The Christian convert who made history by becoming the first person in Egypt’s history to attempt to legally change his religious affiliation on his government identification from Islam to Christianity, has “vowed to starve himself to death” in response to his “illegal” imprisonment, his attorney said.
Bishoy Boulous, who is formerly known by his Muslim name of Mohammed Hegazy, was sentenced to five years imprisonment by an Egyptian court in July on the allegation of causing “sectarian strife.”
Boulous’ attorney, Karam Ghobrial, claims that the 32-year-old’s detention is in “violation of the law” and that the charges against him were motivated by his original attempt in 2007 to have the Egyptian government legally recognize his conversion from Muslim to Christian, Front Page Magazine reports.
“The [current] judge is behaving in a prejudiced manner in this case because Bishoy had public[ly] announced his conversion to Christianity, [stressing] the need for attention to this case and escalating it so everyone knows what this convert is being exposed to,” Ghobrial said.
In July, a Minya Criminal Court judge sentenced Boulous, who was working as a reporter for a Coptic Christian television station at the time, for “disturbing the peace by broadcasting false information.”
At the time, Boulous was producing a documentary regarding the social turmoil pertaining to Islamic attacks on Egyptian Christians.
Although Boulous’ appeal hearing was scheduled for Nov. 16, it is unclear whether or not Egyptian State Security allowed him to travel from his prison in Cairo to attend the appeal hearing in Minya, which is over 150 miles away.
Ghobrial expressed concern a few days before the hearing that his client would not be allowed to travel to attend his own appeal hearing, which meant that his five-year sentence would have been confirmed…Read More
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