Egyptian Media Reacts to USCIRF Report

In response to the annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) that condemned Egypt, along with few other countries such as Iran, for its violations of human rights (linked here), Egypt's leading newspapers--not unexpectedly--varied widely in their reaction from condemnation and rejection of the report, to denial of the accusations brought by the USCIRF, to simply stating the key points brought to light by this report.

For example, Rose Al-Youssef newspaper, which is considered to be the mouthpiece of the government, was the most vocal in its rejection and condemnation. It mocked the report in a cheap way and denied all its allegations and statements on human rights violations in Egypt.

Al-Masry Al-Youm, on the other hand was the paper that was most objective and unbiased in its reporting, accurately reflecting the true content of the report without any criticism. While the Arabic version of the publication can be seen here, the English translation is linked to here and is also posted below:

US State Department: Egyptian Government Backtracked on Respecting Freedom of Belief

By Mohamed Abdel Khalik Mesahil 21/9/2008

The annual report for 2008 by the US International Commission on Religious Freedoms included a negative image about the religious freedoms in Egypt.

The report, recently issued by the US State Department, said there was general backtracking on the Egyptian government respect of the freedom of belief.

The report said the government imposed restrictions on performing some religious rituals although they are enshrined in the constitution. It mentioned some positive steps.

However, it accused the government of failure to stop what it called discrimination against Christians. The police had slow response to some sectarian incidents, not to mention obstacles to the building and renovation of churches.

The report noted that the government does not recognize Muslims embracing Christianity or any other religion and bans them from performing rituals although there was no law banning Muslims from embracing other religions. The police harass them and accuse them of inciting sectarian disputes.

The report criticized, in general, the government practices against non-Muslim minorities, focusing, in particular, on its failure to officially recognize followers of the Baha'i. The Bahaists have no IDs.

The report monitored government discrimination against the Christians, saying that the government, represented by Ministry of Religious Endowments, finances the building of mosques and pays salaries of imams, but does not do the same with churches.

Moreover, the ministry controls all mosques and preachers, as well as different activities in mosques and keeps churches out of government control.

It criticized Al-Azhar being entitled to seize publications and artistic works. It referred to the failure to recognize the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormon Church. The government also stopped the advice sessions held for the Christians who embraced Islam.

The report monitored the government practices against the Muslim Brotherhood Group and the detention of hundreds of its members. It also monitored what it called the growing anti-Semitic feelings in Egyptian newspapers.

Reuters Critical of "Official Foot-Dragging" in Egypt

An article authored by Cynthia Johnston, just published in Reuters, underscores the continuing struggle of the Baha'is of Egypt in their attempts to obtain their government-issued official documents.

It reports that, according to the human rights organization--Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), "official foot-dragging means Egypt's Baha'i religious minority is still struggling to get identity papers, despite a landmark court ruling...."

The 29 January 2008 ruling allowed the Baha'is to obtain ID cards and birth certificates without having to lie about their true religious affiliation. The ruling fell short, though, of permitting the Baha'is to indicate their own religion on the required sections of these documents...instead, it allowed them to enter dashes "--" in the indicated fields. The Ministry of Interior accepted that solution without any challenge to the decision rendered by the court.

The Baha'is of Egypt, however, have not been able to obtain their official documents since the ruling. They remain without ID cards and birth certificates. No clear reason or explanation, regarding the delay, had ever been given to them.

Another ruling in favor of Christian converts in Egypt remains to be implemented. It allowed those who have returned to Christianity to indicate their true faith correctly on their ID documents.

EIPR, represented by Mr. Hossam Bahgat, expressed its great concern with such delays and has been actively pursuing all means to help propel the authorities to expedite the implementation of these new policies.

The Economist Examines Egypt's Emerging Religious Freedom

The Economist, a weekly leading British newspaper with extensive worldwide readership has published yesterday an article about the recent developments affecting the pressing issue of religious freedom in Egypt.

It focused on the recent court rulings regarding the Baha'is of Egypt as well as Egyptian citizens who had converted from Islam to Christianity. Both religious minorities have been facing enormous barriers to their civil rights prior to these recent court verdicts that allowed them to be recognized as citizens, even though in the case of the Baha'is the ruling fell short of recognizing the legitimacy of their religion in Egypt.

In view of the recent opinion of Cairo's Court of Administrative Justice, it should be clearly pointed out that the Baha'i religion is recognized globally as an independent divinely-ordained religion. Additionally, the Baha'i International Community (BIC) is permanently represented in the United Nations along with other prominent non-governmental organizations (NGO). The BIC's new website can be linked to here.

As to the ruling affecting Egyptian Christians, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court has just ruled that Egyptians who were initially Christian who, for one reason or another, had converted or were forced to convert to Islam, and who want to return to Christianity can do so freely and are now allowed to obtain identity documents verifying their current legal status.

The full article can be accessed on Economist.com at this link.

The article in the Economist which was published on 14 February 2008 and posted on the newspaper's website from its print edition carries the following title:

Egypt
A bit more religious freedom
Apostasy need not necessarily be punished by death

The report begins with the following paragraph:
TWENTY-SEVEN years ago, Egypt revised its secular constitution to enshrine Muslim sharia as “the principal source of legislation”. To most citizens, most of the time, that seeming contradiction—between secularism and religion—has not made much difference. Nine in ten Egyptians are Sunni Muslims and expect Islam to govern such things as marriage, divorce and inheritance. Nearly all the rest profess Christianity or Judaism, faiths recognised and protected in Islam. But to the small minority who embrace other faiths, or who have tried to leave Islam, it has, until lately, made an increasingly troubling difference.

It then continues with:
Members of Egypt's 2,000-strong Bahai community, for instance, have found they cannot state their religion on the national identity cards that all Egyptians are obliged to produce to secure such things as driver's licences, bank accounts, social insurance and state schooling. Hundreds of Coptic Christians who have converted to Islam, often to escape the Orthodox sect's ban on divorce, find they cannot revert to their original faith. In some cases, children raised as Christians have discovered that, because a divorced parent converted to Islam, they too have become officially Muslim, and cannot claim otherwise.

Such restrictions on religious freedom are not directly a product of sharia, say human-rights campaigners, but rather of rigid interpretations of Islamic law by over-zealous officials. In their strict view, Bahai belief cannot be recognised as a legitimate faith, since it arose in the 19th century, long after Islam staked its claim to be the final revelation in a chain of prophecies beginning with Adam. Likewise, they brand any attempt to leave Islam, whatever the circumstances, as a form of apostasy, punishable by death.

And it concludes with:
But such views have lately been challenged. Last year Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti, who is the government's highest religious adviser, declared that nowhere in Islam's sacred texts did it say that apostasy need be punished in the present rather than by God in the afterlife. In the past month, Egyptian courts have issued two rulings that, while restricted in scope, should ease some bothersome strictures. Bahais may now leave the space for religion on their identity cards blank. Twelve former Christians won a lawsuit and may now return to their original faith, on condition that their identity documents note their previous adherence to Islam.

Small steps, perhaps, but they point the way towards freedom of choice and citizenship based on equal rights rather than membership of a privileged religion.

Extensive Media Coverage on the ID Crisis of Egypt

Joe Stork of HRW & Hossam Bahgat of EIPR

In its yesterday's edition, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article on Egypt's refusal to recognize its minorities and its stance in refusing them their civil rights. The article is based on the recent comprehensive report of Human Rights Watch (HRW) which has garnered worldwide media interest following the press conference jointly held with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). The press conference was held in Cairo shortly after the release of the joint report prepared by these two human rights organizations; HRW is based in New York and EIPR is based in Cairo. The report was released on 12 November 2007, a day prior to Cairo's Court of Administrative Justice convened to rule on the Baha'is cases before it, as described in the previous two posts.

The article begins with the following:

San Francisco Chronicle

Egypt hindering religious freedom, human rights groups say

Steven Stanek, Chronicle Foreign Service
Friday, November 16, 2007

(11-16) 04:00 PST Cairo - --

The Egyptian government refuses to recognize minority religions and Christian converts in official state records, according to a report released this week by human rights activists who say the policy is a violation of Egyptian law.

New York's Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights in Cairo said government officials are systematically withholding national identification cards and birth certificates from members of the Baha'i faith because it is not one of the three "heavenly" recognized religions - Islam, Christianity or Judaism.

Egypt has an estimated 2,000 adherents to Bahaism, a 150-year-old religion derived from Islam, but which considers the 19th century nobleman Baha'u'llah as the last prophet instead of Muhammad - a direct challenge to Islamic principles. It is the largest, and perhaps only, unrecognized religion in Egypt, according to the report.

There are roughly 70 million Muslims and 10 million Coptic Christians in Egypt. Experts estimate that a once-thriving Jewish community has dwindled to fewer than 200 people.

The 98-page report, "Prohibited Identities: State Interference With Religious Freedom," also criticized the government's refusal to change religious affiliation on identification cards issued to those who converted from Islam to Christianity, which is considered a sin under Islamic law but protected by the country's Constitution.

"Officials apparently believe that they have the right to choose someone's religion when they don't happen to like the religion that that person, him or herself, has chosen," said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch for the Mideast and North Africa. "It's a policy also that strikes at the core of a person's identity. It has far-reaching consequences ... for daily life." Read the rest here....

In addition to this coverage, several newspaper articles were published in Arabic in prominent Egyptian newspapers. Links to these publications can be found on Basma's blog in the following posts: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

The Baha'i World News Service has also just published an article commenting on the Human Rights Watch report. It states the following:

Human rights groups issue report on Egypt

NEW YORK 16 November 2007 (BWNS)

Egypt should end discriminatory practices that prevent Baha'is and others from listing their true religious beliefs on government documents, said Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights in a major report released this week.

The 98-page report, titled "Prohibited Identities: State Interference with Religious Freedom," focused on the problems that have emerged because of Egypt's practice of requiring citizens to state their religious identity on government documents but then restricting the choice to Islam, Christianity, or Judaism.

"These policies and practices violate the right of many Egyptians to religious freedom," stated the report, which was released on 12 November 2007.

"Because having an ID card is essential in many areas of public life, the policies also effectively deny these citizens a wide range of civil and political as well as economic and social rights," the report said.

The Baha'i International Community welcomed the report. Read the rest of the article here....

"Daily News" on Religious Freedom in Egypt

Daily News Egypt, distributed by the International Herald Tribune (IHT), published an article yesterday authored by Jonathan Spollen with the headline "US report slams religious freedom in Egypt."

"The International Herald Tribune (IHT) is the world's foremost global newspaper. The IHT is the only English-language international paper printed in Egypt and available the same day. Together with the IHT's first-class international news service, Daily News Egypt provides readers with a complete bouquet of all the news they will need."

P.S. If the links above do not work well with Internet Explorer (IE), try a different browser!

The full text of the article is posted below with the author's permission:

US report slams religious freedom in Egypt

By Jonathan Spollen
First Published: September 16, 2007

CAIRO: According to the US State Department’s annual report on religious freedom, conditions in Egypt as well as a number of other countries including Iran, Iraq and China, have deteriorated.

A significant section of the 800-page report released Friday is allocated to religious freedom in Egypt, and tackles issues such as the freedom to choose one’s religion, the legal status of minority religions like Christianity and Baha’ism, sectarianism, forced conversions, and freedom to build places of worship.

Egypt’s courts have strongly resisted attempts by Muslims to convert to Christianity in recent months. High-profile cases such as those of Mohammed Hegazy and 12 Christian-born Muslims who are currently pressing to revert to Christianity, have shone the spotlight on the country’s attitude toward religious freedom.

Egypt has also been wracked by numerous incidents of sectarian violence, and a series of clashes between Muslims and Christians in areas like Bimha, South of Cairo, and Udayssat, near Luxor, are cited in the report.

Many such incidents, the report notes, arise from disagreements over the building and repairing of churches, the approval process for which is often “hindered by lengthy delays, often measured in years”.

The report acknowledges that a 2005 Presidential decree allows local authorities to deal with requests for church building and reparations in order to speed up the process, but points out that delays by the Interior Ministry and local authorities cause many requests to reach the President “slowly or not at all”.

A statement issued yesterday by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry rejected the report, saying it "confuses official policy with events caused by societal sensitivities."

Yet the refusal to recognize the Bahai faith, which is also condemned in the report, is official government policy. Members of this group experience “personal and collective hardship,” the report says.

The Bahais are denied ID cards, birth and death certificates, and their marriages are not recognized by law. They also face difficulties availing of public services such as health and education.

According to Labib Hanna, a Bahai and professor of mathematics at Cairo University, this makes life extremely difficult for the Bahai community.

“Even the simple things like getting my driving license renewed, are hard,” he told Daily news Egypt.

An April 2006 decision by the Administrative Court, which had supported the right of Bahai citizens to receive ID cards and birth certificates with religion noted on the documents, was overturned in December 2006 following a government appeal. Members of the Bahai community are currently fighting the decision in court.

Hanna agrees with the report’s premise that religious freedom has declined in recent years, but says he is hopeful that civil society organizations and the National Council for Human Rights, who work to promote religious freedom, will bring about change.

Although there has been a “general decline” in freedom of religion in recent years says Yousef Sidhom, editor of Christian weekly Watani, there have been some encouraging signs too.

“Christians are making a comeback in public life,” he told Daily News Egypt, “in marked contrast to their withdrawal from Egyptian public life over the past 30 years.”

Sidhom points out that more Copts were elected to the National Democratic Party’s (NDP) regional commissions this month (albeit because they would have “no chance” in national elections), and adds that the public controversy over conversions indicates that people are becoming bolder about their right to choose what they believe in.

“Conversion cases have always been there but were beneath the surface. Now more individuals have the courage to reveal their intentions to convert.”

The report goes on to criticize the under-representation of Christians in politics, pointing out that although Christians comprise between 8-12 percent of the population, they hold less that two percent of the seats in the People’s Assembly and Shoura Council.

Government practices, it continues, discriminate against Christians in hiring for the public sector and making staff appointments to public universities. Christians are also banned from studying at the publicly-funded Al-Azhar schools and university, and public funds pay Muslim imams but not Christian clergy.

The Foreign Ministry maintains that the report “reflects an ignorance of the true situation in Egypt”.

"Egyptian-American relations are broad and diverse, but that does not give the United States the right to interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs under any pretext,” the Ministry said in a statement.

Egypt's Identity Crisis in Dutch Media

On 4 September 2007, the Dutch national newspaper "NRC Handelsblad" published an extensive article on the crisis of identity documents and religious classification in Egypt.

The translation of this article from Dutch to English was graciously provided by Dr. Martijn Rep, an academician from the Netherlands.

The article contains one error referring to future Prophets which was corrected in brackets.

NRC Handelsblad
4 september 2007
By Alexander Weissink

“According to Egyptian law we cannot even die”

An Egyptian is a Muslim, Christian or Jew; a Baha’i or Qur’anist does not exist

In Egypt there is no place for people who deviate from the three recognized religions. Everybody must be Muslim, Christian or Jew. And preferably the first. There is no freedom of choice. Unless you want to become Muslim.

Today, Raouf Hindi (51) appeared before the judge with his 14-year old twin Emad and Nancy. “Initially I did not want to expose them to the resentful Muslims and hostile press in the court”, he said. “But they must witness this experiment. We are going to write history.” They are Baha’i, a religion that is not recognized in Egypt. Because of that, the children have still not received their birth certificates.

Egyptian citizens are obliged to state their religion when applying for birth certificates and identity cards. There are three possibilities: Muslim, Christian or Jewish, the only divine religions, according to the authorities. “If you are not one of the three, you don’t exist”, Hindi says.

When he returned from twenty years working as a dentist in the Gulf, he had to change the birth certificates of his children, issued by Oman, into Egyptian documents. The original certificates mentioned that the children are Baha’i, but the authorities forced him to write 'Muslim'. He went to the judge to at least be able not to write any religion. “Then, at least we do not have to lie”, he said. “Because if we write 'Muslim' we will afterwards be accused of being an apostate. There are plenty of crazy people who believe such a person deserves death.” After four years of legal proceedings, the judge would pass judgment today.

Baha’is see their faith as a continuation of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. They recognize the respective Prophets, but believe Muhammad was not the last Messenger from God. Baha’u’llah, who started the [Baha’i] movement one-and-a-half centuries ago in Iran, would be the ninth Prophet. A thousand years after his death a tenth and last Prophet will appear [“last Prophet” statement is incorrect…Baha’is believe that there is no end to Divine guidance and Messengers of God – MR]. In Egypt, there are at most a few thousand Baha’is. Worldwide there are an estimated five million, with Iran, India and the U.S.A. having the largest communities.

Two years ago, the government decided to exclusively issue electronically manufactured plastic identity cards. “Before that time, the authorities usually wrote ‘other’ in the religion section of our papers or left it blank”, says Hindi who showed his old, crumpled papers as evidence. “But when I came to register my children they registered me as Muslim in the computer.”

The old identity papers will no longer be valid by the end of this year. “From that moment on we are trapped”, says Hindi. “Without that card you can’t do anything. Babies are not vaccinated, children cannot go to school, banks do not want to open accounts and you cannot own a house or a car. Because we cannot get a marriage certificate, all our children are unlawful. We cannot even obtain a death certificate, because we do not exist. Officially, we cannot even die.”

The Baha’is are not the only ones who have problems with their papers because of their faith. Muslims who want to convert to Christianity have great difficulty to change their identity card. “Most, therefore, keep their old papers that mention ‘Muslim’ as long as possible. But when they want to marry or get children, they have to change their card”, tells Ramsis al-Naggar, a well-known lawyer who has specialized in cases involving conversion. “Muslim women who convert but haven’t changed their papers cannot marry a Christian. Converted men have to change their papers because otherwise the authorities will automatically register their children as Muslim.”

Hardly a week goes by without a new quarrel concerning a case of conversion in the Egyptian media. “That’s killing”, says Al-Naggar. “The trick is to attract as little attention as possible.” Of his 400 clients who have become Christian, he has been able to help only twenty-six to new papers. “A Christian who wants to become Muslim obtains a new card in only three hours. But a Muslim who wants to become Christian obtains, with a lot of luck, new papers in eight months,” says the lawyer. Even a court judgment is no guarantee. “The authorities cannot refuse, because that is against the law and international treaties, but they can delay endlessly.”

A young couple sits in the waiting room. The man wants to become Christian and marry the woman. That is all Al-Naggar allows them to say. “If their names become known, they will be harassed by fundamentalists who wish death upon them on the grounds of Islamic law. But those extremists know nothing of the law. They only yell ‘Shar’ia, shari’a, shar’ia’.”

The theoretically secular government, under fundamentalist pressure, more and more acts as guardian of Islam and in that function increasingly limits freedom of religion. But that, according to Hossam Bahgat, director of the human rights organisation “Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights,” is only part of the explanation. “It is too easy to think that those nasty fundamentalists force the government to do something annoying”, says Bahgat, whose organisation supports converts among others. “The most important cause of the discrimination is that all matters of religion are monopolized by the security service”, says Bahgat. “Any challenge to the status-quo is seen as a threat to the state. That is why the authorities are so rigid and the government responds so nervously when minorities demand recognition of their rights.”

The most recent victims of this are the Qur’anists. This movement, which has only a few dozen followers in Egypt, accepts only the Qur’an as God’s word and does not accept the hadith, the traditions on the Prophet, because the reliability of these cannot be verified. For the Sunnies, the large majority in Egypt, the hadith are an integral part of Islam. In May, five Qur’anists were arrested. They are still waiting for an official charge.

Hindi shakes his head. “We are not only viewed as apostates, but also as enemies of the state.” He paints a gloomy picture. “We call Egypt the oldest civilization of the world, but is this truly civilized? They force the people to lie and with that they create a land of hypocrites. Why do they ask for my religious faith anyway? Isn’t that something between me and God?”

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

Is There Any Religious Freedom in Egypt?

This article, published on Compass Direct News illustrates a very interesting dilemma. It is the story of an Egyptian man who had decided to convert from Islam to Christianity only to find himself in a very precarious position--he cannot obtain an ID card stating that he is indeed a Christian. Consequently, he had to resort to the courts in order to obtain his rights.

Thus far, Egypt has always used the excuse of not recognizing the Baha'i Faith in order to deny the Baha'is their civil rights. Egypt has clearly stated that it only recognizes three religions as divine, namely: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Officially it will grant anyone who is a follower of any of these religions his or her full citizenship rights.

Now, this case involves a man who supposedly belongs to one of the three recognized religions in Egypt, but apparently because he had converted from Islam to Christianity, he is being denied his rights. However, legal conversion from Christianity to Islam occurs regularly in Egypt, and those who convert have no difficulty whatsoever in obtaining ID documents stating that they are Muslims.

Here is his story:

Tuesday August 07, 2007

EGYPT: MUSLIM SUES FOR RIGHT TO CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY

Christian's attorney facing death threats from Egyptian security police.

ISTANBUL, August 6 (Compass Direct News) – A Muslim convert to Christianity filed suit against Egypt last week for refusing to legally recognize his change of religion, sparking a reactionary lawsuit by Muslim clerics and death threats against his lawyer.

Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy, 24, brought a case against Egypt’s interior ministry on Thursday (August 2) for rejecting his application to replace Islam with Christianity on his personal identification papers.

“I think it is my natural right, to embrace the religion I believe and not to have to have a double personality for me as well as for my wife and my expected baby,” said Hegazy, who converted to Christianity when he was 16.

Though Egyptian law does not forbid conversion from Islam to Christianity, it provides no legal means to make the change. Converts to Christianity usually hide their identity to avoid torture and forced recantation at the hands of family members and security police.

Hegazy, whose wife Zeinab is four months pregnant, said that he wants his child to be born with Christian papers. The couple, who were forced to hold an Islamic wedding ceremony because of their legal status as Muslims, know that a Christian ID card will allow their child to take Christian religion classes in school, marry in a church and even openly attend services without fear of harassment. Read the rest here....

US Congress: Briefing on Religious Freedom in Egypt

Nina Shea, Vice Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has recently presented a Briefing on “Religious Freedom in Egypt: Recent Developments” before the Task Force on Religious Freedom Of the United States House of Representatives. The Commission's Annual Report was published on 2 May 2007. The section on Egypt is on pages 203-211 of the report. The testimony was presented by Ms. Shea on 23 May 2007.

As the briefing went into great details in describing the violations of religious freedoms of the various minorities in Egypt, and because of the known focus of this blog, this post will point mainly to the sections of the briefing where it mentioned the crisis currently facing the Baha'is of Egypt.

In the introductory paragraphs it states: "...These violations include continued prosecution in state security courts and imprisonment of those accused of “unorthodox” Islamic religious beliefs or practices, including those who are not militants; discrimination against, restrictions on, interference with, and harassment and surveillance of members of non-Muslim religious minorities, particularly Christians and Baha’is, by the Egyptian state security services...."

Later on it states: "...Under the Emergency Law, the security forces are given license to mistreat and torture prisoners, arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, hold detainees in prolonged pretrial detention, and occasionally engage in mass arrests. Thousands of persons have been detained without charge on suspicion of illegal terrorist or political activity; others are serving sentences after being convicted on similar charges. Non-Muslim religious minorities, particularly Christians and Baha’is, report discrimination, interference, harassment, and surveillance by these same state security services."

It also describes the specific issues facing the Baha'is in the following two paragraphs:
"Life in Egypt is particularly difficult for members of the Baha’i faith, whose institutions and community activities have been banned since 1960 by a presidential decree, leaving them unable to meet and engage in group religious activities. Over the years, Baha’is have been arrested and imprisoned because of their religious beliefs, often on charges of insulting Islam. Al-Azhar’s Islamic Research Center has issued fatwas (religious edicts) in recent years urging the continued ban on the Baha’i community and condemning Baha’is as apostates.

The Egyptian government’s requirement that religious affiliation be included on national identity cards especially affects the Baha’i community. Since only Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are protected under the Constitution, these are the only choices for religious affiliation, effectively preventing Baha’is from obtaining identity cards, which are needed for many basic transactions, such as opening a bank account, buying a car, or obtaining a driver’s license. There was a glimmer of hope in April 2006, when a lower Egyptian administrative court ruled that a Baha’i couple should be permitted to identify their religious affiliation on official government documents. However, this positive development proved short-lived, as the Interior Ministry appealed the ruling following the advice of religious authorities and some parliamentary members. A higher court suspended the original decision in May, creating a sense of insecurity in the Baha’i community. In December of last year, the Supreme Administrative Court ruling upheld the government’s discriminatory policy of prohibiting Egyptian Baha’is from obtaining a national identity card. When the Commission visited Egypt in July 2004, we met with representatives of the Baha’i community who expressed to us in very stark terms the ramifications for their lives in Egypt without identity cards—they would essentially be shoved to the perimeters of society and prevented from pursuing normal, everyday functions needed to sustain themselves."

Regarding Egypt's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), the briefing states the following:
"On a positive note, the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), a government-appointed advisory body which was formed in 2003, has emerged as an important entity in Egypt. The Commission met with a representative of the NCHR just yesterday, and was encouraged to hear of some of its new efforts in addressing religious freedom concerns. In November 2005, the NCHR announced the formation of a sub-group, the “Citizenship Committee,” to focus on religious freedom issues. As a result, the NCHR’s 2006 annual report contained increased reporting on religious freedom concerns, including on the situation of Baha’is; problems facing Jehovah’s Witnesses; violence targeting Christians; and the need for the government to pass a law on the construction of new places of worship for all religious groups."

The briefing concludes with the following recommendations:
"The Commission has made several specific recommendations for U.S. policy which are included in our Annual Report, which was just released three weeks ago. I would like to highlight a few of those recommendations if I may.

The Commission has recommended the U.S. government should establish a timetable for implementation of political and human rights reforms; if deadlines are not met, the U.S. government should reconsider the appropriate allocation of its assistance to the Egyptian government. Finally, in the context of the annual congressional appropriation for U.S. assistance to Egypt, Congress should require the State Department to report to it annually on the extent to which the government of Egypt has made progress on the issues described here and in my written testimony.

The Commission also recommends that the U.S. government urge the Egyptian government to:
. repeal the state of emergency, in existence since 1981, in order to allow for the full consolidation of the rule of law in Egypt, but ensure that the emergency decree is not replaced by other legislation that allows security forces to continue such actions as arbitrary arrest, pro-longed detention without charge, and torture and other ill-treatment;
. remove de facto responsibility for religious affairs from the state security services, with the exception of cases involving violence or the advocacy of violence;
. repeal Article 98(f) of the Penal Code, which “prohibits citizens from ridiculing or insulting heavenly religions or inciting sectarian strife”; allow for full access to the constitutional and international guarantees of the rule of law and due process for those individuals charged with violating Article 98(f); and release Internet blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman and any individuals convicted under Article 98(f) on account of their religion or belief;
. implement procedures that would ensure that all places of worship are subject to the same transparent, non-discriminatory, and efficient regulations regarding construction and maintenance;
. repeal a 1960 presidential decree banning members of the Baha’i community from practicing their faith and ensure that every Egyptian can obtain a national identity card by either (a) omitting mention of religious affiliation, or (b) making optional any mention of religious affiliation;
. cease all messages of hatred and intolerance, particularly toward Jews and Baha’is, in the government-controlled media; and
. more actively investigate religious-based violence against Egyptian citizens, particularly Coptic Christians, prosecute perpetrators responsible for the violence, and ensure compensation for victims.

Conclusion
Mr. Chairman, only a few years ago, our government was an outspoken advocate of democratic reform and human rights in Egypt. Yet, in the past year or so, U.S. policy has shifted and there have been missed opportunities by U.S. officials to express publicly their concerns regarding religious freedom. The U.S. government has become seemingly reluctant to condemn developments in Egypt that clearly signal a backsliding in human rights protections. Yes, Egypt is an important country—to the United States and in the world today. Yes, the Egyptian government appears to be making great efforts to combat extremism; yet, these same security services that work actively against extremists seem unable—or unwilling—to find the perpetrators of extremist violence against religious minorities and hold them to account.

Egypt also receives a substantial amount of U.S. assistance. It is critical that our government hold the Egyptian government accountable for its policies and practices that violate the human rights, including religious freedom, of so many Egyptians.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I welcome any questions that you might have."

Grand Mufti of Egypt on "Freedom of Religion"

The Washington Post has published a collection of articles, on 21 July 2007, under a section entitled "Muslims Speak Out" that featured, among others, Ali Gomma'a, the Grand Mufti of Egypt. One third of his statements were specific to the question of "Freedom of Religion in Islam."

Coverage of this article was also published in Arabic in Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper and Al-Arabiya website.

The Washington Post describes the Grand Mufti as follows: "Since 2003, Dr. Ali Gomaa has served as the Grand Mufti of the Arab Republic of Egypt, a position of religious authority second only to the Sheikh al-Azhar. As one of Islam’s most respected scholars of Islamic law, Dr. Ali Gomaa oversees Dar al-Ifta, Egypt’s highest body for delivering opinions on religious law. Details"

In that section of the Washington Post the Grand Mufti stated the following when he addressed religious freedom question:

Freedom of Religion in Islam

The essential question before us is can a person who is Muslim choose a religion other than Islam? The answer is yes, they can, because the Quran says, “Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion,” [Quran, 109:6], and, “Whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve,” [Quran, 18:29], and, “There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is distinct from error,” [Quran, 2:256].

These verses from the Quran discuss a freedom that God affords all people. But from a religious perspective, the act of abandoning one’s religion is a sin punishable by God on the Day of Judgment. If the case in question is one of merely rejecting faith, then there is no worldly punishment. If, however, the crime of undermining the foundations of the society is added to the sin of apostasy, then the case must be referred to a judicial system whose role is to protect the integrity of the society. Otherwise, the matter is left until the Day of Judgment, and it is not to be dealt with in the life of this world. It is an issue of conscience, and it is between the individual and God. In the life of this world, “There is no compulsion in religion,” in the life of this world, “Unto you your religion and unto me my religion,” and in the life of this world, “He who wills believes and he who wills disbelieves,” while bearing in mind that God will punish this sin on the Day of Judgment, unless it is combined with an attempt to undermine the stability of the society, in which case it is the society that holds them to account, not Islam.

All religions have doctrinal points that define what it is to be an adherent of that religion. These are divine injunctions that form the basis of every religion, but they are not a means for imposing a certain system of belief on others by force. According to Islam, it is not permitted for Muslims to reject their faith, so if a Muslim were to leave Islam and adopt another religion, they would thereby be committing a sin in the eyes of Islam. Religious belief and practice is a personal matter, and society only intervenes when that personal matter becomes public and threatens the well-being of its members.

In some cases, this sin of the individual may also represent a greater break with the commonly held values of a society in an attempt to undermine its foundations or even attack its citizenry. Depending on the circumstances, this may reach the level of a crime of sedition against one’s society. Penalizing this sedition may be at odds with some conceptions of freedom that would go so far as to ensure people the freedom to destroy the society in which they live. This is a freedom that we do not allow since preservation of the society takes precedence over personal freedoms. This was the basis of the Islamic perspective on apostasy when committed at certain times and under certain circumstances.

After reading this, one must ask the following questions:

1) What is the definition of a "religion other than Islam?"
2) It is a known fact that Egypt recognizes three religions only (Islam, Christianity & Judaism). What is the status of other religions then? Are these teachings and interpretations applicable to them? How about Hindus, Buddhists and Baha'is?
3) As the quotations from the Qur'an, included by the Grand Mufti, give no reference whatsoever to which religions a person is free to choose, Who is to decide then that only certain religions are to be acceptable for the individual choice of belief--without falling into the trap of being accused of "a crime of sedition against one’s society?" Why should there be any restrictions on personal freedom of belief in this age? Don't these restrictions violate the individual freedoms guaranteed by all international declarations of human rights, including those of Egypt's own constitution?
4) As 51% of the world's population does not belong to any of the three recognized religions in Egypt, what is the proportion of these world adherents that would be considered "to undermine the stability of the society" as stated by the Grand Mufti?
5) Who would make that judgement, i.e. a determination that a group of adherents is attempting "to undermine the stability of the society" and what criteria are to be used to make that determination?
6) Do his statements imply that Egyptian Muslims are free to convert to Christianity, Judaism or any other religions that are deemed not "to undermine the stability of the society" without any fear for their civil and human rights, or without a threat to their life?

I am sure that there are many other questions to ask, and I suspect that the readers would be eager to express their opinions and questions regarding this in the comment section of this post.

Egypt's Coptic Church Demands Amending Article-2

An article published today in al-Masry al-Youm newspaper reported on the mounting pressure by Egypt's Orthodox [Coptic] Church demanding the amendment of Article-2 of the constitution.

Article-2 states: "Islam is the Religion of the State. Arabic is its official language, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia)."

Speaking on behalf of the Church Anba (Bishop) Morqos is requesting that the language of the Article be changed to state: "a principal source legislation" rather than "the principal source of legislation," which was amended to that particular language in May 1980 by the late president Anwar el-Sadat in order to appease Muslim fundamentalists.

Anba Morqos indicated that this requested amendment "would guarantee the application of other sources of legislation, and not only Islamic Jurisprudence as the principal source."

Morqos also clarified that "laws and principles of citizenship must be those that we agree on, and not those that are forced upon us." He indicated that Egyptian Christians are not a small minority, but rather represent 15-18% of the population based on the most recent census, and besides that they [Copts] "are [Egypt's] sons and its owners."

The Bishop has also requested on behalf of the church that the State enforces a constitutional guarantee of articles that criminalize the contempt and disdain for religions, and that the application of this law should apply to all religions, so it would benefit the adherents of all currently present religions.