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The Intimidation of Pope Shenouda III

In the absence of sufficient political representation responsibility for voicing Christian concerns on political issues fell primarily to the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III. The Patriarch irritated President Sadat when he protested against the government-sponsored Islamization bill of 1977, which, if passed, would have made conversion from Islam to Christianity punishable by death, and the 1980 constitutional amendment making Islamic law the principal source of legislation. Sadat also regarded Pope Shenouda as a political opponent because he believed the Patriarch to be responsible for the embarrassing demonstrations against his government's Islamization policies that he encountered on travels in the West. To silence the Patriarch and improve his own Islamic credentials in the face of mounting Islamic opposition to his regime Sadat chose to take drastic action against the Coptic Pope.

President Sadat publicly accused Pope Shenouda of being party to a CIA, German Christian Democratic Party and World Council of Churches conspiracy to establish a Christian state in Upper Egypt with its capital at Asyout and charged him with aiding Lebanon's besieged Christian community. Sadat decreed the dismissal of Shenouda as Patriarch and had him placed under house arrest at the remote Monastery of St. Beshoy. 160 Christians, including eight bishops and 16 priests, were arrested at the same time on the basis of Presidential Decree 143 of 1981 for allegedly threatening national unity and security. The arrest of Pope Shenouda took place in the midst of a crackdown against the government's opponents, most of whom were Muslim revolutionaries. In April 1983 an Egyptian Court upheld the legality of the presidential decree deposing Pope Shenouda. Shenouda remained under house arrest until 1985 when President Mubarak yielded to international pressure applied by human rights organizations such as Christian Solidarity International and Amnesty International. The detention of Pope Shenouda and the imprisonment of 160 Christians in 1981 effectively intimidated Church leaders from defending energetically the interests of the Christian community in the political arena.

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