From Minya to Geneva: A Cry Against Holy Displacement
First and foremost, I must express my deep appreciation for the freedom of the press in Israel, which has allowed me the opportunity to publish this article a publication impossible in any other platform across the Middle East.
This article recounts a chapter of oppression, injustice, and persecution faced by Copts in Egypt, who number approximately fifteen million within the country, in addition to around three million living abroad.
Time and Place
For documentation purposes, and for all our partners in humanity around the world, I urge you to preserve and record this account in your notebooks, on your tablets, and in your personal phone memory.
The appropriate title for this case: “Sameh Ishaq Tried Both Customarily and Legally for Loving a Muslim Girl.”
Location: Nazlet Jelf village, Beni Mazar District, Minya Governorate, Upper Egypt.
The narratives vary, but the verified account confirmed from four different sources tells of a love affair between the Coptic young man Sameh Ishaq and a Muslim girl from the village. After quarreling with a family member, she voluntarily went to his home, where he welcomed her and did not harm her (a medical examination later confirmed that she remained a virgin).
However, once her family discovered her presence, tensions erupted. How could a Copt love a Muslim girl? As usual, extremist Salafis led the Muslim villagers on one of their “holy tours” to discipline the peaceful Copts of the village: they threw stones at homes, intimidated residents, and burned some crops. Instead of holding the perpetrators accountable, the young man Sameh Ishaq was arrested.
The “Customary Court” session convened on Friday, October 24, 2025, chaired by the village mayor Mahmoud Yehia, with Officer Adel Makram from the security directorate, religious leaders, and representatives of both the Muslim girl’s family and the Copts present, alongside hundreds of villagers.
The session resulted in an unjust ruling: Sameh Ishaq would be forcibly displaced after his trial in the judiciary, and his family would be expelled from the village. His grandfather, Napoleon, was ordered to pay a fine of one million Egyptian pounds, with an additional two million as a penalty if the ruling was not enforced. In other words, the family was judged twice: once customarily, and once legally, with the latter yet to be resolved. Can we imagine this happening in a country claiming to establish a “new republic” and promising peace and stability in the region? Where is the share of peace for Egypt’s Copts? What happened in Nazlet Jelf is not an isolated incident but part of a repeated pattern of systematic discrimination.
Copts in Egypt face systemic bias in practicing their freedom of worship in churches. Merely attempting to renovate a church often leads to its arson by Salafi elements connected to Egyptian security agencies, which openly display a clear extremist bias. This discrimination extends to education, employment, housing, and public life; Copts are rarely found in elite institutions or influential positions. Even sports are affected: the national football team is labeled with a sectarian nickname, “the Prayers Team,” and does not include a single Coptic player, as I have pointed out before. This is no coincidence; it is a deliberate and systematic policy. Added to this is the phenomenon of crimes involving the abduction and Islamization of Coptic girls.
What occurred in Nazlet Jelf was neither a “customary reconciliation” nor a traditional social practice, but a fully constituted forced displacement a constitutional, legal, and international crime. The Egyptian constitution is explicit in Article 63: “Arbitrary forced displacement in all its forms and shapes is prohibited, and violation thereof constitutes a crime not subject to prescription.”
At the international level, Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile.” Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights asserts: “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.” Meanwhile, Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits forced transfer or mass deportation of people. These texts render what happened in Nazlet Jelf a fully constituted crime that does not lapse with time.
Consequently, the incident constitutes a dual violation: of the rights of individuals and families, and of the very essence of citizenship itself. Given the clarity of both constitutional and international law, demanding the prosecution of all participants in this displacement from the “judges” of the customary session to those who supported or remained silent, including local officials and religious leaders is not merely a protest but a legal duty that cannot be compromised. These legal references are “quoted from commentary by an Egyptian human rights lawyer on the scandal.”
The gravest danger is that continuing such practices perpetuates a state of institutionalized, sanctified, and enduring injustice an injustice legitimized by social customs that have grown stronger than the law, sidelining the judiciary, and transforming customary reconciliation into a new religion of governance. When customs become operational law, the death of the rule of law is declared. Sadly, it can be said that the legal state in parts of Egyptian reality is disabled, and achieving a “citizenship state” under the current regime is nearly impossible, with harsher consequences looming.
Appeal to the International Community
To the 18th UN Forum on Minority Issues, scheduled for November 27–28, 2025, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, we send an urgent appeal:
What happened in Nazlet Jelf is not a local issue but an international crime requiring immediate intervention. An entire family was displaced from their village, imposed with an astronomical fine, and forced to sell their property under the guise of “customary reconciliation.”
This crime is not only a violation of the Egyptian constitution and international law, but also a formal declaration of the death of the rule of law and a blatant breach of the principle of citizenship. Restore the victims’ dignity, and bring the perpetrators before UN justice, for today’s silence will be tomorrow’s
