Eloquent Review of the Case of the Baha'is of Egypt

The prominent Lebanese website Menassat [Platforms] has just published an article, written by the journalist Alexandra Sandels, and based on an interview with an Egyptian Baha'i blogger. The most striking aspect of this article is that it, very nicely and very clearly, presents and defines the case of the Baha'is of Egypt. It is also very timely, particularly when considering the imminent supreme court final decision awaited by many on the 3rd of November.

Regarding the website, it is described as follows:

Menassat.com is a website focusing on news, trends and events concerning the media in the twenty-two countries of the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa, defined as the twenty-two member states of the Arab League).

Menassat literally means "platforms" in Arabic; it also holds the acronym for the MENA region.

Our goal is to promote good journalism in the region by providing a platform for Arab journalism as well as specific tools to empower Arab journalists.

Menassat's editorial team is based in Beirut, Lebanon, with correspondents throughout the region....

The full article is posted below with credit to Menassat.

Setting the record straight about Egypt's Baha'i

Posted October 30th, 2008

Followers of the Baha'i faith in Egypt are living as second-class citizens because the authorities do not recognize their religious affiliation on official documents. MENASSAT met with Baha'i blogger Shady Samir, who uses the Internet to advocate for the rights of Egyptian Baha'i.

By ALEXANDRA SANDELS

Shady Samir, and the old ID card that allowed Egyptians to avoid stating their religion. The new ID cards no longer have that option. © Alexandra Sandels

CAIRO, October 29, 2008 (MENASSAT) – It has been fours years since Shady Samir lost his father, but the Egyptian state still doesn't consider him to be officially dead.

Samir's father was an adherent of the Baha'i faith, and in order for him to obtain a death certificate, he would have to posthumously convert to one of Egypt's three official faiths – Christian, Muslim or Jewish.

It is only one of many problems faced by the adherents of the Baha'i faith in Egypt.

It was issues like these, coupled with the misinformation being spread about the Baha'i faith that prompted Samir to join the information war and "set the record straight" with his blog Egyptian Baha'i.

The Baha'i religion was founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia. It emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Baha'i around the world in more than 200 countries and territories

Stateless

Samir's father may remain officially "alive" for some time to come, seeing that he specifically asked his family not to resort to a posthumous conversion to obtain the death certificate.

"It was his last will to die as a Baha'i," Samir told MENASSAT.

Official papers like identity cards and birth certificates are obligatory in Egypt and not having them can cause immense obstacles. Egyptians cannot enroll in schools or universities, receive medical treatment, or even buy a car without a national ID card.

Those Baha'i who refuse to change religion on their official papers effectively become "stateless" in their own country, without the right to access the most elementary public services.

Instead, most Baha'i tend to possess passports – the only official Egyptian document that doesn't require statement of religious affiliation.

"The government certainly makes it easy for us to leave. Is it done on purpose? I don't know," Samir shrugs.

WATCH THE TRAILER FOR AHMED EZZAT'S FILM, IDENTITY CRISIS



In a bid to regain their basic rights in their own country, Egypt's Baha'i community has been fighting a court battle since 2004 to get their faith recognized on the new, computerized ID cards. Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court reversed a December 2006 ruling in favor of the Baha'i after the government appealed.

Legal battle

Since then, the Bahai community have gone back to demanding the right to leave the religion field on official papers blank.

"We want our documents without being forced to write something we're not. It's as simple as that," says Samir.

A court case involving three Bahai citizens demanding this right has been on-going for some time.

The suit concerns 15-year-old twins Imad and Nancy Raouf Hindi, who found themselves unable to obtain birth certificates unless they claimed to be Muslim, Christian or Jewish.

It also involves 19-year-old Hosni Hussein Abdel-Massih, who was suspended from his university due to his inability to present an identity card.

On January 29, 2008. Cairo's Court of Administrative Justice again ruled in favor of the Baha'i plaintiffs, allowing them to obtain birth certificates and identification documents without being required to state a religious affiliation.

But Egypt's Ministry of Interior has yet to implement the ruling and Egyptian Baha'i remain in a legal vacuum.

"Now when you ask for ID papers, they tell you to wait for the final verdict in the case," Samir sighs.

After the initial December 2006 ruling, there was a lot of coverage of the Baha'i in the Egytpian media. But Samir felt it often misrepresented his religion or in some cases even slandered it.

It was what spurred him to start his blog, Egyptian Bahai.

"It is an outlet for me to correct false information that is said about us on blogs and in the media. I mainly target news that spreads untrue information about the Baha'i," he says.

Death threats

Samir gets "lots of feedback" on his blog, he says. but the majority of it is negative.

"I get comments like 'The Bahai faith is not a religion. Stop and think about what you are doing.'"

One message read, "If I see you I will kill you."

The situation of the Egyptian Baha'i has attracted the interest of Egyptian and international human rights organizations.

Several protests were staged in Cairo during in 2006 and 2007 in support of the Baha'i, in which activists held up enlarged versions of Baha'i ID cards.

In February 2007, freelance Egyptian filmmaker Ahmed Ezzat released the documentary "Identity Crisis," in which he portrayed the situation of the Baha'i.

The film focuses in part on the December 2007 verdict. It shows a group of Islamist activists at the courthouse triumphantly shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) while holding up the Quran before a stunned group Baha'i, human rights activists and journalists.

One of the Islamist activists, Mohamed Salem, proceeds to state before the camera that Baha'i are apostates and that "infidels should be killed."

The film goes on to interview rights activists and Egyptian Baha'i such as Dr Basma Moussa, an assistant professor in oral surgery at Cairo University, who claims that Egypt's highest Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, issued a certificate stating she was an apostate, which delayed her tenure for several years.

Ezzat's film was banned from several Egyptian film festivals, including the Alexandria Film Festival.

Samir, whose wife is American, recently obtained his Green Card for the US, but he says that he won't leave his country until he is granted his rights.

"I don't want to run away. I will receive all my rights. I believe that," he says.

Baha'i have lived in Egypt for more than a hundred years. In 1924, Egypt became the first Muslim country to recognize the Baha'i faith as an independent religion apart from Islam.

But ever since President Nasser shut down the Baha'i national assembly in the 1960s, and the government proceeded to confiscate Baha'i properties such as libraries and cemeteries, there has been no official record of the group.

Baha'i institutions and community activities remain banned under Egyptian law to this day.

Inter-Cultural & Inter-Religious Diversity in Egyptian Society

An Egyptian independent filmmaker, named Nadia kamel, produced an award-winning documentary called "Salata Baladi" which literally means "Native Salad" or "Popular Salad," pointing out the mixing that went on in the Egyptian society.

The film depicts the intertwined history of an Egyptian family dating back several generations.

Even though it is not a common scene in Egypt, this story is definitely not unusual. It represents the diversity that can be seen in many Egyptian families and it shows how the Egyptian society, throughout history, has intermingled with several cultures, religions and civilizations.

Thus far, the film continues to win many international and national awards. Among which was its recent recognition by the Fourteenth National Egyptian Cinema Festival this June.

The 23rd Munich International Documentary Film Festival introduced the film as follows:

SALATA BALADI

Egyptian director Nadia Kamel's complex family history transcends all boundaries ... a web of cultures and religions – a great, cosmopolitan salad!
Egypt, Switzerland, France 2007 - Director: Nadia Kamel - Original language: Arabic - Subtitles: English

A web of cultures and religions in one family – a great, cosmopolitan salata!

Egyptian director Nadia Kamel's heritage is a complex blend of religions and cultures. Her mother is a half Jewish, half Italian Christian who converted to Islam when she married Nadia's half Turkish, half Ukrainian father. Prompted by the realisation that her ten-year-old nephew was growing up in a society where talk of 'culture clashes' was all too common, she decided to let her mother speak and explore their family history. "The original inspiration for this film was simple enough: a love for my family's stories and a wish to share them. It was a story telling project." But, as she worked on the project, Kamel realised a need for further work to challenge the boundaries between cultures, religions and nationalities that are used to divide us. So she travelled, along with her mother and nephew to Israel and Italy confronting fears and prejudices along the way. "And so my story telling film became a witness to a new story still in the making - a story about my family's efforts to once more climb the wall that unjustly insists on separating our principles from our humanity." [more here....]

The film's trailer is posted here:



This film also shows that the question of "identity" in Egypt is quite a complex one. Recently we have been watching the issue of identity cards and other official documents for the Baha'is of Egypt. The authorities appear to be bent on compartmentalizing the Egyptian population into very restrictive religious identities.

If one, however, examines the realities of several segments of the Egyptian society, it becomes clear, very quickly, that these identities are not what they appear on the surface, or they are not as "pure" as what we are being forced to believe. After all we know what it was like when the Third Reich promoted such rigid, purist, ethnic and racial identities.

Humor Tells it All in Egypt and Iran

Good humor has its way of making a point. Frequently it can tell much more than pages and pages of discourse. The two cartoons below, published by the Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights--a website operated by Muslim youth who took it upon themselves to defend the rights of the Baha'is wherever they are persecuted--illustrate this point very well.

The first comic speaks clearly for the identification document crisis facing the Baha'is of Egypt, and some of its effects on the daily living of these Egyptian citizens. The second one, also initially published on censeo humor site, depicts, in no uncertain terms, the strategy undertaken by the Iranian authorities in targeting the Baha'i population of that country.

Current Status of ID Cards in Egypt: Five Million Pending!

The use of old paper ID cards was due to be terminated by the end of December 2007. However, according to an article published on 5 January 2008 in Egypt's semi-official newspaper, Al-Ahram, the use of paper ID cards had to be extended beyond the set deadline for their elimination. The reason given for this postponement is that there remains five million Egyptian citizens without the new national ID number and the computerized ID card.

The article states that 43 million ID cards were issued. The new project also requires that citizens under the age of sixteen must be issued new birth certificates with a national ID number. There were 42 million citizens who were issued the new computerized birth certificates and national number. Additionally, State Security sources indicated that 25 thousand ID cards were issued to Egyptians living abroad.

The article points to the fact that because of the 5 million pending ID cards, the deadline for the use of old paper documents was extended. It explained that the delay involves mostly rural citizens living in remote areas of Upper Egypt who are lacking local resources and who are unable to travel thousands of kilometers to central locations in order to obtain their documents.

The article makes no mention whatsoever of the religious minorities, such as the Baha'is, who are refused the issue of ID cards simply because of their religious affiliation.

The writer--Fatmah El-Desouqy--states that according to her sources, when the decision to stop using old paper ID cards is issued, all those without a national ID number will become "without identity." All official and unofficial transactions in Egypt require the possession of an ID card. This includes employment, education, banking, owning property, health care, traveling, birth & death, marriage & divorce, vaccination of children, etc....

In the 12th of January Al-Ahram edition, Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, president of Egypt's National Council for Human Rights, was interviewed regarding the role of the Council in fulfilling its duties during the past year. He was asked several questions regarding the issue of religious classification on ID cards, and in particular the dilemma of the Baha'is of Egypt. Dr. Ghali affirmed his long-standing position that there is no need for including religious classification on ID cards and that inter-religious dialogue and acceptance is necessary. He also pointed to the need for solving this crisis without the fear of being open and progressive.

An Eventful Year in Egypt: Religion Vs. Citizenship!

In wrapping up the year's events and its significant developments, Al-Ahram Weekly, the English version of Egypt's semi-official newspaper, published an extensive article authored by several writers and under various titles. The main article carries the title "All's not well on the domestic front." One of the article's sections, with the heading "Much to be modest about," was written by one of Al-Ahram's most-respected editors, Mr. Gamal Nkrumah, who addresses the pressing issues of citizenship and religious freedom.

He begins by stating: MUDDLED expectations, more openness on religious freedoms and the correlation between religion and civil rights were defining features of 2007.

Perhaps one of the most determining characteristics of 2007 is not so much the manner in which religion generally has had an ever-increasing impact on public life. Rather, it is that the entire question of religious affiliation and the precise nature of its correlation to citizenship and civil rights have become the subject of a pronouncedly open public debate. The rough edges of the politico-religious debate have not been sanded off. What has changed is the nature of the debate and the fashion in which the media tackled the prickly question of religious rights.

Further down in his article, he addresses the crisis of identification documents for Egyptian Baha'is by writing the following:

How did other religious minorities fare in 2007? The Bahaai community in Egypt is among the most disgruntled. The Bahaai community is generally among the most prosperous and law-abiding in many countries around the world and not only in the West. In Egypt, however, they have had a rotten luck. That is a good cause for worry. Amid confusion and half-truths, the controversy surrounding the nature of the Bahaais of Egypt continues unabated.

As far as the Christian communities of Egypt are concerned, the most pressing issue is full citizenship and civil rights. The same goes for the Bahaai community in Egypt today. "The crux of the matter is our struggle for official recognition as Egyptians and for full citizenship rights," Labib Iskandar, a leading Egyptian Bahaai, and a professor of engineering at Cairo University told Al-Ahram Weekly. "We move about without personal identification cards. That is a criminal offence in Egypt. We could be stopped by police at any moment, anywhere and asked for our ID," he explained. The removal of religious affiliation slot on computerised ID cards has become not only a question of priority for the Bahaai community, but has also been advocated by non-other an influential organisation than the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR).

"Inability to produce an ID card entails a five-year prison sentence. Still, we have faith in the legal system," Basma Moussa, a dentist and an assistant lecturer at Cairo University, yet another outspoken Egyptian Bahaai concurred. Moussa, a vociferous spokeswoman on the plight of Egypt's Bahaais, told the Weekly that the conditions of Bahaais in Egypt has become untenable. "I am a university professor but cannot even withdraw money from my bank account because I do not have an ID card. I cannot even buy or register a car," she complained. "Worse, there are many Bahaai youngsters who cannot even enroll at schools or universities because they do not have birth certificates or ID cards. This causes serious psychological traumas. It is most distressing for the parents and disheartening for the youth. The right to education is a particularly important human right," she explained. "All Bahaai children born in 2004 and afterwards cannot have birth certificates. Shall we lie about our religion in order to secure false birth certificates," she demanded in desperation.

Ironically, in 1924, Egypt became the first predominantly Muslim state to legally recognise the Bahaai faith. However, this initial tolerance was repealed in the 1960s. Currently, Bahaai institutions and public practice of the Bahaai faith is prohibited by Law 263.

In an ideal world, they should. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former secretary-general of the United Nations and currently head of the National Council for Human Rights assured the Weekly that his organisation, an advisory body, had recommended to the government that the slot pertaining to religion on the ID cards be discarded. Conceivably in the not so distant future, this demand by Bahaais and others will be realised.

And, 2007 has been a year in which their specific grievances have come to the fore. "That is the only positive aspect of 2007. At least now we are discussing our predicament in public forums and that makes 2007 relatively better than 2008," Moussa concluded.

As Copts, too, contemplate a prouder future, positions differ on how precarious the situation is. Some Copts want to engage more prominently in peaceful politics, to partake of the democratisation process. But it is hard to determine precisely what degree of freedom the country's assorted religious minorities have attained in 2007.

Egypt Moves Forward in the Path of Human Rights

This week, in the English version of Egypt's semi-official newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly, Gamal Nkrumah wrote an article about Egypt's celebration of Human Rights Day. Al-Ahram newspaper is the voice of Egypt's government.

Below are a few selected paragraphs quoted here for their relevance. In order to read the entire article, please click here....

Egypt celebrated International Human Rights Day this week, drawing attention to the country's mixed record, writes Gamal Nkrumah.

On Monday, a ceremony took place at Al-Ahram organised by the Human Rights Capacity Building Project (BENAA, or "Building" in Arabic), during which prizes were distributed to journalists whose writings promote human rights.

Among the topics raised in the winning articles were the role of Internet blogs in enhancing public awareness of human rights, as well as violence against women, the issue of street children and the prickly subject of torture.

"We based the NCHR's third annual report, the Human Rights Situation in Egypt 2006/2007, on complaints received from citizens from all walks of life. We took into consideration infringements and violations of their rights as provided for in the Egyptian constitution, national laws and legislation, and in the international Charter on Human Rights," Boutros-Ghali explained.

He stressed that the focus of the NCHR was to "identify the most serious infringements of human rights."

Ghali also noted that particular problems faced by religious minorities, such as Coptic Christians and Bahaais, had been carefully examined. "However, many Muslims also complained about what they saw as infringements of their human and social rights," Boutros-Ghali added.

"The violation of the rights of one citizen is as important as the collective violation of the rights of many citizens," Boutros-Ghali said.

He said that in the case of the Bahaais, the NCHR had recommended that the religious identity of individuals should not be written on identity cards. This, he noted, was of particular importance to Bahaais and to people who had changed their religious affiliations.

"Religion should be a private matter," Boutros- Ghali insisted. "No citizen should be discriminated against because of his or her religion, gender, race or political affiliation."

BBC Xtra: Program on Baha'is of Egypt

BBC Xtra Arabic program aired on 5 December 2007 a broadcast on the struggle of the Baha'is of Egypt. A number of Egyptian Baha'is, human rights activists and journalists were interviewed regarding their current status of being deprived of their civil rights in their own homeland.

The introductory paragraph (attached) explains that, for example, in Lebanon after long years of civil war, the authorities had finally eliminated religious classification from ID cards. However, it added, in some other Arab nations, the authorities demand that all citizens enter their religion in ID cards. Only Egypt allows just three choices for religion to be entered: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. It then states that religious minorities, for example Baha'is, are left without ID cards because they do not belong to any of the three religions.

The introductory article, then, elaborates on the court case of the Egyptian Baha'i twins who are without birth certificates, merely because of their parents' religious affiliation.

Listen to the radio program by clicking on the link below:

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خانة الديانة في بطاقات الهوية

في مطلع التسعينيات في لبنان، وبعد سنوات الحرب الطويلة، توقفت السلطات عن وضع خانة الديانة على بطاقات الهوية. ولكن في بعض الدول العربية الاخرى، تفرض الحكومة على الجميع ان يكتبوا ديانتهم على بطاقة الهوية الشخصية. ولكن في مصر، هناك ثلاثة خيارات لا غير يمكن ان توضع على البطاقة: الاسلام المسيحية واليهودية. ولكن المشكلة هي في تسجيل الاقليات الذين يقولون ان الخيارات الثلاثة لا تنطبق عليهم. البهائيون مثلا، وهم طائفة دينية من الاقليات في مصر، رفضوا مؤخرا هذه الخيارات وفضل معظمهم ان لا يحمل بطاقة هوية على الاطلاق على ان يزور (كما يرى) في المعلومات الشخصية عليها. وتشهد المحاكم المصرية حاليا قضية مراهقين توأم شغلت الراي العام حيث يطالب الابوان بالسماح لهما بتسجيل البهائية في خانة الديانة بينما ترفض السلطات ذلك.. اليكم تقرير بي بي سي اكسترا الذي يبدأ بصوت والد المراهقين المذكورين: عماد ونانسي

Egypt: "Identity Crisis" Entire Film Now Available!

The documentary film produced by the independent filmmaker, Mr. Ahmed Ezzat, has been just made public for free viewing in its entirety on an internet site. The 34-minutes film, "Identity Crisis: My Religion or My Country," documents in vivid details the struggle of the Egyptian Baha'is in search for their basic civil rights in their homeland. Mr. Ahmed Ezzat is not a Baha'i. He is an Egyptian human rights activist who has graciously provided this film for public viewing at his own expense and on his own precious time.

To view the entire film, please CLICK HERE....
(This version does not include subtitles)

Previously published promotional segment on YouTube

P.S. When linking to the website, under the film's image--written in Arabic--are three choices for downloading: high speed (top one), medium speed (middle one) or low speed (bottom one) copies of the film.