Virgin Mary Church at Zeitoun, in Cairo, Egypt. (F50R2J, Creative Commons)

JUBA, South Sudan (Morning Star News) – Authorities in Egypt arrested a 16-year-old Christian boy from South Sudan without charges on April 12, part of a crackdown on immigrants both undocumented and legal from that country and Sudan, sources said.

Like other immigrants from South Sudan and Sudan, Matiok Santino Matiok – who along with his family is a legal immigrant to Egypt – was arrested after leaving a church service and was initially held in Al Zaitoun District Police Station in northern Cairo, according to the family member who requested anonymity. His family has lived legally in Egypt since 2015.

Matiok informed his family on May 2 of his transfer to a detention center following his arrest as he left an Easter service at a Catholic church, the family member said.

Family members of detainees and Christian advocates say hundreds of South Sudanese and Sudanese Christians remain behind bars under harsh conditions, most on baseless charges. Police confiscate their passports and stay permits in order to prolong keeping them incarcerated, they say.

Although, there are no statistics of the numbers of the South Sudanese who are arrested in Egypt, relatives and church leaders say Egyptian police do not cooperate with their efforts to obtain information about the detainees.

“We tried to follow up with the police, but the Egyptian police are not cooperative,” a family member said.

Matiok’s family urged Christians to pray for his release.

According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees, especially children must be protected and not subjected to procedures that violate their rights or dignity. The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children should only be detained only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) affirms that refugee children are among the most vulnerable and deserve special protection, rather than detention.

The Egyptian government has a history of persecuting converts who have left Islam. According to evangelical leaders in Egypt, the government routinely monitors church bodies looking for Muslims who may be in the process of religious conversion.

Egypt has a long history of Christian presence in the now Muslim-majority country, and about 10 percent of the population identifies as Christian.

Egypt’s president speaks positively about the country’s historical Christian community, but weak law enforcement leaves believers vulnerable to attack, according to Christian support group Open Doors. Construction of new church buildings remains restricted, and the government makes it impossible for conversions to be officially recognized, the group says.

Egypt ranked 42^nd on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

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