Speak up on behalf of apostates from Islam

CSW says,'Over the last year Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has carried out a special investigation into the human rights abuses suffered by apostates from Islam. The research included interviews with twenty eight apostates in six different countries. One apostate spoke of when he was subjected to torture in a Middle Eastern country. His torturer told him he could scream as loud as he wanted, but no one would hear or save him. When he realised this was true, he broke down and has never really recovered from the damage caused by his detention.

No Place to Call Home is the title of the report on this investigation. It identifies that the application of the death penalty for apostasy is rare, even though most people associate this as a punishment for apostasy. Only Sudan and Malaysia make explicit mention of the death penalty for apostasy in their legislation, although there is still a very real risk of facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Iran under their strict applications of Shari’a law.

However, the report identifies the gross and wide ranging human rights abuses that apostates suffer at the hands of the state, their communities and their families. Egypt’s laws, for example, can be used to annul the marriages of apostates and remove custody and inheritance rights. In countries such as Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Yemen, shari’a is used to govern personal status matters. Apostates can face serious penalties, such as the annulment of marriage, termination of citizenship, confiscation of identity papers and the loss of further social and economic rights, even though there are no specific regulations on apostasy. Many of these punishments may render the apostate legally ‘dead’. Even more widespread are extra-judicial attacks by state security services and angry mobs.

A current example of the trauma faced by apostates is that of Egyptian convert Mohammed Hegazy. Having been tortured by the police shortly after his conversion, he sought to make his conversion official to allow his children to grow up as Christians. The consequent furore surrounding his court case to do so led to his first lawyer’s withdrawal following death threats, and Hegazy’s flat was also broken into and the contents set alight. His case was rejected by the court.

As the number of apostate communities has significantly increased in the Islamic world, human rights abuses have been more regularly reported. This is despite the fact that most Muslim nations are members of the UN and have ratified international human rights treaties. Even a resolution passed in March by the UN Human Rights Council on the defamation of Islam may make it far more difficult to defend the abuses of those who choose to leave Islam. Consequently many apostates suffer in crushing silence.
No Place to Call Home aims to move discussion about apostasy away from debates about Islamic theology and the death penalty, and encourage individual governments and the international community to protect the rights of apostates.

What can you do?

Pray
Please pray for all those like Mohammed Hegazy, who are considered apostates. Pray for their continued safety and that they will be granted the right to freedom of religion and conscience.

Protest

For MPs:

Please write to your MP, drawing their attention to the report.
In your letter, ask your MP to raise the findings of the report in the House of Commons by tabling a parliamentary question or an Early Day Motion based on the recommendations of the report; ask your MP to write to the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, asking him to ensure that the issue of apostasy is addressed in appropriate bi-lateral and multi-lateral fora and to clearly communicate the UK’s concern over the human rights abuses suffered by apostates; encourage your MP to engage in dialogue on this issue with any Muslim communities and organisations in his or her constituency. Ask your MP to write to the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, to urge that immigration case workers and translators are properly briefed on the issue of apostasy and to request that any inappropriate conduct towards apostate asylum seekers is properly addressed. Ask your MP to further request that information used in the consideration of asylum applications by the home office includes specific information on the situation of apostates.

The address for all MPs is:
The House of Commons London SW1A 0AA
You can find the details of your MP by calling 020 7219 3000 or logging on to http://www.parliament.uk

For MEPs

Please also write to your MEP to draw their attention to the serious issues raised by this report. Please ask your MEP to put a question to the Commission asking them to provide orientation and training to human rights officers in Commission delegations in countries where apostasy is a serious human rights concern; to ask the Commission and Council to actively engage with majority-Muslim nations to encourage the implementation of the recommendations given in the report, to regularly highlight concern for the treatment of apostates within the EU and with Muslim nations and to ensure that the issue of apostasy is addressed in appropriate bi-lateral and multi-lateral fora; to raise the findings of the report with Muslim community leaders and organisations in the EU and to encourage these groups to address the human rights abuses suffered by apostates and to issue statements condemning the persecution faced by apostates.



The address for all MEPs is:
Rue Wiertz B-1047 Brussels
Belgium

You can find the details of your MEP by calling 020 7227 4300 or logging on to www.europarl.org.uk

For more information, or to download a copy of the report, please visit: http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=report&id=94&search


Yours in Christ,

CSW Advocacy Team

Michael O'Rourke
CSW Church Rep

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) www.csw.org.uk
PO Box 99
New Malden
Surrey
KT3 3YF
United Kingdom

CSW is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.'