Hope for Showraniyah: Hope for Egypt

There appears to be some imminent positive prospects for the displaced Baha'i families of Showraniyah, the southern Nile village in the province of Sohag recently known for the burning of Baha'i homes.

According to an article in yesterday's edition of Al-Youm Al-Sabe'h [the Seventh Day] Egyptian newspaper, village elders, community organizers, State security agencies and the authorities are in the process of finding ways to solve the crisis surrounding the Showraniyah burning.

The strategy of the negotiations, conducted by these village leaders, is to provide favorable conditions for a state of peaceful reconciliation. It is intended to bring about a transition that would allow the Baha'i families to return to their homes, and to provide them with a safe environment within their village devoid of any exposure to further hostilities "from near or far." They will be promised that future conditions will bring about a state of normal coexistence in accordance with the "principle of citizenship."

As the perpetrators of offenses against the Baha'is can be subject to "the severest penalties," these healing developments have been met by family heads in the village with approval. They now understand the need to bring an end to the crisis and to bring back the village to a normal state of peaceful coexistence.

Some of the displaced Showraniyah Baha'is

Reports of these negotiations have been revealed to the newspaper by a "responsible source in [State] Security" who has indicated that the families in the village concur with these plans.

Showraniyah is a village located on a Nile island in southern Egypt. The Baha'i families lived in two sections [naighborhoods] of the village that are called Nag'h Kabir and Nag'h Hashem.

There were five large families of Baha'is living in the village. They have all been displaced since the burning of their homes on the night of 31 March 2009. The parents are now without work, the young children are out of school and two law students (one of whom is in his final year) have also been unable to return to their university since their expulsion from southern Egypt. These are the same families that were imprisoned in 2001 solely for believing in the Baha'i Faith. One of the children, who is now 9-years-old, was in jail for several months with his mother at the tender age of 6 months when they were incarcerated eight years ago.

It is clear that the time has come for these innocent citizens who want to live peacefully among their neighbors and friends to return to normal life. The children need to return to their schools and the parents are eager to return to their work so that they can all serve society as well as they have always done in the past.