By Essam Fadl
CAIRO: The Supreme Administrative Court issued a ruling on Saturday to allow Copts reverting back to Christianity after having converted to Islam, to change their religious affiliation in their national ID cards, revoking a previous decision by the Ministry of Interior.
The ruling obliged the Civil Status Authority to amend any changes in the various fields on the ID cards, including religion.
The Supreme Constitutional Court had advised the Administrative Court that Christian converts had the right to be registered as Christians.
Hundreds of Copts went to the Cathedral in Abbaseya in the past few days to issue documents to the effect that they had converted back to Christianity to issue new IDs.
“We are now accepting applications to issue conversion certificates. Church lawyers will stamp them from security forces according to the law before they are presented to the Civil Status Authority,” said Sergious Sergious, the Cathedral’s Deputy.
