Egypt's Court Orders Retrial in Apostasy Case

The lead story today over at our friends at Compass Direct concerns a retrial in an apostasy case. It's a very interesting story because it deals with religious freedom and also reveals Islamic law.

ISTANBUL, July 6 (Compass Direct News) – Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court this week quashed a previous ruling that had denied Coptic citizens the right to regain their legal Christian identity, ordering a retrial on the hotly contested case.

The 45 Coptic plaintiffs and their supporters greeted the ruling with cheers and ululating trills echoing through the courtroom, declaring it a victory for “citizenship rights,” sources at the national weekly Watani told Compass.

The court stated that it had based its ruling on the legal opinion of the State Commissioners Authority, which noted that Egypt’s civil law contained no reference to ridda [abandoning Islam], which is punishable by death under Islamic law.  Read more...