The first Egyptian citizen to attempt to change his legal religious identity from Muslim to Christian, Mohammed Hegazy, has been in jail for twelve months awaiting a verdict on separate misdemeanour charges, (due on 28 December). He faces five years in jail if an appeal court upholds his June conviction of ‘illegally filming anti-Christian demonstrations.’ His lawyer, Karam Ghobrial, said he is optimistic that the appeal court judge will overturn the conviction because no evidence was produced to prove the allegations against his client. Mr. Ghobrial contends that the real reason for the arrest and custody was because he is publicly known for a case he tried to open in 2007 to legalize his conversion to Christianity.