Category — Egypt

Bilo’s blog, Baha’i Faith in Egypt and Iran, reports that Bahá’í children in Egypt are being turned away from school, even though Egypt’s administrative court recognized the right of Bahá’ís to have ID cards back in January.

According to this story in Daily News Egypt:

Adel Ramadan, a lawyer with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) — which brought the case that was ruled on in January — says that schools are refusing to accept personal identity documents printed on paper…

According to a report published in Arabic-language daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, school officials claim that they cannot accept identity papers in which the religious affiliation field is left blank.

Ramadan says that the decision was taken in pursuance of the state’s policy of forcing people to issue the new computerized identity papers, but has the effect of discriminating against Bahais who either hold the old paper identity documents or have not been issued new documents following the Interior Ministry’s failure to implement the Administrative Court’s decision.

I very strongly agree with Bilo’s closing comment about this outrage:

This sad development must be seen by all Egyptians as a disgrace. Identity cards or not, these children belong in the schools, not the streets. How can a civil society tolerate such atrocities directed at innocent children? Unfortunately this is the exact same strategy that has been pursued in Iran against its children. Is this what Egypt–a nation endowed with so much great heritage–wants to be remembered for? One would certainly doubt that!

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Egypt, human rights, education, ID cards

Egyptian thinker and commentator, Dr Tarek Heggy, visited the UK’s National Baha’i Centre in London, this afternoon, at the suggestion of some Egyptian Baha’is who are based in the UK.

Dr Heggy, a Muslim, is absolutely delightful, and a number of us enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation with him. He is very taken with the Baha’i Faith and with the Baha’is he has met. He has read widely about the history of the Baha’i Faith and is fascinated by the characteristics of peacefulness, openness and trustworthiness that he finds in the Baha’is. These characteristics, he says, should be found in all faiths. However, Islam in particular has been twisted and made an expression of anger towards others rather than of love.

He is critical of the ignorance that many have about their own faiths and advocates education as an essential part of bringing an end to religious conflict.

He asked many questions about the Faith. He was particularly interested in the similarities and links between the Baha’i Faith and Sufism - he himself is particularly sympathetic to the Sufi understanding of Islam and is very critical of the narrow Wahhabi ideology that has become dominant in Islam.

It was a great privilege to meet Dr Heggy and he has expressed a determination to pay a return visit to our Baha’i Centre the next time he is in London. He went away with a bag full of Baha’i books.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Islam, Muslim, Sufi, Wahhabi, Heggy, Egypt, religion

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Baha’is around the world will be thrilled to learn that the Court of Administrative Justice in Cairo has today handed down a decision that will allow Egypt’s Baha’is to leave the religious affiliation field on their ID cards blank.

It may seem a small thing, but the two cases decided today will make it possible for Baha’is in Egypt to get medical treatment, go to school, obtain their driving licences and so on. Up to now, the computerized ID card system forced Egyptian citizens to nominate themselves as Muslims, Christians or Jews. No other religious identity was permitted.

This put Baha’is in an impossible position. They are legally required to have ID cards, as are all Egyptian citizens; they have to state their religion; but the system does not recognize “Baha’i” as a legitimate choice. Baha’is do not lie about their religion (and, in any case, it is illegal to give false information on the application form for the ID cards). So Baha’is could not get ID cards, and without ID cards they could not register their children, have their children vaccinated or get access to a whole host of services we in the West take for granted.

Leaving the “religion” space blank may be a compromise, but it will allow the Baha’is to regain their civil rights as Egyptian citizens. And it is a victory, albeit a modest one, for religious freedom.

Now we have to see how long it will take the Egyptian government to implement the new ruling.

That’s not the end of the fight for rights for the Baha’is in Egypt, though. Baha’i activities and institutions are still banned under a decree issued by President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1960. Egypt is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which grants freedom of religion or belief. So we still need to persuade the Egyptian government to annul the decree or let it fall into disuse, so that the Baha’is can have what is due to them - the freedom to practise their religion unhindered by persecution.

You can read the full story of today’s court ruling here and you can read more about the persecution of Egypt’s Baha’is here.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Egypt, ID cards, religious freedom

Photo by Deryc Sands ©Parliamentary Copyright

I was cheered to read this intervention by Bob Spink MP, a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Baha’is, in a recent Westminster Hall Adjournment Debate in the UK House of Commons. The debate was about the Foreign Affairs Committee’s eighth report of the 2006-07 parliamentary session on global security in the middle east:

Bob Spink (Castle Point, Conservative)

Again, I congratulate the Committee on this excellent report on a difficult matter.

I shall speak on a narrow subject. In chapter 5 of the report, on Egypt, I note that the part entitled “Human Rights and Democratisation” does not address a certain issue. I understand the Committee’s difficulty in visiting every point on human rights, but minority rights in Egypt are important, and I wish to flag them up.

The inception of a new system of computerised ID cards in Egypt compelled its citizens to identify themselves as members of one of three constitutionally recognised religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Members of Egypt’s Baha’i minority have been unable to register as citizens of their own country. On 16 December 2006, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the Government’s position that forces Baha’is either to falsely claim to be a member of a religion or go without an ID card. Egyptian Baha’is are therefore unable to register the birth of their children, denying those children access to education, jobs and medical treatment. They are effectively unable to live as citizens in the country of their birth. That is a minority issue, and it is understandable why it is not covered in the report. Other religious groups in Egypt, including the Copts, who have changed their religion, have also faced a problem in getting ID cards.

Denying fundamental freedoms to Egyptian citizens on that basis appears to be a breach of Egypt’s obligations under article 18 of the international covenant on civil and political rights, as was asserted in a recent report by Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. It would be useful for future reports of the Foreign Affairs Committee to examine minority rights, if possible.

Mr Spink had been briefed by the UK National Spiritual Assembly’s Office of External Affairs.

Jo Swinson, MP for East Dunbartonshire, picked up on Mr Spink’s intervention:

The hon. Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink) made a brief but welcome contribution about minority rights in Egypt and the discrimination against the Baha’i, which picked up on the similar point that we heard about religious discrimination against Christian students. Obviously, both types of discrimination are appalling and need to be on the agenda of our Ministers and diplomats in their relations with the countries involved.

Mike Gapes MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, responded:

For the record, each year, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office produces an annual human rights report. The Committee always produces our commentary on it, and we consider human rights issues such as religious and minority rights in a number of countries as part of that. However, we do not always repeat in every regionally focused report what we have done at other times.

Needless to say, the fact that a couple of British MPs have mentioned the plight of the Baha’is in Egypt in a debate is unlikely to change anything for the Egyptian Baha’is, but it does keep the matter on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which can play an influential part in British foreign policy, and hence on the radar screen of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Egypt, parliament, House of Commons, Bob Spink, Jo Swinson

You can read the rest of the debate here. And you can read more about the latest developments in the situation of the Baha’is in Egypt here.

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The US State Department has published its comprehensive report on international religious freedom for the year 2007.

Of particular interest to me are the sections on Iran and Egypt.

On Iran, the report notes:

There was continued deterioration of the extremely poor status of respect for religious freedom during the reporting period. Government rhetoric and actions created a threatening atmosphere for nearly all non-Shi’a religious groups, most notably for Baha’is, as well as Sufi Muslims, evangelical Christians, and members of the Jewish community.

Reports of government imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination based on religious beliefs continued during the reporting period. Baha’i religious groups often reported arbitrary arrests, expulsions from universities, and confiscation of property. Government-controlled media, including broadcast and print, intensified negative campaigns against religious minorities–particularly the Baha’is–during the reporting period.

Although the Constitution gives Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians the status of “protected” religious minorities, in practice non-Shi’a Muslims face substantial societal discrimination, and government actions continued to support elements of society who create a threatening atmosphere for some religious minorities.

The report also notes that the status of the Egyptian government’s respect for religious freedom declined during the reporting period. In particular:

The Government again opposed advances in the respect for religious freedom affecting Baha’is. A government appeal of an April 2006 decision by the Administrative Court, which had supported the right of Baha’i citizens to receive ID cards and birth certificates with religion noted on the documents, resulted in a December 16, 2006 decision to overturn its ruling, and maintained the government prohibition on Baha’i citizens obtaining identity cards.

and

Tradition and some aspects of the law discriminated against religious minorities, including Christians and particularly Baha’is. The Government also continued to deny civil documents, including identity cards, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, to members of the Baha’i community.

Of course (and very sadly), Baha’is are not the only religious minority to be persecuted or subject to major discrimination in either Egypt or Iran, but it seems to me that the treatment of the Baha’is is a litmus test of governmental attitudes to freedom of religion or belief in both countries.

The Baha’i Faith in Egypt blog has much more on the Egyptian side of this.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, religious freedom, human rights, Iran, Egypt

This video by the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights cleverly spoofs a tourist ad for Egypt to highlight the denial of ID cards to Baha’is and others in Egypt who are neither Muslim, Christian or Jewish.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0aylHuBHKQ 320 240]

Human Rights, Egypt’s most precious treasure - not for everyone

The new computerized ID cards will soon become mandatory for everyone in Egypt. No longer will people be able to use the old paper IDs. Baha’is cannot get the new ID cards because Baha’is won’t lie about their religious affiliation. Without the ID cards, life in Egypt will become impossible for the Baha’is. You can read more about this here.

The Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights is continuing to do a great job of highlighting human rights abuses against Baha’is in Egypt and Iran.

Hat tip: Mark Bamford & Tessa Scrine.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Egypt, ID cards, human rights, religion

As Bilo reports, Life can be deeply unpleasant, not to say downright dangerous, for Egyptians whose religious identity does not conform to a very narrow set of criteria. A statement made by Nina Shea, Vice Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to the Congressional Task Force on Religious Freedom on 23 May this year, sets out some of the really nasty things that can happen to Baha’is, Buddhists, Humanists, “unorthodox” Muslims, anyone in fact, who is not a Muslim, Christian or Jew:

These violations include continued prosecution in state security courts and imprisonment of those accused of

Bilo has posted an interesting piece on his estimable blog about a well thought out and well researched article yesterday in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Dostour Al-Youmy (The Daily Constitution) about the crisis of religious classification on Egyptian ID cards.

Ihab Abdel-Hamid, the article’s author demonstrates the absurdity of claims that including religious identity on ID cards is necessary for personal status laws (governing marriage, divorce and so on), by citing the examples of Sudan and France.

Sudan follows Sharia law, but does not include religion on its ID cards. And in France, a multi-religious state where religion does not appear on ID cards, Muslims apparently have no difficulty in identifying suitable marriage partners for their children.

It seems that neither the Egyptian constitution nor relevant personal status laws require the inclusion of a person’s religion on their ID card, so the insistence on this requirement must be motivated by a desire to restrict religious freedom.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Egypt, ID cards, religious freedom, human rights

Bilo’s post on an article in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm about Western coverage of the sufferings of the Baha’is in Egypt has been picked up here by the Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network.

(I found this out because Bilo’s link to one of my posts created a pingback from mefaith.com.)

It’s worth having a look at mefaith.com’s manifesto:

Through blogging, we are free to express our beliefs online and share them with the world in a way that is not possible otherwise. We cherish our right to free expression and freedom of conscience. As individuals with ties to the Middle East, we are pained by ongoing repression and conflict in the region, troubles fueled in part by religious differences and in part by a fundamental lack of communication.

Together, we are committed to helping Middle Eastern societies find a formula for genuine acceptance of difference. We ask the blogging community to provide an open environment for interfaith dialogue and education

I can highly recommend this fascinating video about the situations of the Baha’is in Iran and Egypt. It explains what the Baha’is in Iran and Egypt are suffering as a result of the persecutions their respective countries; it shows the terrible (il)logic of the denial of ID cards to the Egyptian Baha’is; and it explains the work of the US National Spiritual Assembly’s Office of External Affairs in defending the human rights of the Baha’is.

The video is a copyright production by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Egypt, Iran, persecution, ID cards