Anba Beshui Denies Church Kidnapped Camelia Shahta, Says She Is in Safe Place

Anba Bishoy said in an interview published by Al-Masry Al-Youm that Camilia Shehata, the wife of a priest at Moas Mona, is in a “safe place.” The interviewer’s question described her as having disappeared along with another person, and the church has been the subject of accusations that it kidnapped them to force their return to Christianity after they had declared Islam. Anba Bishoy described these accusations as unfounded and false.

He said Shehata went to the prosecution, where she declared that she was a Christian and would die as one. According to his account, the church then took her from the prosecution and moved her to a safe place because she feared that some people might accuse her of turning back to Islam or harm her. He also said that, under a ministerial decision, he asked officers to give her counselling so that they could be sure of her intentions regarding Islam. He said the parties agreed she would stay in a neutral place under security guard, and that she was handed over to security and placed under close guard.

Anba Bishoy said the church does not force anyone to adopt a particular religion and rejected the suggestion that Shehata had been subjected to drug treatment that could affect her mental state. He said she is now in a safe place of her own will, and that the church is concerned for the safety of people in similar circumstances. He also rejected the idea that marital problems or the church’s position on divorce drive priests’ wives or Christian women to convert to Islam, calling that perception exaggerated.

On discipline within the clergy, he said that if a priest’s wife complained that her husband had beaten her, the priest would be tried by the church. He cited his role as president of the General Council of the Clerics, which he said tries priests on behalf of the Pope. He said the priest is not above the law of the church and that his wife has the same rights as other wives. He described such cases as individual problems rather than a broader pattern.

Anba Bishoy said he wants the religious counselling sessions that were cancelled after the case to be reinstated, and that he has submitted a memorandum on the subject to Dr. Mustafa Al-Faki for presentation to President Mubarak. He said the sessions should be held at the headquarters of the National Council for Human Rights in Cairo rather than at a security directorate or a bishopric. He linked the request to concerns about personal identity cards for people who convert, citing a lawyer who he said has more than 2,000 cases of Christians who refuse to change their religion on their identity cards. He reported that the Administrative Court of Justice ruled that the card should be amended, that the Ministry of the Interior refused to comply, and that the case has gone to the Constitutional Court.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Arabic)