Egypt's Minister of Education will forbid schooling of Baha'i children

According to a recent article in Egypt's Al-Sabah (Morning) newspaper, the current Education Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Ghoniem, who is also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, stated that he would not allow admission of Baha'i children into public schools.

The interview was about his vision for the future of education in Egypt, and his intentions regarding the operations of his Ministry and the administrative structure of the educational system and his relations to the various authorities and systems relating to his administration.

When he was asked "what is the position of the Ministry regarding the 'sons' of Baha'is' right to admission to the Ministry's schools?" He responded, "The law of the nation, based on the civil status laws, is that it does not recognize more than three religions, Baha'i is not one of them, therefore their sons have no right to admission to the Ministry's schools."

When reading this, one is left in a state of shock, and clearly there is so much to say and do to prevent such hideous acts from ever coming to fruition, but one's first response is to try to point out the injustice and some of the obvious and flagrant facts:

1) depriving innocent children their right to education merely because of their belief, or their parents' belief in this day in a so-called "modern country" cannot happen without major consequences.
2) only using the word "sons" and completely ignoring the "daughters!" Don't they exist? Is this the new language to be expected of this esteemed educator who is charged with the education of Egypt's next generation? Where is gender equality? Or should we assume that "daughters" are exempt from this exceptional and enlightened vision of the Minister, and they will be permitted admission to his prestigious schools?

Egypt: Yet Another Newborn Denied Birth Certificate

A baby, named Shehab Shady Moussa, was born in Cairo on the 9th of November of this year to Baha'i parents. When his father went to the civil affairs agency, charged with registering newborns and producing their birth certificates, he was told that they received recent instructions from the Ministry of Interior forbidding them from issuing birth certificates to Baha'is. This is despite multiple court rulings ordering the Ministry to issue certificates to children born to Baha'is with dashes "--" inserted in place of their religious identity.

This news item was published in today's edition of Cairo's Al-Badeel newspaper (attached, with a photograph of the Minister of Interior, Habib Al-Adly). The baby's father told the newspaper that this means that his newborn child cannot be counted in Egypt's census, he cannot be vaccinated against serious infectious diseases and that the baby's mother cannot obtain maternal leave from her employment.

This newborn can be now added to a long list of Egyptian children, born to Baha'i parents, who live in the shadows, and whose existence has been denied by their own government. They are deprived of all their human and civil rights, including the rights to health care and education. By doing so, Egypt continues to be in gross violation of all international covenants that guarantee the rights of man, to which Egypt is a co-signatory.

The entire world must express its outrage at this inhumane treatment of children in a nation considered to be a so-called mainstream, moderate and modern, as well as one that is regarded to represent a unique ancient civilization--admired by all. Is this what Egypt wants to be remembered by? One would doubt this very much, and one would expect otherwise.

Egyptian Media Questions the Treatment of Baha'i Children

The question of child education is hitting the headlines again in Egypt. As was previously reported, two young girls from a Baha'i family were finally admitted to a private school in Egypt. Conditions regarding their continued enrollment in school were stipulated however.

Cairo's prominent newspaper, Al- Masry Al-Youm, took keen interest in their case and has been providing extensive coverage of the progress of their drama. The last of which was in yesterday's edition, both in Arabic and English.

The writer of these articles, Salah Eissa, questions the sanity of how these little girls are treated, as has been handled by the Egyptian educational authorities. These girls' only current need is their right to education, just like any other child in Egypt. Their parents resorted to pay for private education simply because there was no way they could have enrolled them in public schools due to their inability to obtain computerized birth certificates as mandated by law.

The entire English translation of this eloquent article is posted below.

Bahaism

By Salah Eissa 30/8/2008

Approximately three weeks ago, I raised the issue of two children, namely 6-year-old Nour and 3-yeard-old Hana. The British School in New Cairo refused to move Nour from the kindergarten to the primary stage and to admit Hana in the kindergarten. The reason was that their documents did not include an electronic birth certificate, but only a paper one.

There is no solution to that problem because their father, Wassim Kamal Eddin, is a Bahai, but his religion is not officially recognized as a religion by the Civil Affairs Administration, which therefore refuse to issue a national ID number for its followers.

No officials offered a solution to Kamal's problem. Yet, they just had to accept a simple solution suggested by Kamal, namely that the two children should be admitted with the paper certificate till a court ruling recently issued by the Administrative Judiciary Court is put into effect.

The ruling says that a dash will be put in the religion space in the certificate for those who embrace a religion other than those recognized in Egypt.

Last week, I received a message from Kamal saying that after the efforts made by the Secretary General of the National Council for Human Rights Mokhles Qotb and the Egyptian initiative for personal rights run by Hossam Bahgat, Education Minister Yosri el-Gamal sent two employees from his office and the head of the Primary Education Directorate in New Cairo to the school.

After negotiations, the school administration decided to enroll Nour again in the school and to admit Hana to the kindergarten, provided that they study one of the two recognized religions. This was accepted by their father. The school stipulated that the father brings the electronic certificates before mid-December.

Although el-Gamal deserves appreciation for his intervention to save those two innocent children's future, the problem is still unsolved, not only because the two children could be dismissed in a few weeks' time, but also because the problem concerns several other Egyptian Bahais. Indeed, administrative bodies insist on not giving them any official documents recognizing their religion.

These organs offer them to write one of the three recognized religions in the religion space in their documents, otherwise they will have no official documents. The bodies had taken official documents away from them that recognized their religion.

The gross error made by governmental organs is that they deal with the issue of Bahaism as a religious issue and adopts their views and take their decisions on the basis of statements and opinions by Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh and the Islamic Research Academy regarding Islam's stance on Bahaism.

As far as the State is concerned, this is a civil and constitutional, rather than religious, affair.

Followers of any religion do not recognize other religions and ideologies; Jews do not recognize Christianity or Islam, and neither do Muslims and Christians with other religions.

The State does not have the right to favor followers of a certain religion at the expense of other religions. This means that it deprives the others of freedom of belief and persecutes them.
A national State basically includes citizens of different colors, races, religions and political ideologies. These citizens agreed on protecting each other's freedom of belief. They are equal in rights and duties.

Their constitution is based on these facts and they elected a government to enforce it. This government does not have the right to impinge on the rights of any individual simply because he or she embraces a different religion.

This is the issue or, so to speak, the farce. When we failed to understand it, we deprived two Egyptian children from the simplest citizenship rights, namely having a birth certificate; and the reason is that they embrace a religion other than the one we follow.

The Irony of Denial

Another comic by Mideast Youth clearly illustrates the unfortunate situation facing the children of Baha'is in Egypt in their desperate attempts to enter school. One clear observation was that the Ministry of Education official denying the admission of a child to school wrote her denial on an apparently disposable piece of paper. The irony is that this poorly presented denial requests a computerized birth certificate from the child.

The comic speaks for itself (click on it to enlarge):

Egypt's Ministry of Education is Put to Test

The recent statement of Egypt's Ministry of Education regarding the admission of Baha'i children to schools was put to test. An Arabic language blog named "Egyptian Baha'i" wrote about this recent development and expressed the rising degree of frustration caused by the inability of Baha'i parents to enroll their children in schools in Egypt.

As was posted recently here, the Ministry of Education had clearly expressed its position regarding this matter, that is, admission to schools will be based on citizenship alone, and that there will be no discrimination in the admission process based on religion. The Ministry went further by stating that it will accept children of Baha'is with (--) "dashes" in their documents.

The parents at the center of this controversy were unable to register their daughters to begin their formal education in a private elementary school because of their religious affiliation and the consequent administrative hurdles. They were referred to the Ministry of Education for an appeal. The Ministry, which had just publicized its position against discrimination, responded today with rejection of admission to the child. The reason given is that the child in question does not hold the newly issued computerized birth certificate, but rather presented them with the old "paper" birth certificate. None of the Baha'is were able to obtain the new computerized certificates (or ID cards) as had been mandated in the 29 January 2008 court verdict that allowed them to insert (--) dashes instead of their religious identification.

The handwritten response of the Ministry to the parent (in Arabic) is attached with this post. Its translation reads:

Governorate of Cairo
New Cairo Education Administration
Elementary Education

In response to the request presented by the [student's] guardian, Wassim Kamal El-Deen Nosseir regarding the admission of his daughter, Hana Wassim, using a paper birth certificate. The paper birth certificate cannot be accepted and will not be used for that purpose. A computer birth certificate must be presented instead. The signature of the Director-General is taken [as a confirmation] to reject the student's paper birth certificate.

[signed:]
Mona Abd El-Aziz Abd El-Hafez
Director of Elementary Education
24/7/2008
[official stamp]

Based on this new development, the Ministry of Education has already abandoned its declaration of not discriminating based on religion. The Ministry has clearly stated that the only condition is "Egyptian citizenship." It did not make any mention of what kind of proof of identity is required, i.e. paper, computerized or any other form. The parents of this child submitted a proof of citizenship: an Egyptian birth certificate. Now the Ministry returns with rejection of this proof and requires that the certificate must be computerized. The Ministry knows very well that none of the Baha'is were able to obtain any of the newly-issued computerized documents, even though the court had ordered the Ministry of Interior to issue them such documents. The Ministry of Interior did not appeal the court's verdict, but has been slow to implement the ruling. Actually, so far, it did not issue any documents to any of the Baha'is of Egypt (including the individual litigants).

This current crisis requires immediate attention by Egypt's senior leadership. Depriving helpless children of their right to education can be seen as, yet another, serious violation of standard international human rights. This matter is now in the public eye...the facts are clear, and it cannot be ignored. There is no other choice but to issue the Baha'is of Egypt their identity documents. In the interim, the schools and other agencies must accept whatever documents these citizens currently hold.

Baha'i Children in Egypt & Iran: A Comic That Depicts Their Dilemma

In an attempt to make a point, the Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights has been at it again. This time by producing yet another penetrating and thought provoking comic (click on the comic to enlarge).

In their post, published today, the authors state:

Baha’is in Egypt and Iran are being denied their right to education. Why? Simply because of their faith. On the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights, we have written about the discrimination that Egyptian Baha’is have been receiving, which right now is comparable to what Iran has been putting its Baha’i students through for decades.

Inspired by these human rights abuses we have created a comic to raise awareness on the absurdity of this crisis. Why do I call it a crisis? Because this is intellectual abuse. Baha’i youth are being victims of intellectual starvation, they are unable to acquire an education which is their given right as citizens. They are being isolated and humiliated on a daily basis. These governments, instead of protecting them, are denying them the chance to learn, which means that they are robbing them of their dreams, of having a career, a future, a life.

Don’t all children deserve an education no matter who they are? The Egyptian and Iranian authorities have no right to treat the Baha’is so differently.

This comic should make you laugh first. And then it should make you think. It’s available in four languages so far: Arabic, Farsi, French, Portuguese and English.

This comic also points to the innocence of children. Recent experience shows that classmates of persecuted children in Iran and Egypt are beginning to take notice and resent the the way their friends are being treated. At times, even siding with their cause. It also shows the obvious: that children look at life through different lenses than adults--their priorities are not always the same!

Egypt: Children of Baha'is Are Denied Admission to Schools

As a follow up to the recent news concerning the Baha'is of Egypt, discussed in the last post on this blog, the Egyptian media is currently engaged in bringing this critical matter to the attention of the public and the Egyptian authorities. International Herald Tribune's Daily News Egypt has published yesterday an article regarding this most recent crisis affecting the Baha'i childern in Egypt. They are being denied admission to schools because of their religious affiliation.

The article, which is quite self explanatory is reprinted below. It is followed, near the end of the post, by a brief commentary:

SCHOOLS REJECT ENROLLMENT PAPERS OF BAHAI CHILDREN

By Sarah Carr
First Published: July 1, 2008

CAIRO: Local schools are denying Bahais 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 Bahais.

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 Bahais 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 Bahais 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 Bahais 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.

EIPR director Hossam Bahgat told Daily News Egypt in April that the Interior Ministry had asked for more time in order to prepare for the implementation of the decision.

According to a report published in Arabic-language daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, school officials claim that they cannot accept identity papers in which the religious affiliation field is left blank.

Ramadan says that the decision was taken in pursuance of the state’s policy of forcing people to issue the new computerized identity papers, but has the effect of discriminating against Bahais who either hold the old paper identity documents or have not been issued new documents following the Interior Ministry’s failure to implement the Administrative Court’s decision.

“In pursuing this policy the Education Ministry is in breach of the constitution,” Ramadan told Daily News Egypt.

“The ministry is obliged to accept what are valid, official documents produced by the Interior Ministry.

“The Interior Ministry itself must implement the Administrative Court ruling and issue identity papers with a blank religious affiliation field,” he continued.

This sad development must be seen by all Egyptians as a disgrace. Identity cards or not, these children belong in the schools, not the streets. How can a civil society tolerate such atrocities directed at innocent children? Unfortunately this is the exact same strategy that has been pursued in Iran against its children. Is this what Egypt--a nation endowed with so much great heritage--wants to be remembered for? One would certainly doubt that!

Egypt's Administrative Court Decides Case of Twins Tomorrow

The Egyptian Christian website The Free Copts has just published an article on an important upcoming case before Egypt's Administrative Court, regarding the 14-year-old twin Egyptian Baha'i children Emad and Nancy who remain, to this date, without Egyptian birth certificates. The court heard the case on 7 May 2007, postponed it until 3 July 2007, and again the court had postponed this case for a decision to be heard tomorrow, the 4th of September. Meanwhile the twin children remain without recognition of their birth, thus deprived of education, vaccination, health care and other essential services.

The Christian website article, entitled "New dilemma in front of the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court," explains the case of Emad and Nancy and compares them to the controversy of a twin Egyptian Christian boys, Andrew & Mario, whose father, having converted from Christianity to Islam, is assisted by the authorities in forcing the conversion of his boys to Islam without their consent.

Below is the unedited article on The Free Copts website:

Following Andrew and Mario, starts another cycle of struggle to evince religion for children. The Supreme Administrative Court will look into the lawsuit filed by the Egyptian citizen Raouf Hindi Halim (a Baha’i convert) on the 4th of September, in which he is pleading to issue official papers for his twins, Imad and Nancy aged 14 years, with the religion field left blank – for manual filling - or to write (Baha'i) in the religion column. He strongly refused to write any other religion in that field, as a belief of religious freedom and based on the recognition by some Arab countries for the Baha'i religion such as the Sultanate of Oman.

Halim had resided in Oman and had issued official papers for his twins there. The case was postponed several times since it was first brought before the administrative court on 7/12/2004.
The lawsuit came after the concerned authorities had refused to issue any official papers for them for three years as a refusal for the children (Imad and Nancy) to pursue their father’s religion - the baha’i. We contacted the father Raouf Hindi Halim, who ensured that the refusal of the concerned authorities for issuing identity papers for his children is an explicit violation of article (18) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates that (everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion). It also violates Article 18 of the International Treaty concerning the Civil and Political Rights, which has become obligating for the Egyptian government after joining in 1982. The article states that: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or adopt a religion or the freedom to follow any religion or belief of one's choice.
The article protects monotheistic and non-monotheistic faiths as well as atheism. It prevents further acts of intimidation that would impair the right to a religion or to be forced to follow a religion against will, using alternative methods including the use of violence, authority or punitive force.
The existence of religion adhered to by the majority of a population must not lead to any other obstruction of rights set forth in the Treaty, including the articles (27,18), and must not lead to any kind of discrimination for pursuing other beliefs, including the denial of some of their civil rights, like the refusal for issuance of official documents that prove their national identity as in the case of my children, which started three years ago.
Imad and Nancy await a verdict on 4th of September hoping that the court would grant them justice and make them useful members of society by giving them a national identity.
Halim adds: "strangely the government is doing so with my children as opposed to their unwavering stance for Andrew and Mario to follow their father’s religion after his conversion to Islam," In the end, the father pointed that Imad, Nancy, Andrew and Mario are all examples of children demanding their rights, and pleaded to the just and honorable Egyptian Authorities not to deprive the children of their sense of freedom and rights to embrace a religion of their choice, a right guaranteed by most countries of the world, including some Arab countries like the Sultanate of Oman.

Translated by The Free Copts from the original Arabic version

This Was When I Broke My Hand!

This last post reporting the abuse of Baha'i children in Iran, could not but trigger some painful memories from my childhood in Egypt. Normally these memories find a labyrinth in the far recesses of one's brain until something more painful brings these awful memories to the forefront. I normally do not write about myself in this blog, but was unable to suppress the perceived urge to talk about this particular incident.

The reason for bringing this up is neither to compare it with the current events nor to show today's children how to react to persecution--far from it--but it may illustrate how a child can end up reacting to an insult out of desperation, and in a reflex manner, even though that reaction might not have been in accordance with the morals infused into his upbringing.

At 11 or 12 years of age, a mere child should not be insulted, beaten, humiliated or harassed because of his religion, but this was a common occurrence to many Baha'i children growing up in Egypt in the 1950s and 1960s. I have been subjected to such treatment on a regular basis, not only by some of my classmates, but at times by certain teachers entrusted to protect me. The worse offender was a 'Sheikh' who taught us the Islam class, who would frequently kick me out of the class, then stops by my father's office on his way home after school to report to him that I neglected to attend his class and that I was a rebel-rouser.

Front row second from right (book on his lap) is me

A young student, after being subjected to such repeated episodes of abuse, can get to a point to think "enough is enough!"

During a morning period in between classes, one of my classmates whom I have known to be the son of Muslim fundamentalist whose father belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood movement stuck his face right into mine and shouted: "You Baha'i...son of a Baha'i...son of a dog." At that exact moment my brain came to a standstill, and without any hesitation I hit him right into his face with my clinched fist, breaking his nose and breaking my hand at the same time. Blood was gushing out of his nose...I was in shock...he was too.... I believe that was the only time in my life when I ever hit anyone--that was not in a self defense situation. Needless to say, that traumatized and embarrassed student never bothered me again, and I had to be in a cast for the next six weeks.

My great concern that day was not what happened to him or to me, but rather what would I tell my father, because I knew that he would not have approved of that action, and that he would then, for sure, believe the Sheik's stories. When I went home after school with a broken hand, my story was that I fell while playing basketball...and there was no discussion! I thought at the time that this was OK as white lie. Until now, no one in my family knew the real story...but I guess it is time to tell the truth even though my parents are not with me any longer, but perhaps they will hear this where they now live--in eternity!

Iran Abuses & Harasses Baha'i Children

The Baha'i World News Service just published an article exposing an ominous component of the recent wave of persecutions of Baha'is in Iran. It is the flagrant abuse of Baha'i children in Iranian schools.

Baha'i schoolchildren in Iran increasingly harassed and abused by school authorities

NEW YORK, 5 April 2007 (BWNS) -- Baha'i students in primary and secondary schools throughout Iran are increasingly being harassed, vilified, and held up to abuse, according to recent reports from inside the country.

During a 30-day period from mid-January to mid-February, some 150 incidents of insults, mistreatment, and even physical violence by school authorities against Baha'i students were reported as occurring in at least 10 Iranian cities.

"These new reports that the most vulnerable members of the Iranian Baha'i community -- children and junior youth -- are being harassed, degraded, and, in at least one case, blindfolded and beaten, is an extremely disturbing development," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

"The increasing number of such incidents suggests a serious and shameful escalation in the ongoing persecution of Iranian Baha'is," said Ms. Dugal. "The fact that school-aged children are being targeted by those who should rightfully hold their trust -- teachers and school administrators -- only makes this latest trend even more ominous."

Ms. Dugal said the Baha'i International Community has been aware of scattered reports of abuse directed at schoolchildren but has only recently learned that young Baha'is are now widely being forced to identify their religion -- and are also being insulted, degraded, threatened with expulsion, and, in some cases, summarily dismissed from school.

"They are also being pressured to convert to Islam, required to endure slander of their faith by religious instructors, and being taught and tested on 'Iranian history' in authorized texts that denigrate, distort, and brazenly falsify their religious heritage," said Ms. Dugal. "They are also being repeatedly told that they are not to attempt to teach their religion."

According to Ms. Dugal, one Baha'i has reported that the school-age children of a relative in Kermanshah were called to the front of the classroom, where they were required to listen to insults against the Faith.

"Another student, accepted at an art institute, has been followed by the authorities and on three occasions seized, blindfolded, and beaten," said Ms. Dugal.

"While a few of these may be isolated attacks, the extent and nature of this reprehensible activity has led the Baha'is in Iran to conclude that this is an organized effort," said Ms. Dugal.

Of special concern, she added, was the fact that a high proportion of the attacks against high school students have been against girls.

"While the attacks reported to have taken place in elementary and middle schools were leveled evenly against boys and girls, those at the high school level targeted girls to a far greater degree: of 76 incidents, 68 were against Baha'i girls," said Ms. Dugal.

Ms. Dugal added that the ages of the children and junior youth affected are as follows: at the elementary school level, grades 1-5, students 6 to 11 years old; at the middle school level, grades 6-8, students 11 to 13 years old; and at the high school level, grades 9-12, students 14 to 17 years old.

The reports of attacks on innocent Baha'i schoolchildren come at a time when a growing number of older Baha'i students seeking to enter Iranian universities have been expelled after being identified as Baha'is.

So far this year, at least 94 college-age Baha'i students have been expelled from institutions of higher education. That figure is up from 70 as reported in late February.

Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, the 300,000-member Iranian Baha'i community has faced ongoing and systematic persecution. In the early 1980s, more than 200 Baha'is were killed, hundreds were imprisoned, and thousands were deprived of jobs and education.

At the present time, more than 120 Baha'is are out on bail and awaiting trial on false charges, solely because of their religious beliefs and activities. Over the last year, as well, international human rights groups have expressed concern at the Iranian government's efforts to step-up their covert monitoring and identification of Baha'is.

uno-bp-07 04 05 -1-IRANSCHOOLS-515-N

Below is a report aired in 1983 on ABC television network's 20/20 program hosted by Barbara Walters:

Warning!
This film contains shocking and disturbing accounts and images.

Click on the image to view the program.
15 min 45 sec - Feb 23, 2007
Description: ABC's 20/20 TV show - persecution of Iranian Baha'is - originally aired about 1980 [sic]. When Khomeini returned to Iran from exile in France he stated that he had two objectives. 1- the elimination of the Shah and 2- the elimination of the Baha'is. This TV report details some of the shocking details of the implementation of the plan to destroy the Baha'i Community of Iran. Amnesty International, in the early 1980s, listed the persecution of the Baha'is by the government of Iran as the most serious human rights violation on earth. The persecutions continue today.
video.google.com