The director of al-Khankah Hospital for Mental and Neurological Health Mamdūh Hannā Wahbah, who declared his conversion to Islam, said that there are private circumstances, both social and religious, that urged him to leave Christianity and convert to Islam. He added that he voluntarily went to the Azhar to declare his conversion, changing his name to Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad Mustafá. The Church considered his statements, in which he accused the Church leaders of corruption and the Copts of the Diaspora of financing Coptic militias to incite sectarian strife, as “fabrications that do not deserve a response”.

Wahbah added: “I am 63 years, and married and have four children, and I am a free liberal, however, I used to receive orders from the Church and apply them blindly” (Muhammad Muqallad, al-Watan, Jan. 5, p. 1). Read original text in Arabic.