According to an October 18 report from Compass Direct, a Muslim sheikh who has been jailed in Egypt for 18 months without being formally charged has declared that he is under arrest for "insulting Islam" because he converted to Christianity.
Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad (57) converted from Islam to Christianity in January 2005. News of his conversion reached the Egyptian secret police (SSI) and on April 6, 2005, he was arrested and placed in detention. Six weeks later, he was sent to Cairo's Toga Mazraa Prison and incarcerated under emergency law provisions on suspicion of "committing blasphemy against Islam." For the next year, his detention was renewed every forty-five days under emergency law provisions but he was never formally charged.
In July 2006, a new law was instituted that prevented provisional detentions for misdemeanors from exceeding six months. As he had been accused of "insulting a heavenly religion," a misdemeanor offense under the Egyptian penal code, a Cairo court ordered that El-Akkad be released on July 30. SSI authorities ignored the order and, in mid-September, El-Akkad was transferred to the maximum security Wadi el-Natroun Prison. According to his lawyer, Athanasius Williams, El-Akkad is in weak health because of unsanitary cell conditions. He is suffering from high blood pressure and skin diseases caused by extreme temperatures and bites from insects and small reptiles.
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Pray that El-Akkad will find encouragement in the fact that as he has suffered with Christ so he will be glorified with Him (Romans 8:15-17). Ask God to bring verses of Scripture to mind that will comfort him during his incarceration (Psalm 119:49-56). Pray that authorities will release El-Akkad in compliance with the law. Also pray that he will receive the medical assistance he needs.
For more information on the persecution of Christians in Egypt, click here.
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