'ISIS Is Not the Problem,' Says Christian Convert Tortured and Thrown to Dogs

Full article here. http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-convert-tortured-thrown-to-dogs-isis-is-not-the-problem-167391/

By Samuel Smith , CP Reporter

August 2, 2016 |4:15 pm

(Photo: Reuters)

ISIS militants in Iraq are seen in this undated photo.

French priest  during a morning mass in Normandy that "ISIS is not the problem."

 (Photo: One Free World International) Majed el-Shafie

In an interview, Shafie, who was the subject of the 2012 documentary "Freedom Fighter," shared the story of how he was imprisoned, heinously tortured and sentenced to death by government actors in Egypt for converting from Islam to Christianity and helping build house churches in 1998.

"They shaved my head, they put my head in freezing cold water and then into boiling hot water," Shafie was quoted as saying. "They burned their cigarettes on me, they electrocuted me.

"They cut me and put salt in my wounds," he added. "I still wake with nightmares about it, even now 20 years on."

Shafie never lost his faith throughout the ordeal, and recalled a "miracle" moment when the guards let a pack of dogs into his cell, expecting them to maul him. 

"Quite honestly many people don't believe in miracles and that's fine, but when they released the dogs I sat in the corner and covered my face to the best of my ability," he explained. "I tried to protect my back and chest. … The dogs came and I prepared for pain and agony but I could not feel any."

"I moved my arms and the dogs were sitting around me. None of them moved toward me. … The dogs just didn't move," he continued. "The prison guards got another set of dogs and the same thing happened, but this time one of the dogs licked my face."

Shafie was eventually hospitalized and placed under house arrest, where, with the help of his friends, he was able to escape Alexandria.

"When I was escaping Alexandria I hid behind the police station, it was the last place they would look," he said. "I made my way to Sinai and there I stole a jet ski and I waited until it was 5:30 p.m. when the sun would be behind me and made my way towards the border with Israel."

Shafie was later granted asylum in Canada and founded his charity, which focuses on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East