By IANS,
London : A mother and her seven children have been jailed for 15 years in Egypt for reconverting to Christianity from Islam, a British daily said Thursday.
Nadia Mohamed Ali was raised as a Christian but converted to Islam 23 years ago when she married Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab Mustafa, the Daily Mail reported.
Following her husband’s death, the woman planned to convert back to her original faith, along with the rest of her family.
But a criminal court in Beni Suef, Egypt, sentenced them to jail for 15 years, the report said.
Seven other people involved in the case were sentenced to five years in jail.
The conversion came to light after the family attempted to get new identity cards.
Nadia, her children and the clerks who processed the identity cards were subsequently arrested and charged.
Samuel Tadros, a research fellow at Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, has said the new Sharia-based constitution in Egypt was a “real disaster” for religious freedom, the daily said.