a violation of its obligations under international law,” USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler said in the release. “USCIRF urges the State Department to include Egypt on the Special Watch List for ongoing and systematic violations of [freedom of religion or belief].”

“USCIRF has previously commended the Egyptian government for various efforts, particularly the release of prisoners unjustly detained on religious charges,” USCIRF Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi added. “Now it is time to go to the root of the problem. The U.S. government should work with Egyptian authorities to repeal its blasphemy provision, Article 98(f), of its Criminal Code.”

USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, as amended. The commission monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad; makes policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress; and tracks the implementation of these recommendations.