The controversy surrounding the alleged conversion of a priest's wife to Islam has not ended with her return to the church. Gihan Shahine asks why Weeks of tension over the alleged conversion of a priest's wife, Wafaa Costantine, to Islam has taken a new turn after the woman told the general prosecutor that she had been "born Christian" and would "live and die" as such. Pope Shenouda III, nonetheless, had insisted on remaining in seclusion in a desert monastery in order to draw attention to "grievances among Egyptian Christians". It was not until yesterday that the Pope decided to resume his duties and address his weekly mass in what seems as an immediate reaction to the release of 13 Coptic students, who had been arrested on charges of participating in illegal demonstrations at the cathedral. The fact that the alleged conversion of one woman has created so much fuss has provoked a heated public debate on how a single incident can be overblown and used to create rifts in the nation's social fabric. The generally calm relationship between Egypt's Copts and the state was strained when top church clerics accused the police of allegedly "discriminating" against Christians, and claimed that leading members of the ruling National Democratic Party in Assiut had reportedly been forcing female Copts to convert. Many observers -- both Coptic and Muslim --suspected that the Coptic Church was "escalating" problems in an attempt to "place pressure on the government, and obtain some legal advantages". Critics slammed the state's "submissive" attitude, saying the government had "bowed" to the "illegitimate demands" of the Coptic Church. They have also questioned "the mysterious detention" of Costantine within the Wadi Al-Natroun desert monastery complex. Despite all of these cross-accusations, the general public seemed to both attest to generally warm Muslim-Christian relations, and to insist that sectarian tensions would harm everybody. Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel- Wahed's announcement, last week, that Costantine had initially gone to police saying she wanted to change her religion on her own free will, but had then decided to remain a Christian after meeting church officials, brought an end to nearly two weeks of protests. Rumours had been circulating that Costantine, the wife of a Coptic priest in the Beheira village of Abul-Matameer, 150 kilometres north of Cairo, had been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam. Costantine, 47, was rumoured to have allegedly fallen in love with her engineer colleague Mohamed El-Margun, who had convinced her that the only way they could get married would be if she converted to Islam. El-Margun, a father of three, denied having had any relationship with Costantine, and told the police he had no idea about her converting to Islam. The story, according to Abdel-Wahed, began on 1 December when Costantine went to a police station in the low-income Cairo district of Al-Salam, and said she had left home a few days earlier and wanted to change her religion "of her own free will, and without anybody's interference". She said she had been living with some Muslim friends in Cairo, and that her daughter, Sheri, knew all about her plans to convert. The police told Costantine that she had to undergo certain procedures, which involve anyone seeking to convert to Islam discussing that decision with a priest before the conversion is officially acknowledged. Costantine agreed, and the next day the Beheira governor and local police officials informed the bishop of Beheira that Costantine wanted to change her religion, and was ready to be questioned by the church. Abdel-Wahed's statement said that the bishop then asked for some leeway before setting the time and place of the discussion. On 8 December, it was agreed that Costantine would be moved to a villa in the low-income district of Ain Shams, where, under police supervision, she would stay with a group of nuns and be questioned by a committee of priests. Six days later, Costantine went to the police station in the company of two lawyers from the church, and declared that she would remain a Christian. Coptic Youth Bishop Moussa told Al- Ahram Weekly that Costantine was under "psychological pressures, as a result of a recent crisis in her marital life, and that she sought conversion as the only way out." Costantine's bed-ridden husband was suffering from diabetes and has had both his legs amputated. Since the church does not allow couples to obtain divorce except in cases of adultery or conversion, Costantine thought, "becoming a Muslim would be the only solution," Moussa said. El-Margun, according to Moussa, "probably noticed Costantine had started to read about Islam and gave her books and tapes that played on her emotions and put her in a state of confusion. But Costantine never actually abandoned Christianity, and she remained in church until the last day before she left," Moussa told the Weekly. Although the youth bishop said Costantine would soon be available to meet with the press, it remains unclear why she has been kept secluded after her discussion with church officials concluded. The fact that Costantine was given a job as an agrarian engineer inside the monastery, instead of her job as a civil servant, has inspired reverse allegations, making many people suspect that she was forced to remain a Christian. The fact that church officials insisted that two lawyers from the church accompany Costantine when she appeared before the prosecutor has been used as evidence to support that thesis. According to Moussa, Costantine is "a simple delicate woman", which meant she needed a bit of rest before meeting with the press. Many are sceptical. Historian and former State Council judge Tareq El-Bishri told the Weekly that "the state's handing Costantine over to the church, and her captivity inside the monastery, are both illegal, and violate freedom of creed as enshrined in human rights laws." Prominent Coptic thinker Rafiq Habib said, "the government has actually given church [officials] a right that is not theirs, and violated the law by allowing the detention of an Egyptian citizen inside a monastery, which made many people wonder." According to El-Bishri, there is nothing in Egypt's laws stipulating that anyone seeking conversion should be given back to the church to discuss his or her decision. "These are only norms and procedures that have no root in the law or the constitution," El-Bishri said. Moussa, however, countered that "social norms" which have been enforced for many years are almost equal to laws. He further insisted that it was the church's "right to discuss the matter with whoever wants to convert, to make sure the person is not under any pressure, or doing so in order to solve personal problems. But if a person really wants to convert, then he or she is free to do so." Moussa also insisted on accusing police and government officials of "discriminating against Copts". He said the issue could have easily been resolved in Abul-Matameer if the police had returned Costantine to the church when she first disappeared, and allowed her to be questioned. "But the police handled the matter inefficiently: policemen and the governor promised to give Costantine back to the church, and broke their promise," he said. The police, according to Moussa, allowed Costantine to be taken to Cairo, "even though they were aware of the fact that hundreds of angry Copts had gathered at the Abul-Matameer Church awaiting her arrival. This is not just any woman, she is the wife of a priest," Moussa said. El-Bishri said that Costantine's status as the wife of a priest did not mean that she should not enjoy the same freedoms of a normal Egyptian citizen. Security officials had previously explained to the Weekly that moving Costantine to Cairo was a protective measure that was taken because they felt that she would not be safe in Abul- Matameer. "The police did not do anything against the law," El- Bishri said. "It is the police's job to protect citizens." Habib said, "the general prosecutor's statement shows that the police acted normally and legally; they were even cautious in dealing with the matter. Perhaps the only problem was that the truth was revealed very late, which gave way to rumours, and sparked anger," he said. By 7 December, hundreds of Copts had gathered at the cathedral compound in Abbasia. The situation had escalated to that degree, Moussa said, because the "police kept promising us every day that Costantine would return to the church for us to talk to her, and every day we would wait, and she never came." About 1,000 Copts at the cathedral started to hurl stones at riot police, injuring nearly 21 policemen. Around 34 young men were arrested on charges of participating in illegal demonstrations and causing unrest. People Shenouda III then called Zakaria Azmi, chief of the presidential staff, and asked him to inform President Hosni Mubarak about the escalating situation. Only then did the church get a phone call from the police saying Costantine would be available for discussion the next day. By the time the police brought Costantine to the church a few hours later than scheduled, a "distressed" Pope Shenouda, Moussa said, had left to a nearby monastery, and did not address his weekly mass, as he "did not know what to say to the protesters". Prior to yesterday's release of 13 young protesters, Moussa said the Pope had planned to "remain in seclusion until the authorities released those innocent youngsters, who [contrary to what police said] did not take any part in the demonstration, and until the Pope also reached a solution [with the government] that satisfies his conscience to the problems related to the Copts". Those problems, according to Moussa, involve allegations of "discrimination against Copts, restrictions on church construction and forced conversion of Christian girls". That state-church tension, however, seemed to ease a little bit when the general-prosecutor -- in apparent reaction to the Pope's anger -- decided to release 13 protesters on grounds that most of them were students who needed "to take exams or youngsters who did not know the consequences of what they did". Like many, Habib remains critical of the way both the church and the state handled the matter. "The Pope's continued seclusion [after Costantine's return to church] had blown the case out of its original proportion, and gave the issue dangerous dimensions," Habib told the Weekly. "The church is exercising pressure on the government in attempts to obtain demands outside the legal channel." For Habib, the church's angry reaction was "unjustified" because, after all, "Costantine practised her own free will and personal freedom, and we cannot pressure the state to force a citizen to go back to Christianity, which is both illogical and illegitimate." Sameh Fawzi, the managing editor of the Weekly Watani newspaper, would rather lay the blame on the fact that the "Coptic dossier has been dealt with as a security, rather than a political, issue", that is, "all Coptic problems are addressed through the church and the state security which should not be the case." Fawzi said that the "issue of Costantine, albeit not important in itself, has uncovered a hidden strain in the relation between the church and the state, especially following some Christian-Moslem clashes in Upper Egypt." Both El-Bishri and Habib insist there was no legitimacy to the church playing the role of mediator between police and the young demonstrators. Moussa, however, countered that the church "was not placing any pressure" on the government, but only "pleading" for the release of the young students so they would not miss their exams. This explanation did not convince Habib. "The top church clerics' seclusion in the monastery meant they were pressuring the government to release the students before Christmas." Habib said that with the government constantly clamping down on Islamists, the perception that the church could use extra-legal measures to pressure the government into releasing Coptic protesters "will have dangerous repercussions". According to Habib, "the state, for its part, is attempting to please the church in a way that has sparked the anger of the ordinary man on the street, and has caused many people to criticise the church, thus creating a situation which is bound to create sectarian sensitivity and increase biases." In Habib's view, "all should be equal before the law, without any distinction." But, for that to happen, Fawzi suggested that "the Coptic issue, just like gender and human rights issues, should be put on the political agenda and addressed by Egypt's political secular elite." "That's the only way we can avoid the irrelevant bureaucracy of policemen, which is not necessarily biased against Copts," Fawzi explained. "The church should not either be the place where Copts address their problems, which definitely need the creative mentality of a politician." Habib criticised the trend by which some local Copts, as well as some who live abroad, seek international assistance for the settling of local problems. He said the church should exert more of its efforts into curbing this dynamic, because history has proven that "Muslim-Christian relations collapse once a foreign mediator interferes, [which] is bound to harm Copts in the first place."
