Last year an Egyptian girl wrote a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama from a Coptic Christian website.
She told the president that Muslims in the United States are treated much better than Copts in Egypt, Compass Direct News (CDN) reported.
Dina Maher Ahmad Mo’otahssem and her father have been on the run for two years due to religious persecution in Egypt.
Dina Maher Ahmad Mo’otahssem, 16, has been in hiding since 2008 with her father, Maher Ahmad El-Mo’otahssem Bellah El-Gohary. They have suffered constant persecution whenever people discover their identities, CDN said.
Dina asked Obama to pressure the Egyptian government to ensure religious rights, and expressed hope that she and her father could migrate to the United States, CDN reported.
Last week Dina and her father lived in a tiny, two-bedroom apartment in an unidentified city in Egypt. The floor was littered with grime and trash. Clumps of dust and used water bottles were everywhere. El-Gohary had taped over the locks and the inside of windows and doors to guard against eavesdroppers and intruders.
He taped over all the drain holes of the sinks and the shower so no one could pump in natural gas at night. When the neighbors learned he was a Christian, they threw rocks and pebbles at his home, enough to litter the porch. El-Gohary couldn’t open a window because rocks might get thrown in, according to CDN.
Whenever he leaves, he padlocks the door, wraps it with a small plastic bag and melts the bag to the lock with a match. But he rarely leaves the place because it is not safe to go out.
Last month while walking to a market with Dina, someone poured acid over her jacket. When El-Gohary saw it sizzle and dissolve he immediately ripped it off of her and threw it away before she was hurt, CDN said.
He can’t work and relies on other Christians to bring him food, water and the occasional donation. He cannot count on his own family for help. When the food runs out, he has to brave going outside.
El-Gohary can’t attend a church more than once, nor can they go to a supermarket more than once. He has been a Christian for 36 years, but he was forced to go into hiding after August 2008, because he sued the national government to allow him to change the religion listed on his state-issued ID from Islam to Christianity, according to CDN.
El-Gohary didn’t want his daughter to be forced to take Islamic education classes or have her declared an “apostate” by Egyptian Islamic authorities if she decided to stay a Christian into adulthood. This is why he asked for the ID change.
Dina is required by law to possess an ID card, which is used for everything from opening a bank account to receiving medical care. The ID also determines whether Egyptians are subject to Islamic civil courts. Dina is considered to be a Muslim because her father was born a Muslim, CDN said.
Conversion
El-Gohary became a Christian after he read the account of Jesus meeting a woman caught committing adultery. He was touched by the level of mercy that Jesus showed her, CDN said.
El-Gohary said. “The basis of Christianity is love and forgiveness, unlike Islam, where it is based on revenge, fighting and war.” He also said of the two religions’ versions of heaven, that the Islamic heaven is about physical pleasure, while for Christians it is about being with God, CDN reported.
El-Gohary was forced to hide because the State Council, a consultative body of Egypt’s Administrative Court, charged him with apostasy, the penalty for which is death, CDN said. The case is still ongoing.
El-Gohary believes that he and his daughter are being used to set an example to other Muslims who want to convert. Also, he thinks they fear that if he is allowed to leave the country, he will talk about how Egypt persecutes Copts.
He said, “We are trapped in our own country without even the rights that animals have.” When the mosque across the street learned of his identity and of his case, they began to blast messages from their minaret megaphones on how to deal with Christians, CDN reported.
The imam shouted, “Do not shake their hands. Do not go into their homes. Do not eat their food.” Since he has become a Christian, El-Gohary has been beaten, forcibly detained, endured death threats and poverty.
Still, he and Dina have no regrets about having become Christian, and they have no dreams to become Muslim again, the CDN said.
Karnataka, India, October 29 (CDN) — Police arrested Pastor Muthyalan Paul on Oct. 26 in Nelamangala, Bangalore, after Muslim radicals barged into a prayer meeting, accused him of forceful conversion, tore Bibles and damaged household items. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that police, alerted by the Muslim extremists, charged the pastor with “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of others.” A judge sent the pastor to Nelamangala Sub-Jail, but with area Christian leaders’ intervention he was released on bail the next morning. 
