Copts alarmed by rise in young female converts to Islam

Photographed by Mohamed Abdel Ghany Alastair Beach 08/08/2011 The video footage is blurred and shaky, but there is no mistaking the identity of the two young girls. Sitting in what appears to be a busy city square and speaking above a cacophony of car horns, Christine and Nancy Fathy explain to the camera why they have run away from their families. “I left my parents and came to Cairo to understand more about the true religion,” says 16-year-old Christine, who is sat next to her 14-year-old cousin.