Sunday, March 04, 2012

What is Happening in Egypt?

Egypt's new Parliament (photo: Ahmed ElMasry, el-Masry el-Youm)  
As the state of chaos lingers on, with leaderless anarchy, violence and radicalism spreading, the Baha'i community of Egypt continues to struggle in its ongoing quest to be integrated in its society, and to be justly treated by the emerging elected Parliament, which is dominated by members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Islamist Parties.

Recently, in a televised telephone interview, a leader of the extremist Salafist movement, said the Baha'is in Egypt should not have any citizenship rights and he called for trying them for "grand treason," an absurd call that has been traditionally repeated by the extremist enemies of the Baha'is in Egypt in the past without any cause or justification.

As to the continued question of ID cards, "single" Baha'is have been able to obtain identification documents, but married, divorced or widowed Baha'is are still unable to obtain such documents because they must prove their marriage status in order to obtain an ID card, and Baha'i marriage certificates/ceremonies are not recognized in Egypt by the authorities.

True, Egypt has gone through a revolution, but its outcome, so far, is not what the young and the innocent who began this noble struggle had hoped for. Now, it is left to time, and to the resilient Egyptians to determine what they would want their country to turn into....

12 comments:

  1. May God help the innocent and peace loving Baha'is of Egypt. Our prayers are always with them. Justice will eventually truimph over evil.

    Vafa-Canada

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  2. The call for justice increases as the injustices increase... http://quitenormal.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/egyptian-salafist-leader-we-will-prosecute-the-bahais-on-charge-of-treason/

    ReplyDelete
  3. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2010/11/2010111813029420433.html
    Women make leap in Egypt parliament
    A new law guarantees 64 seats to female candidates, meaning a 1,500 per cent rise in female parliamentarians.

    ReplyDelete
  4. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2010/11/2010111813029420433.html
    Women make leap in Egypt parliament
    A new law guarantees 64 seats to female candidates, meaning a 1,500 per cent rise in female parliamentarians.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That article was from 2010. The quota for women in Egypt's parliament got thrown out. So Egyptian women were disappointed. :-(
    In Egypt's New Parliament, Women Will Be Scarce
    http://www.npr.org/2012/01/19/145468365/in-egypts-new-parliament-women-will-be-scarce

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  6. Not at all surprising when you consider the recent developments!

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  7. Hi Bilo. I am keen on receiving news updates on the situation of the Baha'is of Egypt. Is this blogsite no longer active?
    Vafa-Canada

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yes, it is still active. There are no new developments other than what has been already posted. Thank you for checking.

    ReplyDelete
  9. P.S. Egypt's parliament, shown in photo, has been dissolved by the constitutional court on 14 June 2012:

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  10. dissolution of parliament:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/world/middleeast/new-political-showdown-in-egypt-as-court-invalidates-parliament.html?pagewanted=all

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  11. Very distressing NEWS I thought you might want to see this

    http://sensday.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/brotherhood-spokesman-in-egypt-promises-no-freedom-for-bahais/

    very troubling

    ReplyDelete

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