Egypt’s parliament in bid to ban atheism
As Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hopes to appease the ultraconservative Salafists who helped get him elected, blasphemy convictions have intensified under his presidency.
Egyptian security forces arrested Ibrahim Khalil, a 29-year-old computer science graduate, on Dec. 21, and prosecutors at the Dokki police station later interrogated him for five hours on accusations of “defaming religion.” He was ordered detained pending further investigations.
Khalil, who comes from a Christian family, is also accused of “administering a Facebook page that promotes atheism."
“The Facebook page has been used to distort, defame and exploit the Quran. It was also found to contain comments questioning the existence of God,” chief of the Dokki prosecution office Hassan Ali was quoted as saying by the privately owned Youm7.
“During his interrogation by prosecutors, Khalil confessed to being an atheist and to creating the Facebook page to share his views on religion,” according to Youm7.
