Practicing Christians in Egypt may now face prison

Friday, 6th November 2009
By Kimberly Ladouceur

Maurice Salama Sharkawy, 37, has been taken prisoner by Egyptian State Security in his Deir Samalout village home for being a practicing Christian.

His arrest took place on October 24 when he had asked Pastor Elia Shafik to visit his home for the ‘Anointing of the Sick’ sacrament for his father. His home was broken into by State Security and Sharkawy was interrogated, along with other family members who were present during the ‘crime’.

While being interrogated by Security, Sharkawy was told that he was being accused of performing "religious rites without a licence”, and that his invitation of the Pastor into his home was seen "causing sectarian sedition".

The closest church available to Christian members of the Dier Samalout village is about five miles away, in the village of el Tayeba, however, the village’s mayor, Mohammed Khalaf Allah, has deemed it necessary to ask Sharkawy “more than once to go to church and pray there.”
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