A Coptic woman has lost her appeal of what human rights activists call a false conviction for blaspheming Islam and was sentenced, on June 15, to six months in an Egyptian prison.
The appellate court ruling shocked the Christian woman, 25-year-old Demyana Abd al-Nour, her family and human rights advocates. As Al-Nour fled the country last year, the ruling practically guarantees that she will spend the rest of her life in exile from Egypt.
Al-Nour originally had been sentenced to pay a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds (US$14,270), an exorbitant amount that her family could not pay. The judge replaced the fine with the prison sentence. Her father said she was devastated by the decision. ‘She has-n’t done anything wrong to deserve this. This sentence has ruined her future’, he said.
Applying for asylum
There is one more chance for appeal but because Al-Nour must be in prison to appeal and the legal process would take longer than her sentence, she will now apply for political asylum, most likely in France. Her parents lack money for a trip outside of Egypt to see their daughter, rights activists said. ‘She will never be able to see her family again’.
