The following was sent to us from the World Baha’i International Community UN office.

It shows a small dent members of their faith managed in the Arab legal shield of the Egyptian system. This little dent may perhaps someday justify Egypt’s joining the 21st century enlightenment as requested by international law and the rules on UN books.

This is a story about Egypt recognizing only three religions - and you must believe in one of them - that is Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. If you are Baha’i and refuse to lie by writing in official papers that you belong to any of the above three religions, you are a nobody. You cannot get a birth certificate, you cannot get a job, you cannot go to school ….

Going to court - in two cases - the Baha’i celebrate now victory by having obtained a court ruling that they can leave empty the space when asked for religious identification.

We are sure that Egypt is not the only UN member State that makes unreasonable requirements when it comes to religious identification. In effect there are also non-Arab, and non-Islamic States that follow laws about religion that are in direct contradiction to the UN Declaration on Human Rights. This should be noted this year - the 60th anniversary of the acceptance of above Declaration. We believe that there is a definite need to review the adherents of UN States to the Principles in above Declaration - this via one of those famous UN large Conferences that we saw so many in past years. Such a suggestion would bring rather honor to the UN, this instead of the ill-advised Israel bashing party that the UN is ready to fund again - the exercise that goes under the name DURBAN II - a clear shameful gathering that I have not heard yet that the Bah’i office is ready to condemn. So far we know only that the US and Canada have stated that they have no interest in sending delegations to that”shinding.” We are yet to hear from South Africa anything about them trying to rein-in the hot-heads that will come there with the intent of a repeat performance of DURBAN I.

Back to the Islamic world - what about the right of visit by Jews to Saudi Arabia? Some tourists might even be ready to spend money to visit sites there - after all it cannot be said that the whole country is holly ground - some areas may actually have been desecrated a long time ago when the oil wells were drilled there.

Anyway, we understand the Egyptian Baha’i celebrating their victory, and we clearly think that there is no reason not to have also Egyptian Buddhist or Taoists … that could now get their birth certificates without having to hide behind one of the three Judeo-Christian (including Islamic) religions. But, regarding that much of the hatred in the Middle East is Religion-based, why not allow, like in the US, the possibility for all not to state a religion in official papers. Such a process could perhaps help heal strife torn countries like Lebanon or Iraq. I usually leave rutinely blank space if some form asks me about religion or race. This Egyptian court decision should in this respect be seen as a beacon of light for all.

Now, let us have a look at what the Baha’i wrote:
BAHÁ’Í                               United Nations Office
INTERNATIONAL           866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 120, New York, NY 10017 USA
COMMUNITY                   Telephone: 1-212-803-2500, Fax: 1-212-803-2566, Email:  uno-nyc at bic.org

For Immediate Release
29 January 2008
For more information, contact Bani Dugal in New York at 212-803-2519 (office) or 914-329-3020 (mobile) or Diane Ala’i in Geneva at +41 (-22) -798-5400 (office) or +41 (-78) -60-40-100 (mobile)

Egypt court upholds Baha’i plea in religious freedom cases

CAIRO (29 January 2008) — In a victory for religious freedom, a lower administrative court here today ruled in favor of two lawsuits that sought to resolve the government’s contradictory policy on religious affiliation and identification papers.

The Court of Administrative Justice in Cairo upheld arguments made in two cases concerning Baha’is who have sought to restore their full citizenship rights by asking that they be allowed to leave the religious affiliation field blank on official documents.

“Given the degree to which issues of religious freedom stand at the heart of human rights issues in the Middle East, the world should cheer at the decision in these two cases today,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

“The compromise offered by the Baha’is in these two cases opens the door to a way to reconcile a government policy that was clearly incompatible with international law — as well as common sense,” said Ms. Dugal.

“Our hope now is that the government will quickly implement the court’s decision and allow Baha’is once again to enjoy the full rights of citizenship to which they are duly entitled,” said Ms. Dugal.

The decisions today concerned two cases, both filed by Baha’is, over the issue of how they are to be identified on government documents.

The first case involves a lawsuit by the father of twin children, who is seeking to obtain proper birth certificates for them. The second concerns a college student, who needs a national identity card to re-enroll in university.

The government requires all identification papers to list religious affiliation but restricts the choice to the three officially recognized religions — Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Baha’is are thus unable to obtain identification papers because they refuse to lie about their religious affiliation.

Without national identify cards — or, as in the case of the twin children, birth certificates — Baha’is and others caught in the law’s contradictory requirements are deprived of a wide range of citizenship rights, such as access to employment, education, and medical and financial services.

These problems were highlighted in a report issued in November by Human Rights Watch and the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

“Employers, both public and private, by law cannot hire someone without an ID, and academic institutions require IDs for admission,” said the report. “Obtaining a marriage license or a passport requires a birth certificate; inheritance, pensions, and death benefits are contingent on death certificates. The Ministry of Health has even refused to provide immunizations to some Baha’i children because the Interior Ministry would not issue them birth certificates accurately listing their Baha’i religion.”

The issuance of birth certificates is at the heart of the first case, which concerns 14-year-old twins Imad and Nancy Rauf Hindi. Their father, Rauf Hindi, obtained birth certificates that recognized their Baha’i affiliation when they were born.

But new policies require computer generated certificates, and the computer system locks out any religious affiliation but the three officially recognized religions. And without birth certificates, the children are unable to enroll in school in Egypt.

The second lawsuit was filed by the EIPR last February on behalf of 18-year-old Hussein Hosni Bakhit Abdel-Massih, who was suspended from the Suez Canal University’s Higher Institute of Social Work in January 2006 due to his inability to obtain an identity card because of his refusal to falsely identify himself as either a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew.

In both cases, lawyers representing the Baha’is have made it clear that they were willing to settle for cards or documents on which the religious affiliation field is left blank or filled in, perhaps, as “other.”

This solution is what makes these two cases different from the lawsuit that was rejected by the Supreme Administrative Court last year. In that ruling, the Supreme Administrative Court rejected a decision by the lower that upheld the right of Baha’is to be properly identified on government documents.

For more information go to:

 http://news.bahai.org/

 http://serv04.news.bahai.org/story/595

and/or

 http://www.bahai.org/persecution/egypt