Egypt frees jailed Coptic woman

Web posted at: 1/14/2008 4:16:59
Source ::: AFP

CAIRO • Egypt's attorney general yesterday ordered the release of a Coptic Christian woman jailed due to a mix-up over her religion after her father briefly converted to Islam more than 45 years ago, her lawyer said.

Shadia Nagui Ibrahim, 47, was sentenced to three years in prison after she listed her religion as Christian not knowing her father's three-year term as a Muslim in 1962 made her official religion Islam.

Nagui Ibrahim left home when his daughter Shadia was two, converted to Islam but reconverted to Christianity and had his documents forged to change his religion back to its original.

Children in Egypt automatically take their father's religion and because her father's documents were forged, Shadia's official religion was Islam. She was arrested for providing false information on official documents and sentenced to three years in prison on November 21 after listing her religion as Christian on her marriage certificate in 1982 ...

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:sarcasm:, natch.

gee, separation of church & state seems like it might have been a good idea. who'd a thunk?

Do children in Egypt automatically take their father's educational credentials? If the combination of understanding and believing is automatic, then the plain vanilla understanding part should be a breeze.

Her dad was gone, she had no idea where he was as a kid, but his flirting with Islam still affects her today? That's messed up.

Their religion makes them so happy that they force it on other people... :(

What effect does her being officially Muslim have?

If she is a practicing Copt, does she have to apply for permission to convert--and if it's turned down, run into more problems?

If she married a Copt, does her marriage stand? After all, in traditional Islam a Muslim woman can't be married to a Xian man. It inverts the proper "order" of submission, having a superior submit to an inferior.

If she has kids and has been raising them Xian, is she in more trouble?