Christian persecution concerns rise in Egypt as State Department presses religious freedom

State Department Urges Egypt to Respect Religious Freedom After Series of Attacks on Christians

The U.S. State Department is calling on Egypt to safeguard religious freedom following a wave of violent incidents targeting the country's Christian minority and the ongoing imprisonment of a Muslim convert to Christianity.

The developments come against the backdrop of a longstanding U.S.-Egypt relationship that includes approximately $1.3 billion in annual American aid to the North African nation.

One of the most closely watched cases involves Said Mansour Rezk Abdelrazek, who converted from Islam to Christianity in 2016. According to Raymond Ibrahim, a scholar who has written extensively on Christians in the Muslim world, Abdelrazek has faced years of harassment, detention, and abuse since his conversion. On April 13, Egyptian prosecutors referred his case to a terrorism court while his lawyers were denied access to the case file. He remains in prison, where advocates say he has been subjected to torture, physical abuse, and denial of adequate medical care, with his trial repeatedly postponed.

The harassment of Christians has not been limited to the courtroom. On July 8, a mob of Muslims in Upper Egypt hurled stones at a church, injuring Christians and damaging the building along with a priest's car, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

Days later, on or around July 10, a group of men attacked Father Matta Roushdy, a 49-year-old priest at the Virgin Mary and Saint Abanoub Coptic Orthodox Church in Dahab, in the South Sinai Governorate. The assault drew condemnation from Open Doors, a global organization that supports persecuted Christians. The group said such attacks are typically carried out by members of radical Islamist organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and reflect a broader anti-Christian climate in rural and village areas where weak law enforcement leaves Christians exposed.

In response to questions about the situation, a State Department spokesperson pointed to President Trump's stated commitment that "America will always defend the right of every person to live out their faith openly, freely, and without fear." The spokesperson added that "religious freedom is a fundamental American value" and said the U.S. aspires for others to enjoy the same protections.

Egypt's Christian community, known as Coptic Christians, numbers an estimated 12 million people, roughly 10% of the country's 120 million population. Despite their deep historical roots in Egypt, they remain underrepresented in many areas of public life, according to a 2025 U.S. State Department report on Egyptian Christians. The report noted that only two Christians serve in Egypt's 31-member cabinet — the minister of local development and the minister of parliamentary affairs. Of 27 appointed governors, only one is Christian. In the 300-seat senate, 24 Christians hold seats, with one serving as deputy speaker. A Coptic Christian heads the constitutional court, but no Christian serves as president of any of the country's 27 public universities. Employment discrimination, particularly within the security services, judiciary, and senior civil service, remains a significant concern.

Dalia Ziade, an Egyptian Middle East scholar and research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, said the documented cases represent only a fraction of what Coptic Christians experience daily. "We are speaking about a population of more than 20 million Egyptians," she said, referring to the broader Christian community. "On paper, they are labeled a minority. In reality, they are at the essence of Egyptian identity. They are the preservers of the country's history and cultural memory."

Ziade also noted that Coptic Christians and women form a key part of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's political base, having felt particularly threatened by the Muslim Brotherhood following the Arab Spring. She said el-Sisi maintains the appearance of supporting Christians by visiting their churches on Christmas, but argued that "beyond that, nothing is actually happening to make them less vulnerable."

Not all recent developments have been negative. The advocacy group Coptic Solidarity announced last week that Egypt's Ministry of Youth and Sports had found sufficient evidence of misconduct by a coach at Alexandria's Al-Ittihad Club who allegedly excluded a junior football player, Makari Younan, because of his Christian name. Coptic Solidarity called the ministry's investigation "an unprecedented move" and said it appeared to be the first official acknowledgment that discrimination against Copts in Egyptian sport requires government intervention, rather than a complaint to be dismissed.

In a separate case highlighting the legal risks Christians face, a Coptic Christian YouTuber, Augustinos Samaan, was sentenced on April 29 to five years in prison for insulting Islam after publishing videos defending the Christian faith, according to a Christian Today report.

The Egyptian embassies in Washington and Tel Aviv did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Advocates say that until the Egyptian government takes what Open Doors described as the "anti-Christian fanaticism" plaguing rural communities as seriously as other security concerns, such attacks are likely to persist.