Following an attempted murder, Ahmed, a civil rights advocate, and his then-pregnant wife were chased fleeing to the nearest police station, where they were then beaten by the police, resulting in his wife's miscarriage.
frequent appearances on Egyptian talk shows where he defended the rights of nonbelievers
Nada Mandour (ex-wife, a.k.a. Sally Harkan)
Ahmed Harkan is an Egyptian who, after living until 2010 as a fundamentalist Salafi Muslim well-versed in Islamic theology, renounced his faith and became an atheist activist. After his apostasy, he appeared on several talk shows telling his story, advocating for secularism, and debating the religious. Because he built up such a public profile, he became a target for religious extremists, which led to an attack in October 2014.
"What has ISIS done that Muhammad did not do?" - Ahmed Harkan
As Ahmed and his pregnant wife Sally walked the streets of Alexandria, they were assailed by unknown attackers attempting to kill them. Though they suffered from injuries, they, along with their friend Karim Jimy, managed to escape to a police station with their attackers in pursuit. The police, upon hearing the motivation for the attack (Ahmed’s blasphemy), did not help Ahmed and Sally; instead, the three were further abused and detained for insults against religion.
Although they were held without due cause for a day, nothing came of their detention. Ahmed, Sally, and Karim were released and the charges against them dropped. Sally, however, suffered a miscarriage due to the abuse she'd received.
Freedom To Ahmed Harqan, Saly Harqan, And Karim Jimy - Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Egypt has a general blasphemy law that prohibits disparaging “the heavenly religions.” While the law ostensibly targets no religion in particular, in practice it is usually used against religious minorities and those who blaspheme Islam. Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority has particularly borne a disproportionate weight of blasphemy prosecutions. In addition to the relatively aggressive efforts of Egyptian authorities to prosecute such cases, blasphemers and atheists must also contend with social pressure, coercion, and the risk of vigilante violence.