Family jailed in Egypt for becoming Christian

A mother and her seven children have been jailed for 15 years in Egypt for converting back to Christianity.

Nadia Mohamed Ali and her children Mohab, Maged, Sherif, Amira, Amir and Nancy were sentenced at the criminal court in Beni Suef, 70 miles south of Cairo.

Another seven people involved in the case were also sentenced to five years in prison, according to reports.

Nadia was born a Christian, but converted to Islam when she married husband Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab Mustafa 23 years ago.

He later died, and she planned to convert back to Christianity along with her family.

In 2004, after converting back to Christianity, they attempted to get new identity cards with their Christian names on them.

But one of her children was arrested in 2006 and police became suspicious after looking at his documents and noticing he had changed his name.

He confessed the documents had been changed illegally and Nadia, her children and clerks who processed the identity cards were all arrested and charged.

The family was sentenced to 15 years in prison in court last week.

Christians in Egypt who convert to Islam have complained they face difficulties if they decide to convert back, especially in changing names on official documents.

This leads many people to forge the documents, risking prison sentences.