With a population of more than 20 million people, the Cairo metropolitan area is a good place to hide. And Dilek, a Christian from Sudan, thought it might be his best hope of escaping hostile family members and relentless interrogations by Sudanese government officials.
As Dilek and his new bride approached the immigration counter at the airport in Sudan in 2015, he knew there was a good chance he could be arrested. He had recently been released from jail, where for three days he was interrogated about his involvement with Sudanese Christians.
“They asked for specific names of the leaders of the ministry, who is evangelizing and what were the names of the churches in the Nuba Mountains,” Dilek said. “I had to say the truth because they were beating me, slugging me on my head.”
Dilek was finally released after the interrogations, but the police kept a close watch on him. He was required to appear at the police station every three weeks, always on a Sunday morning to prevent him from attending church. So after months of living under police scrutiny, Dilek decided he needed to leave. “We decided maybe it was better to go to Egypt, because I could no longer stay in Sudan,” he said.
Although Dilek was detained for an hour at the airport, the immigration officials eventually let him go, satisfied that this Christian convert would no longer be their problem.