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https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/...ed-christian-woman-forced-to-convert-to-islam
On January 22, 2024, a 21-year-old Christian woman, Irene Ibrahim Shehata, was abducted and later forced to convert to Islam in Egypt. We’re demanding an investigation from the U.N. and that Egypt find and free her.
Who Is Irene Ibrahim Shehata?
Irene, a second-year medical student, suddenly disappeared during midterm exams. Weeks later, she stole her captor’s phone and tearfully pleaded for her life in a desperate call to her brother. According to Coptic Solidarity, her captor ripped the phone from her hands and told her brother, “Okay, you heard her voice and know she’s okay, right? Now go to hell!”
Irene’s family immediately contacted the police. But the police refused to act and threatened to arrest her family if they attempted to rescue her.
A month later, Irene’s electronic record showed that her national ID had been changed to “Muslim.” This is a common tactic used by the Muslim Brotherhood to force families to give up their search for a missing Christian woman. But Irene’s family did not give up, confident that she was taken against her will.
Irene’s father reported that “‘State Security officials know exactly where my daughter is’ but because—according to them—she ran off with a Muslim man on her ‘own accord,’ they refuse to act.” Instead, authorities provided Irene’s family with numerous false leads, sending them on a futile search all over the country. Despite the family’s persistence, State Security officials remain hostile and uncooperative toward the family.
Persecution of Christians in Egypt
Tragically, this is not an isolated incident. Christian women in Egypt are often kidnapped, “married” to Muslim men, and then forced to convert to Islam. Their national IDs are then changed to Muslim, and their stories are forgotten. State Security not only refuses to rescue these women but also seemingly assists in the targeting of Christian women.
Egypt is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which enshrines protections for religious freedoms. This includes the freedom to choose one’s religion and protection from coercion. Yet many Christians in Egypt are persecuted for their faith and forced to identify as Muslim. Egypt directly violates the ICCPR by allowing the heinous trafficking of women to continue. We must not forget the plight of the women suffering from this atrocious crime.
ECLJ Advocates for Irene at the U.N.
Through the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), our international affiliate with consultative status at the U.N., we are taking direct action to advocate for Irene. Each year, we submit Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR) to the United Nations Human Rights Council (U.N. HRC), promoting and protecting human rights around the world. We review human rights violations in countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith and submit our recommendations to the U.N. HRC.
We advocated for Irene in our 2024 UPR submission on Egypt:
