Canada Refusing to Offer Asylum to Persecuted Christians
By Gudrun Schultz
TORONTO, Ontario,
March 21, 2006

(LifeSiteNews.com) - Canadian immigration frequently fails to recognize the claim of refugee status from Egyptian Coptic Christians, reported CTV news yesterday. In at least half the cases, claimants are sent back to Egypt to face increased persecution.

The 2005 Country Report on Human Rights from the U.S. State Department said Egypt is responsible for "numerous human rights abuses," in particular against religious minorities. The report lists numerous cases of "religious discrimination" against Coptic Christians and says there is widespread "torture and abuse" in Egyptian prisons.

Christians who have made refugee claims in the west will almost certainly be imprisoned and possibly tortured if they are sent back to Egypt.

"Just being detained in a prison is probably intimidation enough," said Paul Rowe, one of Canada's top experts on Christians in the Middle East and political science professor at Trinity Western University. story