For the freedom of Wafaa Costantine, Maria Abdullah Zaki, Marian Makram Ayyad & Teresa Ibrahim.

For the freedom of

Wafaa Costantine

Maria Abdullah Zaki

Marian Makram Ayyad

Teresa Ibrahim



For the past 17 months , Wafaa Costantine , Maria Abdullah Zaki Marian Makram Ayyad , and Teresa Ibrahim , have been detained in a prison-like place , isolated from the outside world and prevented from contacting the media .


And although the Coptic church in Egypt declared (after Wafaa and Maria embraced Islam ) that it will subject the two women to (closed-door church advisory sessions) in order to get them to reconsider their decision to convert to Islam (a decision they made out of their own free will and personal conviction), yet , so far the church has not made public the results of those sessions, not even to the media, which reinforces previous suspicions that the two women are in fact being subjected to a campaign of religious persecution and intellectual terrorism which violates international human rights agreements that guarantee freedom of religion of a person and his or her right to defend that right .


The silence of the church over the condition and whereabouts of (Wafaa and Maria) means one thing : that the church is transgressing on the right of people to chose their beliefs freely , which is reminiscent of the dark ages when the church was persecuting scientists and thinkers such as Galileo , Copernicus , Voltaire and Montesquieu ,who all contributed immensely to the technological and intellectual progress of humanity . It is also a painful reminder of the infamous Spanish inquisition whose cruelty and ugliness has been condemned by all honest and unbiased western writers and intellectuals who regarded it as a disgrace to western civilization and western thought.


The church did not stop at (Wafaa and Maria) whom it claimed were taken into custody because of their status as wives of two of the church priests, unfortunately, the church also apprehended and detained two doctors, Marian Makram Ayyad and Teresa Ibrahim who declared their conversion to Islam in a written statement to the police who failed to protect them and instead, handed them over to their families who in turn handed them to the church. Its rather regrettable to see the church turn into a security establishment that oppresses the freedoms of people and practices intellectual terrorism against them.





A message to the Egyptian government and the mufti of Egypt :

We hereby appeal to the Egyptian government to fulfill its duty towards its own citizens and insure their constitutional right of freedom of religion and that this right is not violated by any person or group of people.

We appeal to President Mubarak to intervene and work for the release of our sisters (who embraced Islam) from captivity and end their ordeal. The dark ages as well as the imposing of beliefs on people are over, not to mention that such practices stand in violation of (article 46) of the Egyptian constitution which states that:


Quote;
The State shall guarantee the freedom of belief and the
freedom of practice of religious rites.

And hence, the imprisonment and detention of the four women at the behest of the church and with the full knowledge of Pope Shenouda (head of the Coptic church of Egypt) is a violation of the sovereignty of the state and an assault on its right to safeguard its citizens and protect them from intellectual terrorism.

By such unconstitutional acts the state and its apparatus lose all credibility as protectors of the constitution that guarantees all freedoms (including freedom of belief and freedom of religion), because in this case the state has given its full support to religious extremism that is being practiced by a minority of Coptic extremists supported by the highest authority of the church establishment.

This inability of the government to protect the constitutional rights of its citizens makes it look as if this government is not responsible for enforcing the law and upholding the constitution that is supposed to govern the state and define the relationship between the citizens and the establishments of the state. in this case, its as if the government is not concerned with the protection of the people or their basic rights , nay, but it would even conspire against its own people with thugs and extremists if that were to serve the interests of certain people , even if that constituted a crime punishable by law.

Therefore, we strongly criticize the handing over of Wafaa and Maria by the security apparatus of the state to the church instead of protecting the two women who were persecuted for their religious beliefs. The same fate was faced by two other women doctors who converted to Islam out of their own free will and they are: Marian Makram Ayyad and Teresa Ibrahim.

As a result, the four women were subjected to both physical as well as mental abuse, their heads were completely shaved, and they were forcibly taken away to one of the church houses to serve the sentence imposed on them by the parallel state i.e. the church, for daring to practice their constitutional right in a country that apparently no longer defends the rights of its people. This act , is a moral crime , a legal crime , and a constitutional crime and in essence- is an intentional breach of the constitution and the law, it is even a conspiracy by the state and its official apparatus to undermine the constitution of the country, not to mention , a criminal agreement between the state and a few extremists to commit an obvious crime against four citizens , and an abandonment on the side of the state and its apparatus of the very responsibility they were created to fulfill, which is to protect the basic acquired rights of its citizens ,most importantly their freedom of beliefs and religion.


We also hold the Mufti of Egypt responsible for his silence over this outrageous crime, and over compromising the security of the four innocent women , their mental as well as intellectual security, by pressuring and imprisoning them to abandon a religion they embraced out of their own free will and conviction.



We hold the Egyptian government responsible for the disappearance of Wafaa and Maria, for the unavailability of any news about them and for not allowing the media to monitor their condition or meet with them .and we openly say that: the pampering policy adopted by the government to contain Coptic anger and which is meant to please and appease the west, is a weak and fragile policy that would tempt the Copts (and others) to seek support from foreign powers undermining the sovereignty of the state.


We also hold the government responsible for the dependence of any party on foreign powers for their own vested interests, interests that may clash with our social security and cause a break in our psychological wall that safeguards our society and makes it immune to sectarianism.






A message to (Human Rights Organizations)

We appeal to (Human Rights Organizations) that have been surprisingly mindless of the whole issue, and have made no attempt to take part in saving four innocent women whose lives were turned into a miserable hell !!! We wonder, how could (Human Rights Organizations) remain tight-lipped in the face of such a crime and betrayal of their very principals? How could they not move heaven and earth to save the humanity and freedom of the four Muslim women?

Is it the fact that major countries have no interest in this issue thats behind this deafening silence of (Human Rights Organizations) ? Or is it because the case is about four women converting from Christianity to Islam and not the other way around?

Is the absence of the smell of oil or the glitter of diamonds or other precious stones reason enough for (Human Rights Organizations) to turn their back on such violations and pretend nothing is happening?

These events involve clear violations of the principles of the (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) adopted and proclaimed by the general assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948, namely the following articles:

Quote:

Article (5) which states that: [No one shall be subjected to torture
or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment].

Article (9) which states that: [No one shall be subjected to
arbitrary arrest, detention or exile].


Article (18) which states that : [Everyone has the right to freedom
of thought, conscience and
religion; this right includes
freedom to change his religion or
belief, and freedom, either alone
or in community with others and
in public or private, to manifest
his religion or belief in teaching,
practice, worship and
observance ] .



We are here to remind (Human Rights Organizations) of their role, and that is their role which if they failed to fulfill then they would lose their credibility and write their own death certificate , and make clear the dubious purposes behind their existence in our country, and in other countries as well .

We are here to lead a campaign to remind everyone of the two Muslim women (Wafaa and Maria), and the two doctors Marian Makram Ayyad and Teresa Ibrahim, and to urge everyone with a conscience to stand by their side in their terrible ordeal.

We, the undersigned,are leading a media campaign to remind the world of Wafaa , Maria , Marian and Teresa , until they win their freedom and enjoy a humane and dignified life such as that promised to them by the so called constitution , the constitution that has become a spiders web in which only the weak get tangled.