Local schools are denying Baha’is the right to enroll their children, five months after an Egyptian court recognized the right of members of the minority religion to leave the religious affiliation field on birth certificates and ID cards blank.
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.
Egypt recently replaced handwritten personal identity documents printed on paper with computerized ones, but the Ministry of Interior has reportedly been stalling on issuing them for Baha’is.
While under the system involving paper documents the religious affiliation field on birth certificates and ID cards could be left blank, a 2006 Supreme Administrative Court decision held that Baha’is had to either list themselves as Muslim, Christian or Jew (the only religions recognized in Egypt) or be denied the official documents necessary for them to access state services such as education and healthcare.
The effect of the policy was to force Baha’is to commit fraud by falsely listing a religious denomination in order to obtain the documents necessary for them to open bank accounts, apply for jobs and enroll in school.
The Administrative Court, which overturned this verdict in January, stated that even though Baha’is do not belong to one of the three religions officially recognized by the state, they enjoy the right to refuse to identify themselves as one of these religions. It also said that members of the Bahai faith have the right to access state services.
The Interior Ministry, however, has been slow in implementing the court decision and producing identity cards with a blank religious affiliation field.

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…”

Baha’is cannot issue birth and death certificates, ID cards, or any govt document, since the interior ministry does not recognize they exist.

For background on the subject, check EIPR’s statement.