Islamic Death Penalty Targets Christian Converts

soldier carrying rocket-propelled grenade launcher in front of armored vehicle — Photo: Mohammed al-wafi / Shutterstock

Egyptian prosecutors want to execute a man for leaving Islam and following Jesus Christ.

Quick Take

Said Mansour Rezk Abdelrazek was charged by Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution with contempt for Islam, joining a banned group, and spreading false information.
His case sits before a special terrorism court, and prosecutors reportedly want execution or 25 years in prison.
His lawyer says the terror group charge is made up, and the real issue is Abdelrazek’s refusal to deny his Christian faith.
Rights groups call his detention arbitrary and say he is being punished for peacefully practicing his beliefs.

A Man Jailed Since 2025 Now Fights For His Life

Abdelrazek converted to Christianity in 2016 after years of thinking it over, according to the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. Egyptian officials later detained him and brought formal charges in July 2025. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reports those charges include contempt for Islam, joining a banned group, stirring unrest, and spreading false claims. He has sat behind bars for well over a year while his case moves through the courts.

Egyptian law does not technically ban leaving Islam. But Article 98(f) of the penal code punishes using religion to stir up hatred or harm national unity, and courts have long used that rule to punish converts without ever calling it apostasy by name. Abdelrazek’s case fits this old pattern. Prosecutors did not charge him with simply changing his faith. Instead, they built a case around claims of incitement and a supposed terrorist organization.

A Terrorism Court Hears A Faith Case

Authorities sent Abdelrazek’s case to the Terrorism Circuit of the First Criminal Court in Badr, a venue normally reserved for violent extremism cases. Amnesty International reports his first hearing happened in April 2026 and was later adjourned. Placing a religious conversion case in a terrorism court raises eyebrows. It signals Egypt wants this treated as a national security matter, not a private matter of conscience.

His lawyer, Said Fayez, told the Jerusalem Post that prosecutors are pushing for the maximum punishment available: death or 25 years in prison. Fayez also says the alleged terrorist organization tied to his client does not actually exist. He claims the true motive behind the prosecution is Abdelrazek’s refusal to renounce Jesus Christ. That is a serious accusation, and if true, it exposes the national-security label as cover for punishing a religious choice.

Rights Groups Say This Is Religious Persecution, Plain And Simple

Amnesty International has called for Abdelrazek’s immediate and unconditional release, saying he is jailed only for peacefully living out his faith. Coptic Solidarity frames the stakes even more bluntly, asking whether an Egyptian citizen can leave Islam, become a Christian, and talk about it without being treated like a threat to the state. That question cuts to the heart of what religious freedom actually means when a government decides which beliefs are safe to hold.

Amnesty’s broader reporting on Egypt notes that between September 2024 and May 2025, roughly 6,000 people were sent to special terrorism courts on terrorism-related charges, many with no clear connection to violence. Abdelrazek’s case fits inside that larger pattern of using terrorism law as a catch-all tool against dissent, journalism, and now, apparently, religious belief itself.

What Americans Watching This Case Should Understand

No completed trial has produced a public verdict yet, and the specific evidence behind the terrorism-linked charges has not been shown to the public. That matters, and fairness demands the process play out. But the pattern here, a terrorism court, a vague banned-organization charge, and a defense lawyer naming the real motive as religious conversion, lines up with decades of documented Egyptian practice toward converts.

For American readers who value religious liberty as a bedrock right, this case is a stark reminder that choosing one’s own faith remains a life-threatening decision in parts of the world. A government using terrorism statutes to punish a man for following Jesus Christ deserves scrutiny, and continued attention from international observers may be the only thing standing between Abdelrazek and the harshest possible outcome.

✝️ PERSECUTED FOR FOLLOWING CHRIST. WILL THE WORLD REMAIN SILENT?

28 DAYS UNTIL DECEMBER 8, 2026 — SAID ABDELRAZEK FACES COURT.

This is about Christian persecution in Egypt, the suffering of Coptic Christians, and the right to follow Jesus without fear.

Said Abdelrazek… pic.twitter.com/abAObknn4V

— Brittnie. (@DistantDiaspora) November 11, 2026