Photo via advocatesforthepersecuted.org

Christian bookstore in Egypt raided by police, employee arrested

Egyptian police arrested an Egyptian Christian bookstore employee midday Saturday, confiscating books, compact discs, and issues of a newspaper read by Christians in Egypt, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent, ASSIST News Service.

According to Advocates For The Persecuted David Joseph, chief editor of Al Tareek Wa Al Haque [The Way and The Truth] -- the only newspaper specifically geared toward serving the Christian minority community in Egypt -- says Egyptian authorities arrested and interrogated Shenouda Armia Bakhait, who was working in the bookstore at the time police raided the shop.

Joseph is President of the Egyptian Christian Youth Union, which runs the Nile Christian Book Shop. The Church of God in Egypt owns the bookstore. Joseph founded the Egyptian Christian Youth Union in 1982. Pastor Safwat Al Baiadi, president of the Evangelical Churches in Egypt, is chairman of the newspaper. The newspaper's website is www.akhbarsarra.com .

Joseph said: "At 12 noon, Cairo time, General Tarik Barakat, Lt. Assem Al Sherief, and eight undercover policemen stormed into the Nile Christian Book Shop. They spent two hours searching everything in the bookstore. Mr. Shenouda was interrogated for more than five hours by Mohamed Abou al Fetouh, a prosecutor, and Mohammed Issa, president of the court."

He said that under Egyptian law, if the court found no basis for a formal accusation, the bookstore worker should have been set free immediately. If there were found to be a basis for accusation, he could then be held for four days to allow time for an investigation.

"The interrogators did not apply either of these options. They detained him only for the night, with plans to continue the interrogation the next day, and they requested a report from the Egyptian national security office about the activities of Mr. Shenouda and the Nile Christian Book Shop. Egyptian authorities claim they can detain Mr. Shenouda for up to 40 days without a trial under Egypt's emergency laws," said Joseph.

Jan Fletcher, executive director of Advocates For The Persecuted, said the arrest came one day after Mohammed Hegazy came into the bookstore, apparently to buy books.

Hegazy is the first Egyptian Muslim convert to petition Egypt’s Administrative Court to change his religious affiliation on his national identity card. A hearing over his petition sparked a melee in an Egyptian courtroom in January. Judge Muhammad Husseini denied Hegazy's request in January, ruling that it was against Islamic law for a Muslim to leave Islam.

The Nile Christian Book Shop opened in 2006 in a location that first housed a bookstore in 1890.

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[03/17/2008]

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