Source: http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/
Date: March 1, 2023
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 682
EGYPT: TWO COURT BATTLES CALL FOR PRAYER
by Elizabeth Kendal
Shenouda (centre) and his distressed adoptive parents.
THE CASE OF SHENOUDA: Five years ago, a Coptic priest found a newborn baby boy abandoned inside his church. Filled with compassion, the priest handed the infant into the care of a devout childless couple in his congregation. A security official explains: ‘This is not an isolated incident. Christian girls that get pregnant out of wedlock, abandon their newborns in or outside the church; it is not uncommon for priests to then give the babies away to childless couples or families they know will look after them’ (Al Monitor, 10 Feb 2023). The infant was baptised, named Shenouda, and granted a birth certificate in the family’s name: Boulos. However, Islam does not permit adoption; and because, as Article 2 of Egypt’s 2014 Constitution states, ‘The principles of Islamic Sharia are the principle source of legislation,’ [emphasis mine, to highlight the amendment of 1980], adoption is illegal in Egypt. In February 2022, when authorities were alerted to the illegal adoption, they seized the boy (aged 4), placed him in an orphanage, changed his name to Yusuf, registered him as a Muslim and banned his Christian adoptive parents from seeing him. The adoptive parents then filed a lawsuit to regain custody of Shenouda and reverse his conversion to Islam [see RLPB 664 (28 Sep 2022)].
The case has attracted much publicity, and the family, much sympathy. ‘Christians and Muslims alike have expressed their solidarity with the couple, with some urging the authorities to prioritise humanity over religion’ (Al Monitor, 10 Feb). In December, the president of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), Moushira Khattab (appointed by the government), expressed her hope that Shenouda would be able to celebrate Christmas ‘back home in the embrace of the family who have loved and cared for him all these years’. In a statement released on 6 February 2023, the NCHR announced that it had ‘joined the defence team in the case of the child Shenouda … which aims to reunite the alternative family in order to achieve the best interest of the child’. The NCHR insists that what the authorities have done ‘is contrary to the text and philosophy of Article 80 of the Constitution and contradicts the philosophy and essence of the Child Law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and minimum standards Child Rights'. A trial hearing at the beginning of February was adjourned until Saturday 18 March to give prosecutors time to review all the documents. This case has huge implications, not only for Shenouda and his adoptive parents, but for all Egyptian Christians. Two issues are in play: (1) the issue of adoption, and (2) the personal status and legal rights of Christians, and whether Islamic law – specifically Islamic family law – should apply to them. Please pray.
At home with her granddaughter Sandy, Mrs Thabet speaks to NPR (May 2017). Story, podcast and images by Jane Arraf.
THE CASE OF MRS THABET: On 20 May 2016 a large mob of armed Muslim men rioted in the village of al-Karm, in Upper Egypt’s Minya Province. They had been enraged by a rumour that a Christian man named Ashraf Attiya was having an affair with a Muslim woman. The mob invaded the Attiya’s home, only to find that Attiya had already gathered his wife and children and fled for his life. Overflowing with rage, the Muslims decided to punish the extended family instead. Firing their weapons inside the house, they beat Attiya’s 79-year-old father. They seized Mrs Suad Thabet – Attiya’s 68-year-old mother – and dragged her outside where they stripped her naked, beat and spat on her, and dragged her through the streets to shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is greater). Other family members were also beaten and Mrs Thabet’s grandson was stabbed in the shoulder before the house was dowsed in gasoline and torched. Eventually Mrs Thabet managed to hide under a cart where a village woman rescued and clothed her so she could make her escape. Seven Christian families had their homes torched in the pogrom [RLPB 363 (29 June 2016)].
Rejecting the sham ‘reconciliation’ process – which bypasses the courts to appease and favour Muslims – the couple decided to pursue justice through the courts. The case attracted much publicity and Mrs Thabet, much sympathy. Eyewitnesses came forward in support of Mrs Thabet, but the system worked against her. In January 2017 the prosecutor closed the case citing lack of evidence after a key eyewitness lost her nerve and retracted her statement. Thabet’s legal team appealed and the case was reopened. In January 2020 the court found the three ringleaders guilty – Ishaq Ahmed Abdel Hafez, and his two sons, Nazeer and Abdel Moneim – and sentenced them in absentia to 10 years in prison. After their arrest the men launched an appeal against the verdict and their 10-year sentences. Confident they would be acquitted on appeal, they also filed a civil lawsuit against Mrs Thabet, accusing her of defamation and seeking financial compensation. In December 2020, the men walked free after the court acquitted them of all charges. In January 2021 Mrs Thabet’s legal team challenged that decision; consequently, the civil compensations lawsuit had to be postponed. On 9 January 2023 Egypt’s Court of Cassation – the highest court of appeals in Egypt – upheld the acquittal and closed the case. Not only will the perpetrators not be held to account, but now the civil compensation lawsuit can proceed, meaning Mrs Thabet could be ordered to compensate the three men who stripped and brutalised her. Please pray.
PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR SOVEREIGN GOD WILL
- intervene in the adoption case of the child Shenouda, not only for the sake of Shenouda and his adoptive parents (Mr and Mrs Boulos), but to the benefit of all Egyptian Christians. May Pharaoh (the Egyptian government) hear God’s cry – ‘Let my people go,’ (Exodus 5:1) – and release Egypt’s Christians from the bondage of Islamic Sharia law so they might live and raise children freely as Christians in Egypt.
- intervene in the civil compensation case against Mrs Suad Thabet, for the sake of Mrs Thabet and her persecuted and traumatised family. The trauma of horrendous persecution has been compounded by shameful injustice. May the judge hearing the vexatious compensation claim refuse to allow injustice to be heaped upon injustice. Lord have mercy!
- redeem these two cases/trials and all the suffering they have caused; may public sympathy for the Christian cause grow; may more and more Muslims start critically assessing and questioning Islam; and may that which Satan has worked for evil be turned to good as Christ builds his Church in Egypt in fulfilment of promise [Isaiah 19].
- sustain and restore Shenouda and the Boulos family, and Mrs Thabet and her extended family. May the Holy Spirit fill, guide and sustain these traumatised persecuted believers, that they might know the ‘rest’ (Matthew 11:28) and deep peace that comes from trusting God. May they be assured of God’s love, presence, goodness and faithfulness. May the Lord provide their every need. Lord have mercy!
May ‘the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ’ (from 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12 ESV).