An Egyptian immigrant has had an appeal for refugee status upheld by the Refugee Appeals Board, after it heard how he had been sentenced to six years in prison in Egypt for preaching another religion.

The board heard how the 32-year-old man, who is not being named due to personal safety issues, was born in Fayoum in Egypt and comes from a family of Coptic Christians.

The Egyptian authorities came to know he was preaching and converting people from Islam to Coptic Christianity when he was working as a carpenter in Libya. Unbeknown to him an Egyptian Criminal Investigation Department officer as reporting back to his superiors in Egypt about what he was doing. He had been working with two Egyptian Christian men, whom he was told by a priest had been blacklisted and imprisoned.

The same priest told him that it was best if he did not return to Egypt. The man said that the police were sent to his house in Egypt twice asking for him and wanted to know where he was. As a result his family had to flee and he has lost contact with them.

In June 2005, after working for five years in Libya, he came to Malta irregularly with an Egyptian identity card but no visa. He was afraid to return home as he would be imprisoned as he had been sentenced in absentia.

The board, chaired by lawyer Joe Mifsud, said that it took a careful and considered assessment of the totality of his background, immigration history and evidence presented in the appeal.

The board found that the migrant had not only suffered harsh discrimination and persecution for being a Coptic Christian but he was also sentenced to jail in absentia for having preached a different religion to Islam without a licence.

The board said that the Egyptian judgment which sentenced him found that since he had converted people from Islam, "this had given rise to conflict and problems in society."

The man had been beaten and tortured to reveal the whereabouts of a policeman whom he had converted and had fled the country with his family.

The board also considered the declaration by a priest who said that the man is currently blacklisted and wanted by the police. He  said that the man's family had also been targeted and should he set foot back in Egypt he would almost certainly be arrested, imprisoned, tortured and killed like so many others over the past five years.

The board upheld the appeal and awarded the migrant refugee status.

The man was represented by Legal Procurator Quentin Tanti while the board members were Dr Claudio Zammit and Edmond Mizzi.