I arrived at the State Council building in Giza at 10am sharp, and I knew it was gonna be a bad day. I had already spoken with rights activists and bloggers involved in the solidarity with the Egyptian Baha’is–and we were all expecting a rotten verdict. And our guesses were right.
Dozens of Baha’is, rights activists, lawyers and journalists crammed up in the court room, when the judge finally threw his bomb, declaring the government had the right not to acknowledge the Bahaai’ faith, and keep its institutional racism.
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
Press Release- 16 December 2006
Government Must Find Solution for Baha’i Egyptians
Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court today found the government may not recognize the Bahai’i faith in official identification documents, leaving Baha’i Egyptian citizens unable to obtain necessary documents that must include a citizen’s religion, such as birth or death certificates and identity cards.
“Today’s regrettable decision throws the ball in the government’s court,” said Hossam Bahgat, Director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), which represented the Baha’is in the case. “The government must find a solution now for the hundreds of citizens who used to be able to obtain official documents recognizing their faith for more than five decades until the government decided recently to change its policy and force them to choose between Islam and Christianity.”
The EIPR said the press release issued by the Chief Judge of the Court today did not respond to any of the legal arguments and evidence submitted by the EIPR in the case. The press release only discussed the tenets of the Baha’i faith, which fell outside the scope of this lawsuit. The question before the court was about the legality of forcing Egyptian citizens to falsely adopt Islam or Christianity in order to obtain official documents that are necessary in their daily lives.
Today’s decision overturned an April 2004 ruling by the lower Administrative Justice Court in favor of Baha’i Egyptians. The decision also reversed the position of the Supreme Administrative Court whish had found in 1983 that Baha’is had the right to have their religious affiliation included in official documents even if the Baha’i faith was not “recognized” in Egypt as a religion.
The EIPR will wait for the written decision to be issued in the coming days before determining its new legal strategy in the fight for Baha’i Egyptians citizenship rights.
The moments that followed announcing the verdict were an example of bigotry and sectarianism par excellence. Two bearded men started shouting: “Allahu Akbar! Islam is victorious!”
Another veiled woman, joined in the chanting. “God’s religion is Islam! Baha’is are infidels! They are infidels! Allahu Akbar!” The woman then knelt and kissed the floor. She then stood up, and continued her hysterical outcry outside the court room in the corridor. “Baha’is are the cause of problems in Iraq! They also destroyed Lebanon!!” she kept on screaming. I had no clue what the heck she was talking about, and did not know if I should laugh or cry. It was pure bigotry. “They are germs in our society!”
As I was standing to watch the ongoing circus, a civil servant who worked at the court building approached me.
“What is this business of Baha’is?” he asked. “Is it a new movement?”
“No. It’s a religion,” I answered.
He paused for few seconds, looked at the Baha’is in tears outside the court, and then looked back at me. “They’ll go to hell, the sons of %$#^”
Meanwhile, the veiled woman and the bearded men were still raving… and they were joined by the janitors, plainclothes building security personnel. Hatred. Hatred. Hatred. That was the atmosphere.
Fifteen minutes later, I went downstairs. Nora, Sherif, Sharqawi and I stood in front of building entrance on the stair steps, carrying banners made out of enlarged photocopies of Hossam Ezzat’s I.D. card, that had his Bahaai’ faith written in the “Religion” entry.
The four of us stood silent carrying the banners, while people gathered, and another chapter of bigotry and hatred started showering our ears. This is for example one conversation I and the other protesters were having with the crowd.
“Are you Baha’is?” one asks.
“No, we are Muslims actually,” I answer.
“Why do you support Baha’is?”
“They are citizens of this country, and have the right to have ID cards.”
“This is an Islamic country, we don’t agree with their religion.”
“We (protesters) don’t agree with their religion. We don’t think it’s good or bad. We are talking about their right to have an ID card, to be able to enrol their kids at school, to get birth and death certificates issued by the government, and not to be persecuted or arrested. It’s simple.”
“But this is an Islamic country.”
“Well, we have Christians here too, right? And I’m sure there are few Jews around. They get ID cards, don’t they?”
“Christians and Jews believe in God. Those Baha’is are infidels.”
“Baha’is believe in a God too, I can assure you. But that’s not the point. What do you propose we should do with them? They are here. Should we just get rid of them all, and burn them alive?! They are here in this country, and they are around, and they want to live in peace.”
“They should go back to where they came from!”
“Dude, I’m telling you, they are Egyptians. Their fathers were Egyptians, and their grandfathers were Egyptians too! Where should we send them?!”
“You know… You yourselves can’t be Egyptians. You do not look like Egyptians.”
“You got us man. We are from Mozambique.”
UPDATE: Al-Masry Al-Youm, whose journalist did not bother interviewing any of the protesters, ran a ludicrous report on the following day saying Baha’is (not bloggers) were demonstrating outside the court. One photo had Nora Younis, a secular leftist Muslim blogger, carrying a banner, while the caption read: “A female Bahaai protester”!
UPDATE: Mukhtar al-Azizi uploaded two videos to YouTube: One where I and leftist lawyer Emad Mubarak having an argument with an anti-Bahaai citizen. The other is of a first class bigot who was applauding the verdict and accusing me and the protesters of being “Jews, non-Egyptians, sons of dogs…”
Wow. And people question the Brothers’ commitment to citizenship rights for those of different religions or no religion.
Do you think enough Egyptians are committed to freedom of conscience for the Bahais to become a sort of cause celebre?
Have linked, depressing reminder of the reality of decades of bigotry in education, the media, official religion, etc. Blame the supposedly progressive Free Officers and their successors for that. I hear Omar Suleiman, who hates the MB, is quite bigotted.
Just imagine if you were born a Bahai’i in Egypt. How would you feel about this?
Deeply saddens me!
SP,
I cannot verify that the bearded men and the veiled women I saw slanderring the Bahaai’s were members of the Brotherhood. The Bahaai’s in Egypt website says they were, but I did not interview them. I just witnessed what they said and did. But that does not mean the MB had taken a sympethatic stand towards the Bahaai’s. They did not.
The sad fact is, sectarianism is rampant in our society. But that is not a natural law that has to exist and will never change. I totally believe fighting those retarded sectarian ideas is possible… as long as we know its source. It’s the ancient trick of divide and rule that our corrupt elites have been playing with for a long time. It’s easy and useful for those who run any society to find outcasts and “others” they can blame their troubles on, and give the sense to the rest of the oppressed population that they are superior somehow despite their misery. “We are Muslims at the end of the day,” may go the saying here. “We are whites at the end of the day,” may go the saying in some Western country despite the PC facade modern capitalism has invented.
But if history taught us something, it is people’s ideas change when they start challenging the system around them. Openning one door here, can raise questions and uncertainities about mainstream ideas one could have upheld for a long time.
I would have loved, if it was up to me, that this “Religion” entry on the ID card would be eliminated. It’s retarded and racist idea, and puts you institutionaly within groups you don’t choose the minute you are born. But if members of a minority views the move as something crucial for them to get by with their daily lives under the current system, then I’ll support their efforts, coz it’ll be one step fwd towards improving their conditions.
The emancipation of the Egyptian Bahaai’s is clearly linked to the emancipation of the rest of the society, even if this society today is sectarian.. this can be changed.
A sad day for human rights… a shameful day for Egypt!
Amen ya Hossam. I didn’t assume the bearded/veiled folks were Islamists necessarily, but I was struck by the irony that the MB’s Muhammad Habib when he spoke at AUC a couple of weeks ago was pressed to answer questions on protecting the rights of nonbelievers and Bahais, etc, as a litmus test of whether the Brothers could be trusted to govern (he dodged the question dexterously, by the way) when all along the regime is doing the same damn thing it accuses the Brothers of planning to do. If the problem of sectarianism is as pervasive as you suggest, it’s really quite silly for one group to accuse another of being the problem (the state accusing MBs, people accusing the political elite class) but it looks like the issue will keep on being used for political points. Really hope that activism for human rights and civil liberties will eventually increase the space for freedom of conscience.
Again, I say, the rule of the law is paramount to this countys progression and betterment. I say scrap the religion slot in the ID cards. Civil society should be governed by law, including marriage, death, birth, inheritance, etc. No more catch-22’s – like the grooms not divorcing their wives unless she gives up all her privileges, or even gives him money. Everything governed by a neat and tidy uniformly applied legal (not religious) system.
I just want to say – unfortunately – that all those who denied the Bahais their rights are majority; they are not necessarily Islamists or even practising Islam. In the videos I captured you can listen to ordinary people cursing and argumenting against Bahai’s right to write their religion in ID card.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140127024635/http://unbrainwasher.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/12/17/pics-of-bahai-case.html
I myself am bearded man. I call myself fundamentalist. Sherief is also a fundamentalist.
I believe that the arguments used on that day are false and are fruits of deteriorated educational system plus bad media.
thanks!
I read on Baha’i Faith in Egypt that they are MB. I corrected this information in my reply to the post. According to Hossam Bahgat they aren’t. I was there and I didn’t really wonder about the affiliation of those men. What I saw from them was beyond any comprehension.
How soon before they are rounded up and put in camps for the final solution?
Thank you EB, I corrected the blog accordingly…the post was written immediately after the verdict and some of the information had to be re-checked.
Husam did you see this ?
http://justice4every1.blogspot.com/2006/12/blog-post_116672907886849680.html
Ibn Abdel Aziz,
I’m SHOCKED! Al-Masry Al-Youm is going down the drains since Hisham Kassem left..
Baha’is are responsible for the situation in Lebanon and in Iraq?
What else? Are they also responsible for climate changes? And the production delays of the new Airbus A-380? What about acid rains in Europe and America? And those terrible traffic jams in México City, Los Angeles and Paris? The Wall Street Crash of 1929? Some songs of Mariah Carey? The extinction of Dinosaurs?
:-)
its too sad that egypt cannt accomodate small community. they accept only jews, christians, and muslims as religion. what about hindu, buddist, jains. there is a hindu temple kashi vishvanath, hindu regard it one of the highest pilgramage. that temple official musician was a muslim and he was awarded highest indian national award. he died recently his name was mismillah khan. (can anybody light on shehnai and bismillah khan)
i live in india i am muslim a minority community. our president is muslim. we never face such small things. and manipulated drama!!
zain from hyderabad
I am a Baha’i living in the United States. I was born in Egypt and my birth certificate indicates that my parents religion is Baha’i. I applaud your blog that is aimed at supporting human rights including those of Egyptian Baha’is, and of informing people about the issues and clarifying the issues that the press has muddled related to the Baha’is in Egypt. The Egyptian government MUST not only respect but also protect its minorities rather than attack them by denying their presence and their very existence. When the government itself reneges on its own commitments as a signatory to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and promotes hatred against this small non-political, non-partisan, peace loving community of Baha’is, and when most of the press on this issue toes the government line, what hope is there for ordinary Egyptians to get the true facts! Your work to defend the Baha’is human and civil rights is commendable. You are a ray of hope for understanding, tolerance, and respect of human rights.
Egypt must follow the example of developing and developed nations in this regard. India is predominantly Hindu but there lives the largest community of Muslims, and while religious strife may exist, the Indian government grants every citizen their due human rights. Italy and France have many Muslims and while racial prejudice may exist these governments guarantee Muslims identification cards. No country can or should deny the existence of its own citizens because of their conscience, beliefs, creed, or religion. That is official bigotry. And this not only contradicts international treaties, but most importantly it contradicts the compassionate spirit of Islam.
The government and the majority of the Egyptian people will eventually see their errant ways and find that their imaginary ‘Baha’i’ enemy is their truest friend. May your efforts be blessed and bear fruit to shorten the suffering and persecution of this innocent and loving small group of Baha’is for no other reason than their truthfulness and sincerity!
The Quran tells us everybody is free to believe what he wants, the clerics follow hadiths that nobody really knows where they came from. Muslims should return to the Quran.