Christian leaders in Egypt have condemned the country's blasphemy law, which they claim is used to exploit the Coptic community.
At a UN minority rights forum in Geneva, representatives from a number of Coptic organisations made their case against the law, Breitbart reports.
Medhat Kedlada, head of the European Coptic Organisations Union, said there was no place for the legislation in a country now free from the Muslim Brotherhood's rule.
Historically, Egypt been plagued by sectarian violence, and president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for a "religious revolution" to tackle extremism. As part of a commitment to to end religious intolerance throughout Egypt, he became the first of the country's leaders ever to attend a Coptic Christian Mass on Christmas Eve last year.
However, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) this year found that the Egyptian government "has not adequately protected religious minorities, particularly Coptic Orthodox Christians and their property from periodic violence".
It condemned "discriminatory and repressive laws and policies that restrict freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief" and the practice of convicting citizens of blasphemy.
The blasphemy law is used to "detain, prosecute, and imprison members of relgiious groups whose practices deviate from mainstream Islamic beliefs," the USCIRF said.
It noted that blasphemy cases have increased since the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and this has not changed under Sisi's rule.
