Coptic Solidarity Analysis of USCIRF’s Annual Egypt Report

By Coptic Solidarity –

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) published its Annual Report  on March 4, 2026, documenting egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in 2025, including those the Egyptian government engaged in or tolerated. This analysis brief explains the context of Egypt’s USCIRF classification on the Special Watch List, and then evaluates the Commission’s coverage of the situation in Egypt, improvements it has implemented in this year’s report, and recommendations to improve the transparency and approach of future Commission efforts as they relate to Egypt. The Commission also issued two Egypt-focused press releases prior to the report, which further contextualize Egypt’s trajectory and are addressed in this analysis.

Background

USCIRF has recommended Egypt for designation on the Special Watch List (SWL) from 2020-2025 “for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).” USCIRF places countries on the SWL if it determines the violations meet two of three criteria outlined in IRFA, which are: “egregious,” “systematic,” and “ongoing.”

The Commission placed Egypt on its Tier 2 list for three years (2017-2019), meaning Egypt engaged in or tolerated at least one of the three criteria—“egregious,” “systematic,” and “ongoing”—of religious freedom violations.

USCIRF recommended Egypt six consecutive times for the Country of Particular Concern status for the reporting years of 2011 – 2015.  Before 2011, USCIRF merely noted that it was monitoring the situation in Egypt to see if it warranted a designation.

Evaluation

• The Annual Report strengthens the analytical framework for understanding religious freedom in Egypt, demonstrating that violations are not isolated incidents but part of an expanding system of state-controlled religious governance, reinforced through new legal and administrative mechanisms.
• The report maintains a strong focus on key instruments of repression, including:
  • Cybercrime Law (175/2018): Continued misuse to target individuals accused of violating “values in Egyptian society.” This includes arrests of content creators expressing religious views outside the State’s interpretation of Islam, as well as individuals associated with platforms such as the Arab Atheists Network and Forum.
  • Fatwa Regulation Law: Consolidates authority within state-backed Islamic institutions, including Al-Azhar and Dar al-Ifta, granting them exclusive control over religious edicts in both public and private spheres.
  • Proposed education law amendments: Expands religious instruction requirements in a manner that structurally disadvantages Christian students due to a shortage of instructors and resources.

• The report continues to document the Egyptian government’s criminalization of belief and expression, particularly through prolonged pretrial detention under Article 98(f), which penalizes “ridiculing or insulting a heavenly religion or sect.” USCIRF highlights the frequent pairing of these charges with allegations of terrorism or membership in banned groups, a dangerous conflation that threatens the Egyptian legal and prosecutorial institutions’ legitimacy.

Notable cases include:

• Said Abdelrazek: A Christian convert charged with “contempt of Islam” and “joining a banned terrorist organization.”
  • Dr. Augustinos Samaan: A researcher imprisoned for allegedly promoting “contempt of Islam” online.
  • Ahmadi adherents: At least 12 individuals detained for displaying a religious banner, with reports of extended detention, torture, and denial of basic necessities.

These cases underscore a consistent pattern in which divergent beliefs—or lack of belief—are treated as national security threats.

• USCIRF continues to highlight the failure to implement the 2016 Church Construction Law, noting that only 160 permits were approved in 2025. This remains starkly disproportionate to state investment in mosque construction and renovation, including a previously announced 18.6 billion EGP initiative for over 12,000 mosques.
• The report again documents the disappearance of Coptic women and the persistent failure of authorities to investigate or cooperate in these cases.

Improvements

• The 2026 report reflects several areas of progress aligned with prior Coptic Solidarity recommendations:
  • Inclusion of threats against St. Catherine’s Monastery, including legal uncertainty and efforts to undermine its autonomy.
  • Expanded documentation of restrictions on access to religious and cultural heritage, including:
    1. Limited access to St. Catherine’s manuscripts, considered the oldest and one of the most important Christian monastic library collection in the world.
    2. Continued denial of access to the historical Jacques Mosseri Geniza documents, held by the government since 2016.
  • Clearer acknowledgment of persistent impunity for attacks on Copts and their property, including failures to investigate church destruction and cases involving disappeared Coptic women.
  • Stronger recognition of the state’s role in enforcing a singular interpretation of Islam, including arrests of individuals expressing alternative or dissenting beliefs.
• The report more explicitly links FoRB conditions to U.S.-Egypt bilateral relations, particularly through its recommendation to “integrate religious freedom improvements into broader U.S.-Egypt security cooperation and foreign assistance,” through increased cooperation to release prisoners of conscience and lift travel bans.
• USCIRF provides a more detailed account of state-enabled antisemitism, citing examples from state-funded media outlets such as Al-Ahram and Al-Gomhuria, as well as programming on state-run television. This underscores the contradiction between symbolic synagogue restoration efforts and the continued promotion of antisemitic narratives through official channels.
• Under the “Congressional action promoting religious freedom” section, the report highlights statements by US House Representatives Brad Sherman (D-CA), French Hill (R-AR), Mike Lawler (R-NY), and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) supporting Coptic Christians in Egypt during a “civil society gathering” focused on religious freedom challenges. These aforementioned remarks were delivered at Coptic Solidarity’s Annual Conference (June 11–12, 2025).

Recommendations

• On January 28, 2026, USCIRF published a press release, The Egyptian Government’s Escalation Against Religious Minorities Reinforces USCIRF’s Recommendation for Placement on the Special Watch List. This public statement directly addressed the Egyptian government’s role in repressing religious minorities and urged the State Department to add Egypt to the Special Watch List (SWL), signaling continued and heightened scrutiny of Egypt’s record.
  Coptic Solidarity further recommends that USCIRF reassess Egypt’s designation and elevate it to a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). The evidence demonstrates systematic, government-driven discrimination against religious minorities, including cases involving torture, sexual violence, and the abuse of minors and individuals with disabilities. These concerns are compounded by disproportionate sentencing in FoRB-related cases and a lack of transparency and accountability within the judiciary, which frequently fails to uphold constitutional protections and its obligations under both domestic and international law.
•  Recommend that Egypt pass legislation for a unified law for the regulation, construction, and reparation of houses of worship.
• In addition to reporting on the lack of administrative action on the draft Personal Status and Family Law, recommend that Egypt pass a unified Personal Status and Family Law that applies equally to all Egyptian citizens.
• In February 2026, USCIRF issued a press release titled Congress Should Ban Lobbying by Countries that Violate FoRB. CS welcomes this position and recommends expanding such restrictions to include countries placed on the Special Watch List, including Egypt.