The IRF Community, Africa Working Group, Jubilee Campaign and Coptic Solidarity have circulated a letter calling for the immediate release of Said Mansour Rezk Abdelrazek, a Christian convert arbitrarily detained in Cairo since July 15, 2025. The letter highlights the stark contradiction between Egypt’s constitutional guarantee of absolute freedom of belief and the persecution faced by citizens who leave Islam. It documents Mr. Abdelrazek’s years of harassment, torture, and wrongful imprisonment, and urges Egypt to honor its constitutional and international commitments by ensuring his release, granting him access to basic rights while detained, and protecting freedom of belief for all Egyptians.

Informative Sources:

• Coptic Solidarity. (2025, August). Egypt’s hidden persecution: The cost of leaving Islam. https://www.copticsolidarity.org/2025/08/21/egypts-hidden-persecution-the-cost-of-leaving-islam/

• U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. (2025, February). Egypt country update. https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2025-02/2025%20Egypt%20Country%20Update.pdf

• U.S. Department of State. (2023). International religious freedom report: Egypt 2022 & 2023. https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/egypt

• Human Rights Watch. (2007). V. Conversion and freedom of religion (from Religion, state, and society in Egypt).