CAIRO: The Court of Administrative Justice in Cairo postponed until Oct. 30 its verdict on the two lawsuits filed by Baha i Egyptians asking for their right to acquire identity documents as well as their to an education.
The Baha is are no longer asking to be recognized, Hossam Bahgat, chairman of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights organization (EIPR), told Daily News Egypt. “They are just asking for a verdict that would leave the religious affiliation [section in their national IDs] blank, Bahgat added.
The first lawsuit, number 12780/61, was filed by the EIPR last February on behalf of Hosni Hussein Abdel-Massih, born in 1989, who was suspended from the Suez Canal University s Higher Institute of Social Work due to his inability to obtain an identity card recognizing his Baha’i religious affiliation.
The second lawsuit number 18354/58 involves the 14-year-old twins Imad and Nancy Rauf Hindi, who are unable to obtain the new computer-generated birth certificates . unless they convert to either Islam or Christianity, according to an EIPR statement.
Their father had obtained birth certificates for the two children when they were born in 1993 recognizing their Baha’i religious affiliation; he is currently unable to get the new computerized birth certificates.
These certificates are now obligatory for enrollment in public schools and universities.
In December 2006, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the state has the right to deny Baha’i Egyptians identity documents that recognize their faith.
Accordingly, last January the lawyers of the EIPR modified the requested remedies in the Hindi case, said an EIPR statement. Now the administrative court is looking into whether Baha’is have the right to obtain documents without stating their faith so they don’t falsely identify themselves as Muslim or Christian.
Former Deputy Head of Al Azhar and Member of the Islamic Research Council, Mahmoud Ashour, backed the government standpoint in a previous interview with Daily News Egypt.
“Bahaism is not a religion, he said, “What we recognize are Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Bahaism is a worldly belief, and not a heavenly religion, it is a man-made creation. We recognize only the heavenly religions.
Ashour added that from an Islamic standpoint, “they are allowed to believe what they want, and to exercise their beliefs as they see fit, but the state will not recognize them.
Labib Iskandar Hanna, an engineering professor at Cairo University and a follower of the Baha’i faith, told Daily News Egypt, “We don’t want to mix recognition of the Baha’i faith with required official paperwork. We want to be accurately portrayed. I don’t want to feel like I forged something, but this is what the government seems intent on forcing me to do.
In its campaign in support of Baha’is, EIPR is stressing the parts of the constitution that protect against religious discrimination.
The government is also obliged to protect the right to education without distinction on any basis, including religion or belief, under the African Charter, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the organization said in a statement.
