Egypt Tests Trump’s Pledge to Defend Persecuted Christians

“America’s commitment to defending persecuted Christians will ultimately be judged by whether allies are allowed to violate that principle without consequence.”

Mariam Wahba

Seal of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Photo by U.S. Government – Extracted from PDF version of the 2006 USCIRF annual report (direct PDF URL [1]), Public Domain, Wikipedia

Despite President Donald Trump’s pledge to hold accountable those who persecute Christians around the world, American allies continue to test the administration’s resolve.

On January 28, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) called on the Trump administration to place Egypt on its Special Watch List, citing “systematic violations of freedom of religion or belief.” The warning comes as Egypt—a major beneficiary of U.S. military aid—escalates prosecutions and detentions of religious minorities under its blasphemy laws, which are among the oldest and most potent tools for the repression and persecution of Christians by the state.

Reports indicate that dozens of Christians and nonbelievers have been detained in the past year under similar charges. Social media activity, personal disagreements and even routine religious practice have triggered criminal cases, signaling a sustained campaign against minority faiths.

An Egyptian court sentenced Coptic Christian researcher Augustinos Samaan to five years of hard labor last month after he had already served months of pretrial detention. His offense was neither violent, nor did he incite others to violence. Instead, he was arrested for hosting a YouTube channel on which he defended Christianity. Charged with “contempt of religion” and “misuse of social media,” Samaan’s case illustrates how Egypt’s blasphemy laws operate. Egyptian authorities claim these laws exist to protect social harmony. Instead, they are a weapon wielded disproportionately against Egypt’s 10 to 15 million Coptic Christians, the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

Egypt’s blasphemy statute, Article 98(f) of the criminal code, criminalizes the “contempt of Islam.” While the law is presented as religiously neutral, its enforcement tells a different story. Charges are most often brought against Christians, converts to Christianity and “nonbelievers.” While not formally outlawed, conversion from Islam to Christianity in Egypt is effectively criminalized through state non-recognition and severe legal and societal penalties.

Once invoked, the law traps Christians in a legal vise. Pretrial detention is used to hold individuals in isolation for months, often without charge. Judges routinely uphold blasphemy cases, sending a clear signal that any religious expression outside the state-approved script carries severe consequences.

Beyond Samaan’s case, USCIRF also highlighted the detention of Christian converts such as Said Abdelrazeq, and nonbelievers including Maged Zakaria Abdel Rahman and Sherif Gaber. Several detainees from the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, another religious minority, were reportedly summoned by state-backed clerics and pressured to renounce their beliefs.

These cases expose a deeper problem in the U.S.-Egypt relationship.

Progress on religious freedom issues is not a rhetorical aspiration in U.S. policy toward Egypt. It is an explicit expectation embedded in American law governing foreign military assistance. Egypt is one of the largest recipients of U.S. security aid, and successive administrations have justified that support in part by pointing to Cairo’s assurances that it is improving protections for religious minorities.

Those assurances ring hollow when blasphemy prosecutions continue and pretrial detention is used to punish protected religious expression. Public statements or symbolic gestures like selective prisoner releases do not offset a legal system that still treats Christians as targets.

If defending persecuted Christians is a real priority, U.S. policy must reflect that commitment in practice.

The administration should implement USCIRF’s recommendation and place Egypt on the Special Watch List. It should also demand repeal or meaningful reform of Article 98(f) as a condition for continued engagement. Portions of security assistance should be withheld until concrete, verifiable legal changes are enacted, not merely promised.

This issue should not be a point of tension between Washington and Cairo. It should be about reinforcing American interests by applying the leverage the United States already holds. If blasphemy laws remain a routine instrument of repression, and prosecutions carry no cost, Cairo has little incentive to change course.

America’s commitment to defending persecuted Christians will ultimately be judged by whether allies are allowed to violate that principle without consequence. Egypt’s blasphemy laws have turned belief into a crime. Washington must decide whether to translate American policy into practice.

Mariam Wahba is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow her on X @themariamwahba.