Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
In a referendum held in January 2014, Egyptians approved a new constitution (amended in 2019).[1]
The Preamble of the new constitution describes Egypt as: “The cradle of religions and the banner of glory of the revealed religions.[2] On its land, Moses grew up, the light of God appeared, and the message descended on Mount Sinai. On its land, Egyptians welcomed the Virgin Mary and her baby and offered up thousands of martyrs in defence of the Church of Jesus. When the Seal of the Messengers […] Mohamed (Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) was sent to all mankind to perfect the sublime morals, our hearts and minds were opened to the light of Islam. We were the best soldiers on Earth to fight for the cause of God, and we disseminated the message of truth and religious sciences across the world.”
The document specifies that “the reference for interpretation thereof is the relevant texts in the collected rulings of the Supreme Constitutional Court.”
According to Article 2, “Islam is the religion of the state and Arabic is its official language. The principles of Islamic Sharia are the principal source of legislation.”
Article 3 states: “The principles of the laws of Egyptian Christians and Jews are the main source of laws regulating their personal status, religious affairs, and selection of spiritual leaders.”
Article 7 protects Al-Azhar University as the most important Sunni institution of Islamic teaching.
Article 53 declares: “Citizens are equal before the law, possess equal rights and public duties, and may not be discriminated against on the basis of religion, belief, sex, origin, race, colour, language, disability, social class, political or geographical affiliation, or for any other reason.”
Article 64 states: “Freedom of belief is absolute. The freedom of practicing religious rituals and establishing places of worship for the followers of revealed religions is a right organized by law.”
According to Article 74, “No political activity may be exercised or political parties formed on the basis of religion, or discrimination based on sex, origin, sect or geographic location.”
Article 244 stipulates: “The state shall endeavour that youth, Christians, persons with disability and Egyptians living abroad be appropriately represented in the House of Representatives, as regulated by law.”
The Egyptian Penal Code, while not using the term blasphemy, stipulates in Article 98 F that, denigrating religions, promoting extremist thoughts with the aim of inciting strife, demeaning any of the “heavenly religions”, and harming national unity carry penalties ranging from six months to five years in prison.[3]
Although predominantly Muslim, the country is home to the largest Christian community in the Arab world (mostly Orthodox Coptic Christians), with the highest concentration in the governorates of Upper Egypt. Very few Jews are left.[4] The numbers of Shi‘a Muslims,[5] Bahá’is,[6] Jehovah’s Witnesses,[7] and other groups are also very small and uncertain.
Although not prohibited by law, in practice the Government of Egypt does not recognise conversions from Islam, except for converts to Islam who go on to convert to another religion.[8]
The law does not recognise the Bahá’i faith or its religious laws and bans Bahá’i institutions and community activities. Bahá’ís[9] do not have recourse to civil law for personal status matters. Importing Bahá’í and Jehovah’s Witnesses’ literature is still forbidden. Although the Egyptian government designates Jehovah’s Witnesses as “Christians” on their identity cards, a 1960 presidential decree remains in effect, forbidding all religious activities by Jehovah’s Witnesses’ as well as Bahá’ís, including public gatherings, printing of religious texts, and use of online religious materials. Some Muslim groups are also unrecognised, most notably Shi‘as, Quranists and Ahmadis.[10]
Electronic National Identity Cards are issued by the Ministry of the Interior. They have official religious designations only for Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Since a 2009 court order, Bahá’is are identified with a dash (-).[11] Despite the classification of “religion” on ID cards, the Government of Egypt has never provided official data about the Coptic population.
Even though the Egyptian parliament adopted a new Church Construction Law (Law No. 80 of 2016)[12] in September 2016 to facilitate the construction, renovation, and legal recognition of churches, the new law has not been fully implemented.
Attacks, administrative obstacles, and failure by the authorities to stem social violence against Christians[13] when they try to build, restore, or simply have their churches recognised are indicative of the significant gap between what the law promises and what happens in everyday life.
Concerning the legalisation of churches, the 2016 law delegates power to Egypt’s governors to issue permits to build or renovate churches. They are required to communicate their decision within four months of receipt of an application. If the latter is refused, a written justification must be provided. The law does not contemplate a review or appeal in the case of refusal. There is also no recourse in case a governor fails to respond.[14]
In February 2021, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam, issued a controversial fatwa (legal opinion) allowing Muslims to work on church construction.[15]
Non-Muslim men must convert to Islam in order to marry a Muslim woman. If one parent is not Muslim, the Muslim parent is automatically awarded custody.[16]
Customary reconciliation, a parallel system used to end disputes or conflicts, is highly encouraged and frequently exercised in sectarian conflicts. The system is used especially in Muslim-Christian disputes, often when Christians are the victims, which poses a problem when trying to document repeated violations. Christians are often pressured to retract their claims and deny the facts, leading to a dismissal or reduction of criminal charges, thus violating the principles of non-discrimination and the equal right to citizenship.[17]
Although Egypt is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), it has declared in a “reservation” that the provisions of the covenant should not conflict with Shari‘a.[18]
Incidents and developments
In January 2023, an icon in the Convent of the Holy Virgin in Dronka was desecrated by persons unknown who sprayed the faces of the Holy Family with black paint.[19]
In January 2023, UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported that the three men accused of attacking, beating and stripping an elderly Christian woman in the village of Al-Karm in May 2016 were acquitted on appeal.[20]
In February 2023, an Alexandria misdemeanour court sentenced vlogger Osama Lotfy Sharaf El-Din to three years in prison for insulting Christianity on social media.[21]
In March 2023, Al-Azhar University issued a fatwa stating that abandoned and unidentified children should follow the religion of the people who find them. This followed the case of a five-year-old boy, Shenouda, who had been found a few days after his birth at a Cairo church.[22] Given to a childless Christian couple by the priest of the church where he was found, the child was eventually seized by the authorities. Under Egyptian law, children of unknown parentage are deemed Muslim by default in accordance with Shari‘a. After the fatwa, the boy was returned to his Christian foster parents.[23]
In June 2023, a court sentenced four Islamic State militants to death, two in absentia, for their role in a couple of attacks in 2017 and 2018 on buses carrying visitors to the St Samuel Christian Monastery in Minya Governorate that killed a total of 35 people.[24]
In June 2023, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly approved the legalisation of 141 Christian churches and 233 service buildings, al-Ahram reported. According to the newspaper, the total number of churches and their service buildings legalised by the government exceeded 3,000.[25]
In July 2023, the Court of Cassation upheld the death sentence pronounced by a criminal court against Rabei Mustafa Khalifa, a policeman who murdered two Copts in the city of Minya in December 2018.[26]
In the same month, Patrick George Zaki, a researcher and activist, received a presidential pardon after having been given a three-year prison sentence for “spreading false news” by publishing an article online about discrimination faced by Coptic Christians in Egypt.[27] Several NGOs had issued a statement prior to this, declaring that, “The targeting, arrest, prosecution, and sentencing of Patrick Zaki for writing about his experiences as a Coptic Christian is an egregious measure by Egyptian authorities that is indicative of a larger failure by the state to protect religious minorities. Instead, the authorities target Copts for merely expressing themselves and bringing attention to the discrimination they regularly endure.”[28]
In July 2023, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish chargé d’affaires in Cairo over the repeated desecration of the Qur‘an in Sweden.[29]
In September 2023, Egyptian Minister of Education Reda Hegazy announced a ban on wearing the face-covering niqab in schools starting later that month.[30]
In September 2023, Copts were attacked by Muslim villagers on suspicion of building an unlicensed church in the village of Khayar. A house was set on fire and property looted.[31]
In October 2023, an Egyptian police officer shot dead two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian guide in Alexandria. The event took place after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Israel’s National Security Council said its citizens should avoid going abroad and those in Egypt should leave.[32] The Al-Azhar Fatwa Global Centre published a statement declaring “Islam unequivocally prohibits harming Muslim or non-Muslim foreigners while society is responsible for ensuring their protection and safety”.[33]
In November 2023, Sheikh Ibrahim Rida, an Islamic scholar at Al-Azhar University, stated on TV that the Jews are a “quarrelsome people” who killed many prophets and “spread corruption” on earth. He noted that no one should find it strange that they are annihilating children, homes, and schools. His remarks came following the October 7 Hamas attack against Israel and Israel’s retaliatory military offensive against Hamas in Gaza.[34] Fearing attacks, the Jewish community in Egypt cancelled public Hanukkah celebrations. “No one is preventing us from celebrating. The point is that the mood in Cairo is very bad, because of the war,” a community member said.[35]
In December 2023, a group of Muslims attacked a Coptic church building site and Christian homes and properties in Al-Azeeb, a village in Samalout, Minya Province. The mob clashed with police.[36] A month later, in January 2024, a temporary church building was set on fire by Muslim extremists in the village of Misha’at Zaafaranah, also in Minya Province.[37]
In March 2024, Human Rights Watch criticised Egyptian authorities for striking amnesty deals over the previous years with suspected members of the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt’s northern Sinai region without making public the criteria it used to release the accused.[38]
On 23 April 2024, Copts in the village Al-Fawakher were attacked after rumours spread that a new church was planned; the attackers beat some Copts, torched houses, and tried to evict some Copts from their homes.[39] Three days later, Muslim extremists attacked Copts in the village of Al-Kom Al-Ahmar after hearing that Evangelical Christians had obtained a permit to build a church, according to advocacy group Copts United.[40]
In October 2024, Egypt's cabinet legalised 293 churches and affiliated buildings. With this action, the total number of churches and religious structures granted legal status has reached 3,453 since the establishment of a committee tasked with implementing Law No. 80 of 2016.[41]
In November 2024, three Copts were seriously injured in an attack by four Muslim men wielding swords and machetes in Ashrouba, a village in Beni Mazar District (Minya Governorate).[42] In the same village, Copts and Muslims had clashed earlier, in January 2023, over an argument after a Muslim tuk-tuk driver hit a car driven by a Copt. The row that followed resulted in a number of Coptic homes being attacked and several Christians injured.[43]
In November 2024, the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) publicly expressed its concern about the intensification of the persecution of the Egyptian Bahá’í community by local authorities.[44]
In December 2024, the Ministry of Justice and the five officially recognised Christian confessions in Egypt signed the long-awaited draft of the Personal Status Law for Christians.[45] Changes regarding divorce and inheritance are especially significant. Men and women inherit equally now. A Christian Member of Parliament hailed this as a historic first for Egypt, marking a milestone in the legal recognition of Christian family matters in the country.
In January 2025, as he did in previous years, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed Al Tayeb, visited Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, wishing him and all Coptic Christians a merry Christmas.[46]
In January 2025, the Court of Cassation upheld the death sentence of Nahro Abdel Moneim, who was convicted of murdering a Coptic priest, Fr Arsenius Wadid, in Alexandria.[47]
Also in January 2025, Coptic Bishop Paula, Metropolitan of Tanta, criticised making religious education a core subject for students’ final grades. “Religion belongs in churches and mosques. Teaching religion in schools should be for cultural awareness, not as a graded subject affecting students’ success or failure,” the bishop said.[48] Prior to this, Egyptian Minister of Education and Technical Education, Mohamed Abdel-Latif, had issued a decree stipulating the inclusion of religion as a core school subject that counts in students’ final scores.[49]
In January 2025, Coptic activists launched a campaign for the removal of Algerian football (soccer) player, Ahmed Kendouci, from the Egyptian league and his deportation from Egypt, accusing him of mocking Christianity and violating the law against religious contempt. On Instagram, Kendouci had claimed that Christmas celebrations are not permissible by Islam.[50]
In January 2025, the Court of Cassation upheld prison sentences ranging from 10 years of hard labour to life imprisonment against the six convicted killers of Rani Raafat, a Coptic youth assassinated in Dabaa in 2022.[51]
In February 2025, a Christian convert from Islam, Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, and a Christian, Nour Fayez Ibrahim Girgis, were released after spending more than three years in prison on blasphemy charges. In both cases, the legally permitted 18-month period of pre-trial detention was exceeded. The two were involved in a Facebook group for people who wanted to convert from Islam to Christianity. Although they are no longer in prison, the charges against them have not been dropped, the CIC reported.[52]
In recent years, Egypt—particularly Upper Egypt—has witnessed a significant increase in the disappearances of underage Christian girls. Families frequently report abductions, forced conversions to Islam, and customary marriages. While some experts suggest that social or psychological pressures may prompt certain girls to leave voluntarily, many cases involve exploitation by adults for financial or sexual purposes, often with the complicity of religious institutions in facilitating identity changes. Fraudsters have also taken advantage of desperate families by demanding payments in exchange for false promises of assistance. Human rights organisations documented over 30 such cases in 2024, up from eight in 2023.[53]
Prospects for freedom of religion
Despite selective efforts by the Government of Egypt to promote national unity among Muslims and non-Muslims, non-Muslims only enjoy freedom of worship, not comprehensive religious liberty. The right to practise one’s religion freely is also limited to registered communities. Members of unrecognised groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Bahá’ís face multiple legal problems.
With regard to Christians, there have been encouraging steps, including the approval of the draft of Egypt’s first Personal Status Law for Christians. Moreover, the legalisation of churches and affiliated buildings continued during the reporting period pursuant to the Church Construction Law (Law No. 80 of 2016). Yet, Christians, their churches, and their properties are still exposed to violence, especially in rural areas. In many cases, the building of new churches is still met with violent opposition from Muslim extremists.
In general, the situation of religious freedom in Egypt remained the same during the period under review with no prospect for major changes in the near future.
Sources
Egypt