It took one session on Jan. 10 for a court in the Nile Delta province of Beheira to sentence Karim al-Banna, a 21-year-old student, to three years in prison for saying on Facebook that he was an atheist. The studentÔÇÖs lawyer complained that he was denied the right even to present a defense, but an equally chilling aspect of Mr. BannaÔÇÖs case is that his father testified against him.
Also telling is that Mr. Banna was originally arrested, in November, when he went to the police to complain that his neighbors were harassing him. This was after his name had appeared in a local newspaper on a list of known atheists. Instead of protecting him, the police accused him of insulting Islam.
Such tag teams of family, media and state are not uncommon in cases against atheists. Because atheism itself is not illegal in Egypt, charges are laid under laws against blasphemy or contempt for religion. In 2012, a 27-year-old blogger, Alber Saber, received a three-year sentence on charges of blasphemy for creating a web page called ÔÇ£Egyptian Atheists.ÔÇØ In 2013, the writer and human rights activist Karam Saber (no relation) was convicted of defaming religion in his short story collection ÔÇ£Where Is God?ÔÇØ