Kamilia Shehata

Kamilia Shehata Zakher (; born 22 July 1985) is a schoolteacher in Deir Mawas, Egypt, and wife of Tadros Samaan, the Coptic Priest of Saint Mark's Church in Mowas Cathedral in Minya. Her subsequent return to the Church inflamed sectarian tensions between Egypt's Muslim majority and the Christian minority.

Background Shehata disappeared from her home in Deir Mawas on 18 July 2010 following a family dispute, according to a police report. According to some reports the dispute was over her desire to convert to Islam. Rumours of her forced conversion to Islam began circulating among Egypt's Copts after Shehata's husband and family initially claimed she had been kidnapped, a claim discounted by police. Ensuing Coptic protests in Cairo and in her home province of Minya demanded her return.

Controversy Shehata was discovered on July 23 at the home of a friend or turned her over to the custody of the Church. Shehata herself has made no public statement with the exception of a video whose authenticity is disputed. Her whereabouts are unknown and the Church claims she is under its protection,

Shehata's return was met with rival protests by Egyptian Muslims

Another lawyer, Mamdouh Ismail, submitted a request with the attorney-general that Christian places of worship be searched to ascertain her whereabouts, and filed an administrative suit against Coptic Pope Shenouda III that alleged Shehata was being held against her will and demanded her release. Also Husam Abu al-Bukhari called for a protest near Al-Nour Mosque in Abbassia to support Kamilia Shehata.

Representatives of Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, an independent Egyptian human rights organization, also criticized the security forces for handing over an adult to the Church against her will, an act the organization says violates the Egyptian constitution.

The Islamic State used the incident to justify the 2015 kidnapping and beheading of 21 Coptic Christian construction workers in Libya in revenge.