Christians in Egypt make up eight per cent or more of the total population - but they don't have equality before the law.Converts to Christianity from Islam are threatened with death. Christians are unable to build, extend or repair churches without government permission, which is almost always refused, while mosques are built frequently, aided by government subsidies.
Christians are hounded by security forces and marginalised in society. They are in constant fear of attacks by Muslims: numbers of them have been shot dead.
Ephraim Shehata is an Egyptian Christian. He worked as a lab technician. In his spare time he ran a community centre in a rented apartment, providing job training, free medical services and free food for the elderly and infirm. He went door-to-door among Christians, seeking to encourage them in whatever way he could. His aim, he said, was to help Christians be strong in the faith.
One day he and his young wife Rasha were riding a motor cycle on a lonely road when a man forced them to stop. He told Ephraim he was going to teach him a lesson, beat him to the ground, took out a handgun and shot him in the back. Rasha screamed. The man shot her.
Three other men came to join the assault. Rasha threw herself on top of her husband's body, pleading for their lives. The men kept shooting.
Rasha heard her husband reciting Bible verses beneath her. Then he fell silent. She decided to play dead. One of the men said "Let's go. They're dead."
The village the attackers came from, according to Compass Direct News, erupted in celebration when they heard the pair were dead.
When the couple reached hospital, Rasha was found to have been shot in the arm, but Ephraim was not expected to survive. He had lost a tremendous amount of blood, a bullet had split a kidney in two, another bullet was lodged in his neck and his body was riddled with bullet fragments.
During 10 weeks in hospital, Ephraim had operation after operation to repair his wounds and remove infected tissue. He is now back home - with a bill for thousands of pounds for medical treatment - but essentially bedridden. He cannot walk or pull on underclothing without help. He faces further surgery.
Rasha thanks God for their deliverance. "There were lots of bullets being shot, but they didn't hit us, only three or four. Where are the others?" she said. "There is a great work the Lord is doing in our lives. We may not know what the reason is now, but maybe some day we will."
The couple's attackers were arrested by police and are in jail against the day when Ephraim is well enough to attend court.
The court case could be an embarrassment for the government. Ephraim has offered to allow charges to be dropped and offered not to testify against his attackers if the government will allow him to build a church building.
