AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Islam's founder, Muhammad, once decreed: 'Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him.' (Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol. 9:57) This hadith (saying of Muhammad) is the basis for Islam's law that deems apostasy (leaving Islam) a capital offence. Islamic states generally do not execute apostates but they do tolerate 'honour killings' and the Sharia-enforcing violence of Islamic vigilantes. Because religion is regarded as a state matter in most Muslim countries, a person's religion is stated on the identity (ID) card. This then determines what rules they must follow: for example, a woman with a Muslim ID may legally marry only a Muslim man. This intolerance is being questioned in places with more openness.

* EGYPT: An apostasy debate is presently simmering in Egypt over the merits or otherwise of religious liberty vis-a-vis Islamic apostasy laws. A group of Coptic Christians who converted to Islam for pragmatic reasons (such as marriage or jobs), or were deemed Muslim by official decree, are seeking the right to have their identities restored as Christian. On 2 August 2007 Mohammad Hegazi (24) became the first Egyptian-born Muslim to sue Egypt's Interior Ministry for his right to leave Islam and be registered as a Christian. In January the court ruled against Hegazi and declared that a Muslim may not convert. Hegazi plans to appeal the ruling. Meanwhile, he and his wife and baby daughter have been forced into hiding. Even his own father has publicly threatened to kill him. Despite Hegazi's trials, on 4 August 2008 Maher Ahmad El-Mo'otahssem Bellah El-Gohary (56) became the second convert to launch a court challenge for his right to leave Islam. Like Hegazi, he is acting not only for his own right but for the benefit of his family: he also doesn't want his daughter deemed Muslim.

* IRAN: Iran is a Shi'ite revolutionary police state. The only apostasy debate (known to us) taking place in Iran is about whether to make the death sentence for apostasy mandatory instead of optional (at the judge's discretion). The draft Internet Crime Bill which is presently being debated in the parliament will, if passed, make apostasy and promoting apostasy (even through Internet articles and weblogs) a mandatory capital offence on the grounds that it harms the 'mental security' of society.

Meanwhile, on 30 July, Abbas Amiri (62) died in hospital after being beaten on Sunday 27 July by police who raided his house church meeting. His wife, Sakineh Rahnama, died on 3 August 2008 from a combination of injuries sustained in the raid and heartbreak. On 29 July, 16 converts were arrested during a house church baptism ceremony. Another convert, Mohsen Namvar (44), is suffering severely physically and from memory loss after torture throughout June by Iran's secret police trying to extract information on the church. Upon his 'temporary' release, Namvar and his family fled Iran. This was the second time Namvar had been tortured in detention.

Compass Direct also reports that Christians Mahmood Matin (52) and Arash Bandari (44) have been jailed since their arrest on 15 May on suspicion of apostasy. In June, a newly converted couple, Tina Rad (24) and her husband Makan Arya (31), were detained and ferociously beaten over four days leaving Rad unable to walk. Upon their release they were threatened that if they ever again attended a house church they will be charged with apostasy and lose custody of their 4-year-old daughter. They are experiencing intensive persecution from neighbours and family.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR --

• the Holy Spirit to open doors and windows into the Muslim world and infiltrate Muslim hearts and minds with a hunger for revolutionary love, tolerance and religious liberty.
  
  
• the converts named in this bulletin:
  
• In Egypt -- Mohammed Hegazi and his family;
  Maher Ahmad El-Mo'otahssem Bellah El-Gohary and his family.
  
  
• In Iran -- the friends and family of martyrs Abbas
  Amiri and Sakineh Rahnama;
  refugee and torture victim Mohsen Namvar and his family;
  prisoners Mahmood Matin and Arash Bandari (who is critically ill); victims of persecution Makan Arya, Tina Rad and their daughter.
  
  May God grant them peace, physical and spiritual healing and deliverance. May their testimonies be powerfully used by the Holy Spirit to convert their extended families, their accusers, their jailers and fellow prisoners, as well as to bring change to their respective societies.

'Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. . . . And when they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."'(Luke 22:63; 23:33,34 ESV)

SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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APOSTASY: CURRENT ISSUES IN EGYPT & IRAN

In Islam, a person's religion is considered a state matter. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, once decreed that whoever leaves Islam should be killed. This hadith (saying of Muhammad) forms the basis for Islam's apostasy law that deems leaving Islam (apostasy) a capital offence. In Egypt two very courageous converts to Christianity are suing the state for their right to have their Christian status registered on their ID cards. This has sparked considerable debate in Egypt about religious liberty. In Iran, as repression is escalating horrendously, a bill before the parliament would make the death sentence mandatory instead of optional for both apostasy and the promotion of apostasy. Please pray for Muslim converts to Christianity, some of whom have been detained, tortured and even killed by Iranian police in recent months.

Elizabeth Kendal is the Principal Researcher and Writer for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC) http://www.worldevangelicals.org/. This article was initially written for the WEA RLP(Religious Liberty Prayer) mailing list.