Related Items | Latest News | Media Coverage

Congressional Resolution

On June 24, 2008, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (VA – 10th district) introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on the Egyptian Government to respect human rights and freedoms of religion and expression in Egypt.

Resolution 1303 (download PDF) notes that all Bahá’í institutions and community activities have been banned in Egypt since 1960 and members of the Bahá’í Faith are denied government-mandated identification cards solely due to their religion. The resolution stresses the need for respect and protection of the freedoms of thought, conscience, and religion.  It also highlights discrimination against the Coptic Christian minority and restrictions and arrests targeting members of civil society.

To ask your representative to co-sponsor and support this resolution, visit www.house.gov and enter your “zip plus four” code. Click on the homepage for your representative and follow the instructions for sending him or her an email message.

The Current Situation

On January 29, 2008, a lower administrative court in Egypt ruled in favor of the right of Bahá’í plaintiffs in two cases to leave the religious affiliation field blank on official documents. This decision opens the way to the effective restoration of citizenship rights to the Bahá’ís in question. It is not yet clear whether the ruling will be applicable beyond the two families who filed the cases.

The January 2008 ruling opens the door to reconciling a government policy that was clearly incompatible with international law. This represents the first significant step forward since Dec.16, 2006, when Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court ruled against the right of Baha'is to be properly identified in government documents. (View the Supreme Administrative Court Ruling: English | Arabic)

The 2006 decision by the Supreme Administrative Court upholds current government policy, which forces the Baha'is either to lie about their religious beliefs or give up their state identification cards. The policy effectively deprives Egyptian Baha'is of access to most rights of citizenship, including education, financial services and even medical care.At the center of the problem is a government policy that forces Baha’is either to lie about their religion and illegally falsify their religious affiliation, or to go without ID cards, which require that a citizen choose either Islam, Christianity or Judaism -- the three officially recognized religions in Egypt. The crisis facing Egyptian Baha’is gained international attention after an April 4, 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)

Deprived of all rights as an organized religious community since 1960, Egyptian Baha’is 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, medical and financial services, freedom of movement and security of property. (View the January 2007 report by the Bahá’í International Community.)

Although Egyptian human rights groups immediately hailed the April 4 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 May 7. On May 15, Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court suspended on appeal the implementation of the April lower Administrative Court ruling. The appeal, first set to be heard in June, was postponed several times.

In August 2006, the issue came into sharp focus at a national symposium sponsored by the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights on the issue of religious affiliation and state identification cards, at which a Baha’i provided testimony. That hearing received widespread media coverage.

Finally, on Dec.16, 2006, the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the lower court’s decision, upholding the government’s policy of allowing only three religious affiliations on state ID cards and government documents. The Court issued an 11-page ruling that focused largely on the theology of the Baha'i Faith, rather than on the legal issues regarding the rights of Baha'is to be treated like all other Egyptian citizens.