Daughter of Convert attempts Suicide

ICC Note

Mariam is a Christian but because her father converted to Islam, she is also considered to have converted to Islam. But Mariam couldn’t accept the fact that she is now forced to become Muslim.

By Nader Shukry

02/08/2009 Egypt (US Copts Association)-Mariam Azmy Fouad, a Christian secondary school student in the satellite city of Tenth of Ramadan east of Cairo , narrowly escaped death when she attempted suicide after being required by her school to sit for an Islamic religion test paper even though she is Christian. Mariam’s father had converted to Islam making her, according to Egyptian law, automatically a Muslim. She was shocked and greatly humiliated at the sarcasm of her classmates which brought on hysterical tears and apparently made suicide a welcome idea.

She repeatedly cried she was Christian and would not answer the test, insisting that her faith had nothing to do with her father. After swallowing some pills, Mariam was moved to hospital where she was given a gastric lavage to save her life.