Egyptian Baha'is TV Interview On ID Cards

On 13 August 2006, an interview with two Egyptian Baha'is was broadcast on Dream-2 TV Channel. Interviewed were Dr. Basma Moussa, a Professor of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at Cairo University, and Dr. Labib Iskandar Hanna, an Engineering Professor at Cairo University.

The interviews were in Arabic and could be watched by clicking on the center of the image below. If difficulty is encountered in connecting, please click here. (Credit: Dream-2 TV)



The following is an English translation of the interviews:

1) Dr. Basma Moussa said that she is a Baha'i in Egypt and explained that there is a major problem: "we cannot obtain ID Cards, birth certificates or death certificates because we are Baha'is. After all, we are Egyptians first before being Muslim, Christian, Jewish or any other."

2) Dr. Labib Hanna said: "we request from the Government not to force us to write-in any other religion. We cannot forge official documents when indicating religion. We can insert a line [dashes], omit religion on ID Cards, or write-in 'other', we have no objections to any of these solutions. Our problem is that we are being forced to choose another religion."