The Situation of the Bahá'í Community of Egypt

UPDATE – August 2006
Supreme Administrative Court suspends ruling that upheld rights of Bahá'ís

Brief Summary

Recent court rulings in Egypt have highlighted the dire human rights situation facing the Baha'i community there. The rulings in turn have touched off a debate between human rights organizations and major Islamic groups about freedom of religion and belief.

Deprived of all rights as an organized religious community since 1960, Egyptian Bahá'ís are facing an immediate crisis over government efforts to deny them all-important identification cards. The ID cards are required by law and are essential for access to employment, education, and medical and financial services, as well as freedom of movement and security of property.
(View August 2005 Report by the Bahá'í International Community >)

At the heart of the current situation is a government policy that forces Bahá'í to either lie about their religion and illegally falsify their religious affiliation -- or go without ID cards, which currently require that a person choose either Islam, Christianity, or Judaism, which are the three officially recognized religions in Egypt.

The crisis facing the Bahá'í community gained international attention after a 4 April 2006 ruling by a three-judge Administrative Court which held that Government efforts to deprive Baha'is of ID cards were illegal, and upheld the right of the Baha'i plaintiffs to state their religion on official documents.
(View Court Ruling: English | Arabic)

While Egyptian human rights groups immediately hailed the decision, conservative Islamic organizations—including scholars at Al Azhar University and representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood—urged the Government to file an appeal, which it did on 7 May. On 15 May, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the Government's motion to temporarily suspend the lower Court's order, and set 19 June as the date for a substantive hearing on the lower Court's judgment.That hearing was later continued to 16 September.

In August, the issue came into sharp focus again at a national hearing on the issue of religious affiliation and state identification cards, at which a Bahá'í provided significant testimony. That hearing received widespread media coverage. More>

Chronology, April – May 2006:

• 4 April 2006 – A three-judge panel of the Egyptian Administrative Court upholds the right of a Bahá'í couple to lawfully state their religion on their ID cards, which had been confiscated by the Government after they sought to have their passports updated to include their daughters.
• Early April to May 2006 – Various news media in Egypt and the Arab world report on the ruling, stirring a storm of reaction. Human rights groups in Egypt are quoted as supportive; representatives of Al Azhar are negative, as is the Government reaction.
• 28 April 2006 – Aware that much misinformation about the Bahá'í Faith has been published in the Egyptian media, with some attributed to Al Azhar, the Bahá'í International Community’s United Nations Office writes to leaders of the Al Azhar Islamic Research Council to explain the essential principles of Bahá'í belief.
• 7 May 2006 – The Government moves formally to appeal the Administrative Court’s ruling. The appeal came after attacks on the ruling in Parliament and by representatives of Al Azhar.
• 13 May 2006 – Representatives of the Egyptian Bahá'í community write a letter to the Minister of Justice, stating that they only want to be given the same rights guaranteed to other Egyptian citizens.
• 13 May 2006 - “Kifayah” [Enough], a group of civil society organizations, journalists, writers, artists and academics issued a collective statement calling for an end to discrimination against Bahá'ís.
• 15 May 2006 – Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court suspends the implementation of the lower court ruling that allowed Bahá'ís to have their religion recognized on official documents, and sets 19 June as the date for a hearing on the Government’s appeal.
• 16 June 2006 – The Supreme Adminstrative Court continues the hearing until 16 September after a brief procedural session.
• 8 August 2006 – The state-sponsored National Council for Human Rights holds a major symposium on the issues surrounding religious affiliation and identity cards, at which the Bahá'í community offers testimony.

Detailed Summary

A landmark ruling in April 2006 by an Egyptian administrative court recognized the right of Egyptian Bahá'ís to have their religion acknowledged in official documents. However, the Government’s move in May to have the decision overturned underscores the dire human rights situation facing the Bahá'í community of Egypt.

The ruling offered a ray of hope for a religious community that has been deprived of all rights as an organized religious community since 1960, and which is facing an immediate crisis over Government efforts to deny them all-important identification cards, without which they cannot function as citizens.

The judgment has stirred considerable attention in the Egyptian news media and, in fact, throughout the Arab world, where it is well known that Egypt officially recognizes only three religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Since early April, dozens of news articles have reported on the case, with many commentators saying it raises fundamental issues regarding freedom of religion and belief within Egyptian society.

The following is a chronology of these new developments in the situation of the Bahá'í community of Egypt:

• 4 April 2006 – A three-judge panel of the Egyptian Administrative Court upholds the right of a Bahá'í couple to lawfully state their religion on their ID cards. The cards had been confiscated by the Government after the couple sought to have their passports updated to include their daughters.
  
  The couple, Husam Izzat Musa and Ranya Enayat Rushdy, sued, saying the confiscation was illegal under Egypt’s Constitution and international law. The Court ruled for the couple, ordering the Civil Registry to issue new documents that properly identify them as Bahá'ís, citing existing precedents and Islamic jurisprudence that allow for the right of non-Muslims to live in Muslim lands “without any of them being forced to change what they believe in.”
  
  “It is not inconsistent with Islamic tenets to mention the religion on this card even though it may be a religion whose rites are not recognized for open practice, such as Bahá’ism [sic] and the like,” wrote the Court. “On the contrary, these [religions] must be indicated so that the status of its bearer is known and thus he does not enjoy a legal status to which his belief does not entitle him in a Muslim society.”
  
  View Court Ruling: English Arabic
  
  
• Early April to early May 2006 – Various news media in Egypt and the Arab world report on the ruling, stirring a storm of reaction. Human rights groups in Egypt are quoted as supportive; representatives of Al Azhar are negative, as is the Government reaction. Newspapers in Bahrain, Kuwait and elsewhere in the region also write about the case, with many going into long explanations about the Bahá'í Faith. Ordinary Egyptians and Arabic-speaking people throughout the world began to react in blogs and other on-line forums. In an on-line article in Al Arabiya about the ruling, which also reported generally about the Bahá'í Faith, more than 100 people posted online comments, for example.
  
  Here are some links to some of the early articles:
  
  
  1. On 6 April, the IRIN, a news service of the United Nations serving the region, wrote, “Human rights activists have welcomed a landmark ruling by the Administrative Court recognizing the right of Egyptian Bahais to have their religion acknowledged on official documents.” --
     
     Read the original article >
  2. On 6 April, Al Arabiya, an online service of the television network, carried the headline, “They were forcing them to register themselves as Muslims; An Egyptian court recognizes the Bahá’í religion despite refusal by the Azhar.” More than 100 online commentaries were appended to this article.
     
     Read the original article in Arabic >
  3. On 7 April, Al-Watan, “Homeland,” a newspaper of Kuwait, carried the headline: “They described it as the Greatest Setback; Al-Azhar scholars demand that the Egyptian judiciary review the ruling of acknowledging ‘Al-Bahá’íyyah’ [the Bahá'í Faith] as a religion.” The lead of the article says: “A number of Al-Azhar scholars condemned the ruling of the Egyptian judiciary that ac knowledged the Bahá’í creed, stressing that it is considered a great legal setback and a tragedy that must be drawn back, emphasizing that Bahá’ís are not Muslims, rather, they are agents of Zionism and colonialism and are enemies of the country; they demanded a review of the ruling that acknowledges this creed.”
  4. On 4 May, Al-Ahram, one of Egypt’s leading daily newspapers, carried the headline: “Crisis in Parliament Over a Judicial Ruling About the Bahá'ís; The Deputies: ‘Al-Bahá’íyyah’ [the Bahá'í Faith] is not a Divine religion … and the ruling contradicts the constitution.” The article said that the Government had decided to appeal the ruling.
     
     
• 28 April 2006 – After reading that the Government has asked Al Azhar for information on the Bahá'í Faith, and knowing that much misinformation about the Bahá'í Faith has been published in the Egyptian media, the Bahá'í International Community’s United Nations Office writes to leaders of the Al Azhar Islamic Research Council to explain the essential principles of Bahá'í belief. The letter asks principally that facts about the Faith be obtained “trustworthy” sources “uninfluenced by the misconceptions” that are being spread about the Faith. The letter also offers a brief statement of basic Bahá'í principles and doctrine.
  
  View the letter in English >
  
  View the letter in Arabic >
• 7 May 2006 – The Government moves formally to appeal the Administrative Court’s ruling. The appeal came after attacks on the ruling in Parliament and by representatives of Al Azhar. According to the IRIN news service, an Interior Ministry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “We presented an appeal to revoke the previous ruling on the basis that neither the Egyptian constitution nor Islamic law recognize Bahaism [sic] as a religion unto itself.”
• 13 May 2006 – “Kifayah” [Enough], a loosely organized group of civil society organizations, journalists, writers, artists and academics, issued a collective statement calling for an end to discrimination against Bahá'ís:
  
  “We confirm that this is not a case of the followers of the Bahá’í denomination only, it is the case of all minorities and faiths that are suffering from discrimination in Egyptian society for decades,” said the group, which is composed of the Popular Group for Change, the Egyptian Democratic Centre, the Centre for Socialist Studies, Socialist Horizons, the Arabic network for Human Rights Information, and Civil Watch for Human Rights, along with some 40 journalists, writers, artists and academics.
  
  “Our attitude springs from a deep belief