Arrest of Muslim Convert to Christianity Mary Ibrahim
Rasha Noor
Siham Ibrahim Muhammad Hassan al-Sharqawi (24), a Muslim convert known by the Christian name of Mary Nabil Ibrahim, has been arrested on her third wedding anniversary (November 22) to a Coptic man.
Although she had been arrested on the outskirts of Qena, located 300 miles south of Cairo, with unclear reasoning behind her detainment by police officers, it is a pondered wonder if this case falls into the repeated patterns of many other cases made against the Christian community of Egypt including the Muslim Background Believers.
Violently abused and treated as a prostitute, Sharqawi was taken to Qena's security police headquarters where she was questioned until November 26 (a total of 4 days) before being transferred to an unknown destination. Sharqawi's husband and friends are unsure of her final destination although they fear she will be released in the hands of her Muslim family as this has become a usual custom seen through many other cases.
While staying in Qena's security police headquarters, it has been reported through witnesses that she is undergoing extensive amount of verbal abuse (i.e. name calling, and treating her as a prostitute) to the habitual physical abuse and torture.
Sharqawi has accepted the Lord back in 2003, after a year of swaying towards Christianity and married her husband on November 22, 2004. Upon the discovery of her spending time with Christian friends, Sharqawi's family would routinely abuse her from 2002 to 2003 by tying her to a chair and frequently beating her and whipping her with the buckle end of a leather belt. This has lead Sharqawi to flee her house in October 2003.
Detained, tortured and abruptly transferred from one location to another by Egyptian police, Sharqawi's case is one of the many cases made against the MBBs of Egypt, a community of Muslim background Christians who are not asking for anything but their rights and acceptance from their community.
Rasha Noor
Translated by: Kresteen Safwat