CAIRO: For the second time in Egypt’s legal record, a convert to Christianity filed a lawsuit against the Minister of Interior, the head of the Civil Affairs Authority and the head of the National Council for Human Rights, demanding that his religious affiliation on official documents be changed from Muslim to Christian.
Maher El-Gohary, who converted to Christianity 34 years ago, is contesting the Administrative Court’s rejection to Mohamed Hegazy’s request to change his religious affiliation on official identification papers from Islam to Christianity. Hegazy was the first to file such a lawsuit.
El-Gohary, who now goes by the name of Peter Ethnasios, told Daily News Egypt that he had been practicing Christianity in secret but has finally decided to “demand his right to practice the religion he believes in and lead a normal life.
He aims for a ruling that would allow converts to change their religion in official papers.
The Administrative Court explained its ruling on Hegazy’s case in February 2007 by saying that it’s prohibited “to switch from the superior religion, Islam, to the inferior one, Christianity.
El-Gohary says he converted to Christianity when he was a student at the Police Academy. He said he was subjected to discrimination, which led him to leave the academy.
El-Gohary comes from a family of policemen; his father had served as assistant to Minister of Interior and had headed the Transportation Police department.
“After leaving the Police Academy I started going to several churches. When I asked to be baptized they refused because they were worried I was a mole.
His family was equally unwelcoming of his decision.
“Up to the age of 40, I lived as a Christian and was outcast by my family, and the church was still suspicious of me. I wasn’t married then because Christian families refused to allow me to marry their daughters because the marriage procedures would have been carried out under the Islamic law through a ma’azoun, because my identification papers say that I’m a Muslim.
When he decided to get married he chose a Muslim woman, but the marriage came to an end after three months when she learnt that he had converted to Christianity.
His second marriage was also to a Muslim woman, who knew about his true faith. But this marriage was also short lived.
He then met a divorced woman who has two daughters. She agreed to marry him and to also convert to Christianity.
Up to 2001 El-Gohary hadn’t been baptized. He used money he inherited from his father to buy a land near a monastery. Living there with his wife, he started frequenting the monastery. Eventually, the monks there offered to baptize him in the Coptic Orthodox Church.
He said that once the community of privately-owned farms he lived among learnt about his conversion he started facing problems, which led him to sell the farm and leave altogether.
He traveled to Cyprus for a year with his wife and her daughters, but his family prevented his own daughter from traveling with him.
“If my daughter were able to travel with me, I wouldn’t have come back to Egypt, he said.
El-Gohary appeared on Dream TV last Saturday, accompanied by his lawyer. Also appearing on the same show was Mokhtar Nouh, lawyer and member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Nouh shared his theory that there is an American plan to divide Egyptians and disturb social order by making Muslims convert to Christianity.
Following his appearance on TV, El-Gohary said he’ll be keeping a low profile out of fear of potential threats.
He said he was happy leading a dual life, a Christian in real life and a Muslim on paper, until a life-changing incident led him to pursue his right to live the life he chooses.
“State Security Investigation Bureau called me and interrogated me for six hours, El-Gohary said. He explained that the police were interested in finding out if there was any missionary work.
But this wasn’t the only reason he pursued legal action. According to El-Gohary, his nephew, who is a fresh graduate of the Police Academy, failed to join state security or intelligence service allegedly because of his uncle’s conversion. “Why should my family pay for my choices? he asked.
El-Gohary believes he has become the “black sheep of the family simply for practicing his basic right of choosing the religion he believes in.
