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Forced сonversions of Christian сonscripts in the Egyptian army

Mistreatment of Christian conscripts in the Egyptian army, including beatings, psychological harassment and torture, at the hands of radical Muslim officers to force them to convert to Islam is widespread. However, it is rarely reported by conscripts for fear of reprisals, reports Jeremy Reynalds, correspondent for ASSIST News Service.

According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih for the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), in the latest incident, 22-year-old draftee Mubarak Masood Zakaria, a Coptic Christian, died mysteriously on Aug. 15 2009.

AINA said three days after his death the police in Mallawi contacted his father, Masood Zakaria, to inform him of his son's “sudden death” of “natural causes,” and give him the body and burial permission.

“We were not allowed to see the body,” said the father, who works as a rope spinner and lives under the poverty line, in the Upper Egyptian village of Deir Abu Hennes, Mallawi, in Al-Minya Governorate.

AINA reported that although the death certificate stated “cause of death still under investigation,” permission for burial was granted.

AINA said on their way to the church for the funeral ceremony, the odor from Mubarak's corpse was so strong the Zakaria family and some mourners decided to inspect the body before its burial. They discovered that Mubarak's body was riddled with bullets, his face was bruised and his abdomen was cut open and sewn.

The military prosecutor in Assiut summoned the father several days after the burial and tried to explain to him how his son shot himself during his sleep, with the weapon that was with him, reported Nermine Reda, correspondent for Copts United advocacy.

The father believes that there is foul play, because his son was always complaining of ill-treatment by his superiors because of his religion.

“My son sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and what the prosecutor told me is illogical,” AINA reported he told Reda.

AINA reported that a mourner at the funeral voiced his fears that the booming underground market of human organs trafficking in Egypt could have found a new source of supply in poor Copts serving in the Egyptian army.

AINA reported he said, “Why was his abdomen cut open and sewn if no autopsy was carried out. I believe they admitted him to hospital for a few hours to examine the state of his internal organs for harvesting.”

AINA said he explained that conscripts who are targeted for enforced Islamization are those who have no school education and come from the villages, mostly from Upper Egypt; their families are poor and easily intimidated by the authorities should their sons be harmed. They are unaware how to seek human rights organizations or the means to pursue their grievances further.

AINA said army officers have been previously accused by Coptic activists, based on documented evidence, of subjecting Christian draftees to persecution and extreme torture leading sometimes to their death, as a way to force them to convert to Islam.

According to AINA, one such case was that of Hany Seroufim, a Coptic draftee serving in the Egyptian army in Aswan, who was tortured and killed in Aug. 2006, after refusing to convert to Islam. His body was thrown into the Nile near his home town Naga Hamadi. His family was told by the army that he drowned. However, marks of torture covered his whole body, with the cross tattooed on his arm cut out with a knife.

Earlier, AINA reported, Seroufim had told his family that the unit commanding officer always humiliated and tortured him in front of his peer soldiers, because Hani was a Christian. When he asked him to convert to Islam, Seroufim refused and told him he would notify the military intelligence. At that point, AINA reported, the officer threatened Seroufim with revenge.

AINA said pressure from Coptic advocacy groups forced the state to perform an autopsy nearly four months later but the results were inconclusive because of the lapse of time and the state of the corpse. Christian organizations were able to obtain photos of Seroufim’s tortured body.

AINA reported that Coptic activist Wagih Yacoub said his advocacy group, Middle East Christian Association, will sponsor the case of Mubarak Masood Zakaria and that top attorney Mamdouh Nakhla, head of the Al-Kalema Human Rights Center will handle the case.

AINA said Mubarak Zakaria’s death leaves many unanswered questions, including the extent of collusion between the different authorities, including the prosecution, to cover up the crime.

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TAGS: Egypt Egyptian army forced сonversions persecution convert to Islam

[10/13/2009]

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