By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor
An Egyptian court has postponed the trial of Saeid Mansour Abdulraziq, a Christian convert who has been held in custody for nearly a year on charges that include joining a terrorist organization, after the court declined to take testimony from prosecution witnesses at a recent hearing in Cairo despite a previous order to do so.
Abdulraziq, who converted from Islam to Christianity in 2016 and was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church while living in Egypt, was arrested on July 15, 2025, shortly after he attempted to obtain new identification documents confirming his religious conversion.
On July 22, 2025, Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution charged him with joining a banned terrorist organization, contempt for Islam, inciting unrest and disseminating false information, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
He has been in detention since his arrest.
The hearing in his case was held on June 15, but the State Security Court in Cairo did not take testimony from prosecution witnesses as previously ordered and instead set a new trial date of Sept. 6, according to the religious freedom advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
His lawyer, Saeid Fayez, said in a statement that questioning witnesses and experts was one of the most critical phases of a criminal trial, as it gave the court an opportunity to test the consistency of evidence with established facts and allowed the defendant to exercise the right to a fair defense.
Fayez added that the defense team was continuing to take all necessary legal measures to protect Abdulraziq’s rights and to ensure the trial adhered to all legally and constitutionally guaranteed safeguards.
During his current detention, authorities and fellow inmates physically and psychologically abused Abdulraziq because of his conversion, USCIRF reported.
Abdulraziq’s path to an Egyptian courtroom began years before his July 2025 arrest. His conversion had already cost him his family relationships and exposed him to hostility from his community and regular police harassment when he spoke openly about his faith.
In 2018, he traveled to Russia, where he applied for asylum and began publicly criticizing Islam. Russian authorities arrested him in 2019 after his statements provoked backlash among segments of Russia’s Muslim communities. He served a one-year sentence, after which his asylum status was revoked, and he was deported to Egypt in 2024.
On his return, Egyptian authorities held him incommunicado for about 10 days and interrogated him about his religious beliefs. They pressured him to reconsider his faith, asked him to inform on other converts and told him to delete his social media accounts. He was released with instructions not to speak publicly or to proselytize.
Some Islamist groups in Egypt reportedly pressed the government to arrest him, but he remained free until his attempt in July 2025 to update his official identification.
Fayez said at the time that thousands of converts in Egypt face similar obstacles with no rights and little support.
CSW Founder President Mervyn Thomas said Abdulraziq committed no crime and was essentially being tried for exercising his right to change religion and for asking that change to be recognized in his official documentation.
Thomas acknowledged the positive steps taken by Egyptian authorities to advance freedom of religion or belief in recent years and cited President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s personal commitment to fight injustice and promote equality of citizenship.
However, Thomas said, an unacceptable culture of intimidation and discrimination toward converts persists.
CSW called on Egyptian authorities to release Abdulraziq unconditionally and to end the policies and practices that sustain religious inequality.
Egypt’s population is about 111 million, with roughly 90% identifying as Sunni Muslims and about 10% as Christians, a community of around 11 million people who face widespread persecution.
