MUSLIM-BORN CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY ALLEGE GOE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 004259

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC STAFF FOR SINGH
DRL/IRF FOR COFSKY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2026
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KIRF EG
SUBJECT: MUSLIM-BORN CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY ALLEGE GOE
HARASSMENT, PERSECUTION

REF: CAIRO 2201

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Stuart Jones for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Egypt's small community of Christians who
have converted from Islam are subject to periodic harassment
and occasional persecution by elements of the Egyptian
security service. Recent discussions with members of this
community, who identify themselves as "Muslim-born Believers"
(MBB),shed light on the controversial status of this small
community. End summary.


2. (C) The exact size of the MBB community is impossible to
determine. Estimates range from dozens to several hundred to
the low thousands. In a late 2005 research trip to the
region, a Human Rights Watch researcher (protect) told poloff
that he had been surprised by the high number of Muslim-born
converts to Christianity that he met in Cairo and Alexandria.
HRW is currently drafting a report on the Egyptian national
identity card system, which requires citizens to
self-identify as Jew, Christian, or Muslim. Although
Egyptian law does not prohibit conversion away from Islam,
Muslim-born citizens re-registering as Christians complain of
consistent bureaucratic opposition from working levels of the
GOE.

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Bahaa Al-Accad: A Repentant Islamist
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3. (C) Since mid 2005, we have received reports of an MBB
detainee, Bahaa El-Din El-Accad, an engineer in his late
fifties who was once a member of the outlawed Islamist Group,
Gamaa Al-Islamia. (Other accounts have linked Accad to the
Tabligh El-Dawa group.) According to a Christian activist
who seeks to convert Muslims, SSIS detained Accad in April

2005. According to the activist, Accad had professed his
conversion to Christianity shortly before his 2005 detention.
For the past 14 months, Accad has been held without charge
pending investigation for unnamed crimes. Initially detained
at an SSIS facility in Dokki, Accad has more recently been
detained at the Tora Prison complex. In late April 2006,
Accad was moved from Tora Farm Prison (generally used to
house political detainees such as Ayman Nour) to Tora Liman
Prison (alleged to be a facility used for Islamist prisoners).


4. (C) Another young MBB who converted to Christianity as a
teenager in 1999 has subsequently become engaged to Accad's
daughter. According to this young MBB, Accad suffers from
various health problems, including high blood pressure and
dizzy spells, and is fearful that his Islamist fellow
prisoners may harm him. Accad's growing frustration at his
detention has led him in recent weeks to seek greater
publicity. He has asked his supporters to share his story
with the Egyptian media, and that poloff include the details
of his case in the 2006 International Religious Freedom
Report. In response to poloff's inquiry, the young MBB,
without elaboration, that there are 500 MBBs in Cairo, and
2,000-3,000 across Egypt.


5. (C) Post informally raised Bahaa Al-Accad's detention on
several occasions with the Human Rights Department at the
MFA. MFA Director for Human Rights Ihab Gamaleldin responded
on June 18 that Accad is not being detained due to alleged
conversion from Islam to Christianity--which Gamaleldin
asserted was both permissible and possible under Egyptian
law. According to Gamaleldin, the GOE security services are
in fact detaining Accad while they investigate charges that
he has "defamed heavenly religions" under Article 98(F) of
the penal code. According to Gamaleldin, Accad sees himself
as a new prophet who is "advocating for a new religion" and
calling for equality among faiths. Gamaleldin, reading from
notes presumably supplied by State Security, said that Accad
had "insulted Islam and the Quran" and was "actively
undermining and deliberately falsifying both Christianity and
Islam." Gamaleldin asserted that Accad had been investigated
and briefly detained in 1998 under similar charges. Upon his
release in 1998, he had resumed his activities "which
infringe on public order."

--------------
A Hebrew Language Student
--------------


6. (C) Since December 2005, poloff has met several times
with another MBB who initially came to Post's attention after
a DRL/IRF referral. His story has been corroborated by our

conversations with other contacts. This individual told
poloff that officers from the State Security Investigations
Service (SSIS) had detained him near his home on December 1,
in 6th of October City, and kept him in custody until the
evening of December 3 and believes that his status as a
convert was the reason for his detention. During the
detention, a SSIS officer named Yusuf maintained a generally
polite and respectful approach to individual, as he asked
detailed questions about associates. Yusuf became angry and
punched him on the shoulder and back when refused to become a
paid SSIS informant. Yusuf eventually told the individual
late on December 3 that he was free to go, but kept his
national ID card and told him that "We will meet again."

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Penalizing Christians Who Seek to Convert Muslims: Kamal and
Lavinia Munir
-------------- --------------


7. (C) In April 2005, a Romanian citizen, Lavinia Zah
attempted to return to Egypt with her infant son.
Immigration authorities at Cairo International Airport
detained her and the baby for 26 hours before eventually
deporting them. Her husband, Kamal, told poloff that he
believes that he and his wife are being punished because of
his work at Maadi Community Church fielding inquiries from
Muslims who express an interest in church activities, good
works, and conversion. When Kamal and Romanian consular
officials approached the GOE, they were told that Lavinia was
being held on unspecified charges.


8. (C) Kamal has engaged prominent human rights lawyer Amir
Salem (who also served on the Ayman Nour defense team) to sue
the GOE to allow Lavinia and their young son to return to
Egypt. In the course of pursuing his case against the GOE,
Kamal received copies of court documents, which he shared
with poloff, in which SSIS noted that Lavinia Zah is barred
from entering Egypt due to charges that she has "defamed
Egypt abroad." Kamal requested reference to his family's
case in the 2006 International Religious Freedom Report, but
requested that we not use his full name so as not to draw any
undue attention to his family in Egypt.
RICCIARDONE