Egypt: "The Disappearance, Forced Conversions, and Forced
Marriages of Coptic Christian Women in Egypt"

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
http://www.realcourage.org/2009/11/egypt-the-disappearance-forced-conversions-and-forced-marriages-of-coptic-christian-women-in-egypt/

http://bit.ly/2fGGMz

A new report entitled "The
Disappearance, Forced Conversions, and Forced Marriages of Coptic Christian
Women in Egypt" has been released by the Christian Solidarity
International and the Coptic Foundation for Human Rights on the ongoing
struggle for freedom and dignity of Coptic Christian women in Egypt.

: Coptic Christian Women Reportedly Kidnapped for
Forced Conversion to Islam (AINA)

Preface of the report
reads:

"Reports of Muslim men abducting and forcibly marrying and converting
Coptic Christian women and girls have filtered out of Egypt with increasing
frequency over the past decade. The emerging patterns of force, fraud and
coercion correspond to definitions of human trafficking used by the United
Nations and the U.S. Department of State., with the UN identifying it as a
'crime against humanity'.1 These violations of fundamental human rights
appear to be encouraged by the prevalence of cultural norms in Egypt - often
rooted in Islamic traditions – that legitimize violence against women and
non-Muslims. They appear to be further abetted by the tacit complicity of the
government as evidenced by its lack of willingness to thoroughly investigate
allegations of rape, abduction and abuse or to reinstate policies designed to
protect Egyptians from coerced conversion by educating potential converts of
the full implications of conversion."

"Details of trafficking cases involving Copts often reach the West through
desperately worried relatives of victims. When the Egyptian police fail to
find and return (or often even search for) victims of abduction, forced
marriage and conversion, some relatives summon the courage to release
information and photos to Coptic human rights organizations in the
diaspora."

"The violent abuse of Coptic women and girls in connection with forced
marriage and conversion is not altogether new. The Patriarch of the Coptic
Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III, protested against this phenomenon in 1976,
declaring: 'There is pressure being practiced to convert Coptic girls to Islam
and marry them under terror to Muslim husbands.'2 But the issue
has now reached boiling point within Egypt's Coptic community."

"As the prestigious Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly recently noted:

'It is the question of the alleged conversion and forced marriage of Coptic
girls to Muslim men that elicits the greatest passions. In July [2009] alone
three separate incidents received much publicity in the press. Pharmaceuticals
student Rania Tawfik Asaad was ostensibly abducted in Giza and forced to marry
a Muslim. Two other cases, those of Marian Bishai, Amira Morgan and Injy
Basta, also hit the headlines.'3 "

"Despite the accumulation of substantial evidence and the expressions of
concern by the most senior leader of the Coptic community, this aspect of
human trafficking has scarcely been acknowledged by the world’s most powerful
human rights institutions, including those dedicated to the issue of
trafficking in persons. The Coptic Foundation for Human Rights and Christian
Solidarity International (CSI) therefore commissioned an anti-trafficking
specialist, Michele Clark, and a Coptic women's rights advocate, Nadia Ghaly,
to undertake an investigation of allegations surrounding the abductions and
forced marriages and conversions to Islam in Egypt. They performed outstanding
pioneering work, interviewing victims, their relatives, lawyers, priests and
other Coptic community leaders."

"This report documents dozens of specific cases and demonstrates consistent
patterns used by the perpetrators, their victims, government and law
enforcement, and members of Egypt's faith communities. The report concludes
with a valuable set of practical and critical recommendations for the Coptic
community, the Government of Egypt and the international community. The
findings of Ms. Ghaly and Ms. Clark are deeply disturbing, and should
challenge human rights activists and institutions, especially those whose
mandate includes women’s rights and trafficking in persons, to undertake, as a
matter of urgency, further research into this form of gender and religious
based violence against Coptic women and girls in Egypt."

1 United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. "Human Trafficking."
U.S.
Department of State. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

2
Mary
Abdelmassih. AINA, "Family of abducted Christian Coptic Teenager Assaulted by
Muslim Mob", Cairo, June 9, 2009.

3 Al-Ahram Weekly
On-line, 3-9 September 2009; no.963

: Copt Myrna Hanna - AINA states she was "abducted 10
months ago, forced to convert to Islam and married by a 'customary marriage
contract' by Osama Hefnawy to his son Mohammad" (AINA)

: Copt Amira Morgan - Reportedly Kidnapped and Forced
Conversion to Islam (AINA)

: Copt Ingy Basta - Disappeared (AINA)

: Copt Marian Bishay - Reportedly Kidnapped and
Converted to Islam - 15 years old (AINA)

: Copt Irene Labib - Reportedly Kidnapped by Muslim
man (AINA)

: Copt Rania Tawfik Assad - Reportedly Kidnapped
(and Recovered) - Muslim Brotherhood Linked Group Member Sought Her
Forced Conversion to Islam (AINA)