CAIRO: Tension resurfaced as the administrative court prepares to reexamine the case of Mohamed Ahmed Hegazy, a Muslim who converted to Christianity and is requesting the religious affiliation field be left blank on his national ID.
The court hearing next Sunday comes after Hegazy’s first plea – requesting that his name be changed to Bishoy Armia Boules and his religion be changed from Muslim to Christian on his national ID – was refused by the State Council Administrative Court.
Meanwhile, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) is appealing Hegazy’s initial lawsuit, which the organization had filed on his behalf. The hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Conflict between Hegazy’s lawyers, Ashraf Edawr Kirolos and Nabil Ghobrial, led the latter to withdraw from the case just after the court set the hearing date.
Gobrial’s withdrawal was due to “differences in opinion between both lawyers when dealing with the case. “The media campaign surrounding the case is just as important as its legal side and this is what caused conflict between us, Ghobrial told Daily News Egypt.
“Ghobrial’s withdrawal has nothing to do with the actual case; it can be considered a result of personal differences, said Kirolos.
Both Rawda Ahmed, manager of the legal department at ANHRI, and Kirolos confirmed that there isn’t any legal contradiction between both lawsuits.
“The initial lawsuit was rejected because it contained legal errors, the most important of which was failing to present the court with a document from the Civil Affairs Authority officially rejecting the change in religious affiliation [on Hegazy’s ID], said Ahmed.
“We solved this by sending an official memo to the Civil Affairs Authority before filing the case requesting that it changes Hegazy’s personal information [as they appear on the national ID], said Kirolos.
“What is different this time is that we are requesting to put a dash in the event that inserting ‘Christian’ is denied, in addition to changing his name to Bishoy Armia Boules, he added.
