Iran 'plans to destroy Baha'i community' - CNN - May 22, 2008

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A top Baha'i official has criticized Iran's claim that the six imprisoned leaders of the religious minority were held for security reasons and not because of their faith.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government has been accused of trying to eliminate the Baha'i community.

Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations, called Iran's assertion "utterly baseless."

"The allegations are not new, and the Iranian government knows well that they are untrue," Dugal said on Wednesday, quoted in a news release issued by the Baha'i movement.

"The documented plan of the Iranian government has always been to destroy the Baha'i community, and these latest arrests represent an intensification of this plan."

Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said the people were detained for "security issues" and not their faith, Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency said.

Elham said on Tuesday that the Baha'is were members of a group working together "against national interest."

"The group is an organized establishment linked to foreigners, the Zionists in particular," he said.

The arrests of the six last week and another Baha'i leader in March sparked sharp condemnation by the Baha'is, the United States, Canada, the European Union and humanitarian groups.

The Baha'is say the latest arrests are part of a pattern of religious persecution since 1979, when the monarchy of the Shah of Iran was toppled and an Islamic republic was created in the predominantly Shiite nation.

The Baha'is say they have been killed, jailed and "otherwise oppressed" only because of their religion.

"The best proof of this is the fact that, time and again, Baha'is have been offered their freedom if they recant their Baha'i beliefs and convert to Islam, an option few have taken," Dugal said.

Dugal said Iran's practice of connecting the group to Zionism, the underlying political philosophy of the Jewish state, was a "distortion" and an attempt to "stir animosity" among the Iranian public.

The Baha'i World Center, which the movement refers to as its "spiritual and administrative heart," is in the Acre/Haifa area in northern Israel -- a location that predates the founding of the state of Israel since it was formed during the Ottoman Empire's rule of Palestine.

The Baha'is explain that their founder, Baha'u'llah, "after a series of successive banishments from his native Persia, was exiled, with members of his family and a small band of his followers, to the Turkish penal colony of Acre in 1868."

Dugal said the Iranian actions were the "most recent iteration in a long history of attempts to foment hatred by casting the Baha'is as agents of foreign powers, whether of Russia, the United Kingdom, or the United States and now Israel all of which are completely baseless."

Dugal said the government's philosophies are based largely on the idea that there can be "no prophet following Mohammed" and that the faith "poses a theological challenge to this belief."

They say Baha'u'llah is regarded by Baha'is as "the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and Mohammed."

The Baha'is-- regarded as the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran -- say they have 5 million members across the globe, and about 300,000 in Iran.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/22/iran.bahais/index.html

CNN - Iran's arrest of Baha'is condemned

Iran's arrest of Baha'is condemned



CNN) -- Six Baha'i leaders in Iran were seized and imprisoned this week, the religious group said. The act prompted condemnation and concern from the movement and a top American religious freedom panel.

Iranian intelligence agents searched the homes of the six on Wednesday and then whisked them away, according to the Baha'i's World News Service. The report said the six are in Evin prison and that the arrests follow the detention in March of another Baha'i leader.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment, and the incident has not been mentioned in Iran's state-run media.
"Their only crime is their practice of the Baha'i faith," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i international community to the United Nations.
The group -- regarded as the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran -- says the arrests are reminiscent of roundups and killings of Baha'is that took place in Iran two decades ago.

"Especially disturbing is how this latest sweep recalls the wholesale arrest or abduction of the members of two national Iranian Baha'i governing councils in the early 1980s -- which led to the disappearance or execution of 17 individuals," Dugal said.
"The early morning raids on the homes of these prominent Baha'is were well-coordinated, and it is clear they represent a high-level effort to strike again at the Baha'is and to intimidate the Iranian Baha'i community at large," she added.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom -- a government panel that advises the president and Congress -- condemned the Wednesday arrests, as well as another in March. The commission chairman called the acts the "latest sign of the rapidly deteriorating status of religious freedom and other human rights in Iran."
The commission said the seven were members of an informal Baha'i group that tended to the needs of the community after the Iranian government banned all formal Baha'i activity in 1983.
The commission chairman, Michael Cromartie, echoed the fears that the "development signals a return to the darkest days of repression in Iran in the 1980s when Baha'is were routinely arrested, imprisoned, and executed."

The Baha'is are regarded as "apostates" in Iran and have been persecuted there for years.
"Since 1979, Iranian authorities have killed more than 200 Baha'i leaders, thousands have been arrested and imprisoned, and more than 10,000 have been dismissed from government and university jobs," the commission said.

The commission said that since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power a few years ago, Baha'is "have been harassed, physically attacked, arrested, and imprisoned."
"During the past year, young Baha'i schoolchildren in primary and secondary schools increasingly have been attacked, vilified, pressured to convert to Islam, and in some cases, expelled on account of their religion."

The commission said other groups in the predominantly Shiite Muslim country of Iran, such Sufis and Christians, are subject to intimidation and harassment. Ahmadinejad's inflammatory statements about Israel have "created a climate of fear" among the country's Jews.
The Baha'is say they have 5 million members across the globe, and about 300,000 in Iran.
The Baha'is say their faith "is the youngest of the world's independent religions" and that its basic theme is that "humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one global society."

They say their founder, Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), is regarded by Baha'is as "the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad."

إيران تعتقل ستة زعماء من الطائفة البهائية

16/05/08

(CNN)-- اعتقلت السلطات الإيرانية ستة زعماء بهائيين خلال هذا الأسبوع، وفق ما أعلن مسؤولون في الطائفة البهائية.
وأدت العملية إلى موجة انتقادات واسعة وقلقا لدى الحركة البهائية فضلا عن منظمة أمريكية تدافع عن الحريات الدينية.
ومشطت عناصر من الاستخبارات الإيرانية منازل الأشخاص الستة الأربعاء، ومن ثمّ أخذتهم معها، وفق خدمة أخبار العالم البهائي.
وأضاف التقرير الذي أذاعته الطائفة أنّ المعتقلين يتمّ التحفّظ عليهم في سجن إفين وأنّ الاعتقالات تعقب عملية مماثلة جرت في مارس/آذار تمّ خلالها إلقاء القبض على زعيم بهائي آخر.
وقالت باني دوغال، الممثلة الرئيسية لجماعة البهائيين الدولية في الأمم المتحدة إنّ "جريمتهم الوحيدة هي تطبيقهم للعقيدة البهائية."
وتقول الجماعة، التي ينظر إليها على أنّها أكبر أقلية دينية غير مسلمة في إيران، إنّ الاعتقالات تعيد إلى الأذهان حملة القمع التي استهدفت البهائيين طيلة عقدين.
ويقول البهائيون إنّ عددهم يبلغ خمسة ملايين على مستوى العالم منهم 300 ألف في إيران وحدها.
وقالت دوغال إنّ 17 شخصا من أعضاء مجلسين بهائيين شهدتهما إيران في بداية عقد الثمانينات من القرن الماضي، إما اختفوا أو قتلوا.
وأوضحت أنّ حملات الدهم التي جرت فجرا على منازل المعتقلين تعكس "جهدا على مستوى عال" لمهاجمة البهائيين مجددا.
وشجبت اللجنة الأمريكية للحريات الدينية الدولية الاعتقالات التي جرت الأربعاء.
وقال رئيس اللجنة إنّ الاعتقالات هي آخر إشارة على التدهور المتسارع لوضع الحريات الدينية وحقوق الإنسان في إيران.
وقال مايكل كرومارسي إنّ هناك مخاوف من كون "هذا التطوّر ينبئ بعودة أيام القمع السود في إيران في عقد الثمانينيات عندما كان البهائيون عرضة بكيفية متكررة للاعتقال والسجن والإعدام."
وتعتبر إيران البهائيين "مرتدين" ونظمت عدة حملات لاعتقالهم طيلة سنوات.
وقالت اللجنة إنّ السلطات الإيرانية قتلت منذ 1979 أكثر من 200 زعيما بهائيا واعتقلت الآلاف من أتباع الطائفة وطردت أكثر من 10 آلاف بهائي من وظائفهم.
وأضافت أنه منذ قدوم الرئيس محمود أحمدي نجاد إلى منصبه، تمّ "التحرّش بالبهائيين، حيث هوجموا بدنيا واعتقلوا وسجنوا."
وقالت إنّ جماعات دينية أخرى مثل الصوفيين والمسيحيين، يعانون من الاضطهاد والتحرش في إيران، في الوقت الذي أشاعت فيه تصريحات نجاد حول إسرائيل "أجواء الخوف" لدى اليهود الإيرانيين.
ويقول البهائيون إنّ عقيدتهم "هي أحدث الديانات المستقلة في العالم" وأنّ محورها الأساسي هو أنّ "الإنسانية هي عرق واحد جاء اليوم الذي ينبغي أن تتوحّد فيه داخل مجتمع كوني واحد."
كما يقولون إنّ مؤسس العقيدة بهاء الله(1817-1892) يعدّ، بالنسبة إليهم، "الأحدث في خطّ رسل الله...الذين جاؤوا على مرّ الزمن ومن ضمنهم إبراهيم وموسى وبوذا وكريشنا وزرادشت والمسيح ومحمد."

Annual report of the U.S. State Department on Human Rights

annual report of the US State Department on human rights around the world. Released on March 11, 2008

Egypt 2008

Freedom of Religion

The constitution provides for freedom of belief and the practice of religious rites; however, the government restricted the exercise of these rights. According to the constitution, Islam is the official state religion and Shari'a (Islamic law) the primary source of legislation. Religious practices that conflict with the government's interpretation of Shari'a are prohibited. Members of non-Muslim religious minorities officially recognized by the government generally worshiped without harassment and maintained links with coreligionists in other countries. Members of religions that are not recognized by the government, particularly the Baha'i Faith, experienced personal and collective hardship.

Approximately 90 percent of citizens are Sunni Muslims; less than 1 percent are Shi'a Muslims. Estimates of the percentage of Christians ranged from 8 to 12 percent, or between 6 and 10 million, the majority of whom belonged to the Coptic Orthodox Church. There are small numbers of Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, but the government does not recognize either group. The non-Muslim, non-Coptic Orthodox communities ranged in size from several thousand to hundreds of thousands. The number of Baha'is is estimated at 2,000 persons.

The law bans Baha'i institutions and community activities and stripped Baha'is of legal recognition. The government continued to deny civil documents, including ID cards, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, to members of the Baha'i community. The MOI requires identity card applicants to self-identify as Jew, Christian, or Muslim. As a result, Baha'is face great difficulties in conducting civil transactions, including registering births, marriages and deaths, obtaining passports, enrolling children in school, opening bank accounts, and obtaining driver's licenses. During the year, Baha'is and members of other religious groups were compelled either to misrepresent themselves as Muslim, Christian or Jewish, or go without valid identity documents. Many Baha'is chose the latter course.

By September 30, all citizens had to obtain new computer identification cards or risk detention; however, the government did not enforce this requirement. In December 2006 the Supreme Administrative Court overturned a lower court ruling, deciding that Baha'is may not list their religion in the mandatory religion field on obligatory government identity cards. In May 2006 the MOI successfully appealed an administrative court ruling issued in April 2006, which supported the right of Baha'i citizens to receive ID cards and birth certificates with the Baha'i religion noted on the documents. The government issued passports, which do not indicate the holder's religion, for Baha'i citizens.

In February the EIPR filed a lawsuit on behalf of Hosni Hussein Abdel-Massih, who was suspended from the Suez Canal University's Higher Institute of Social Work due to his inability to obtain an identity card because he is a Baha'i. Students must produce a military draft postponement to complete their university education without interruption; however, one cannot obtain a military draft number without being issued a national ID number and a national ID card. The case was pending at year's end.

On September 10, the NCHR organized a workshop to discuss the issue of religious identity on ID cards. General Aly Abdel Mawla, Head of General Administration for Legal Affairs in the MOI, opposed the suggestion that the government allow the religion field to be left blank, asserting that the policy of requiring the indication of religious affiliation aims to protect freedom of religion.

In October Raouf Hindi Halim, a Baha'i convert, filed suit against the government to issue birth certificates for his twin daughters with the religion field left blank or to write (Baha'i) in the field. The case was postponed several times since it was first brought before the administrative court in 2004. Halim obtained birth certificates for the children when they were born in 1993 which recognized their Baha'i religious affiliation, but new certificates were mandatory, and the children were unable to enroll in public schools without them. The case remained pending at year's end.Du

http://www.state.gov/

Equality Between women and men can improve economic performance

UNITED NATIONS
26 February 2008 (BWNS)

Equality between the sexes can have a real world economic effect, potentially improving the economic performance of nations and corporations.

That was among the ideas offered by noted economist Augusto Lopez-Claros, speaking yesterday at the United Nations on behalf of the Baha'i International Community.

Addressing the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women at a High-Level Roundtable on "Financing for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women," Dr. Lopez-Claros noted that a number of studies have shown a close connection between national economic performance and the degree to which women are integrated into a national economy.

"The efficient operation of our increasingly knowledge-based economy is not only a function of adequate levels of available finance, a reasonably open trade regime for goods and services, but, more and more, is also dependent on our ability to tap into a society's reservoir of talents and skills," said Dr. Lopez-Claros, director of the Global Competitiveness Report 2006/2007 at the World Economic Forum.

"When, because of tradition, a misunderstanding of the purpose of religion, social taboos or plain prejudices, half (the) ... population is prevented from making its contribution to the life of a nation, the economy will suffer."


Dr. Lopez-Claros was one of some 40 Baha'i delegates to the meeting of the commission, which runs this year from 25 February to 7 March.

Also addressing yesterday's High Level Roundtable was Fulya Vekiloglu, co-chair of the Working Group on Girls of the NGO Committee on UNICEF, who is also a representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

She urged the commission to make a greater effort to promote social policies that protect, empower, and "invest in" girls at the national and local levels.

"Investments in girls have amazing cascading benefits," said Ms. Vekiloglu, speaking in her role as co-chair of the NGO Working Group on Girls. "When girls are healthy, well-educated and empowered to contribute to their families and societies, we all benefit."


She also urged the commission to promote policies that would help provide better data about women and girls.

"In too many places and at too many times, girls continue to be invisible, lumped together with women by some and with children by others," said Ms. Vekiloglu. "Gender equality and women's empowerment cannot be accomplished unless we adopt a life-cycle approach to this critical issue. Unless we ensure the visibility of girls, we can never guarantee women's rights."

Other members of the Baha'i delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women include Zarin Hainsworth, president of UNIFEM in her native Britain; Mehr Afhasi, who works with UNIFEM in Sweden; Shama Pande of Nepal, who works with USAID in the area of NGO funding; Forough Olinga of Uganda and Nalina Jiwnani of India, who represent the Baha'i offices for the advancement of women in their countries; and Sovaida Ma'ani Ewing, a lawyer whose most recent service was with the Legal Advisor's Office of the U.S. State Department and who is the author of "Collective Security Within Reach," published last month.

Other Baha'i delegates come from Australia, Brazil, Canada, El Salvador, Germany, Hawaii, Japan, Malawi, Puerto Rico, and Switzerland.

A statement by the Baha'i International Community - addressed to the current session of the Commission on the Status of Women - is titled "Mobilizing Institutional, Legal and Cultural Resources to Achieve Gender Equality." It can be found at:
http://bic.org/statements-and-reports/bic-statements/08-0201.htm.

IRANIAN LAW THREATENS GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

IRANIAN LAW THREATENS GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS -
NEW YORK, 22 February 2008 (BWNS)

The Iranian Parliament is considering legislation that would institutionalize a series of gross human rights violations, affecting not only Baha'is but many others, even outside of Iran, the Baha'i International Community said today.

Of greatest concern is a section that would mandate the death penalty for anyone who converts from Islam to another religion, a provision that would affect not only Baha'is but also Christians, Jews, and others.

"This proposed law goes against all human rights norms and standards, including international treaties that Iran itself has agreed to," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

"It is important for the international community to speak out, now, before it is too late and the draft code becomes Iran's law of the land.

"The proposed law also would extend the government's reach over alleged security violations outside the country, give legal effect to discriminatory practices already in wide use against Baha'is and others, and redefine a series of "religious" and other crimes so vaguely as to place in jeopardy virtually any group facing government disapproval.

"If adopted, the code will permit the government and the clergy to act with impunity against Iran's citizens on the sole basis of their religious affiliation," said Ms. Dugal. "This is not only an affront to the people of Iran; it is an offense to all who seek to uphold fundamental human rights.

"Ms. Dugal said the new section on religious conversion -- defined as apostasy -- is especially severe, in that its language mandates the death penalty for anyone who converts from Islam to another religion and does not immediately recant.

"The text uses the word Hadd, meaning that it explicitly sets death as a fixed punishment that cannot be changed, reduced or annulled," said Ms. Dugal. "In the past, the death penalty has been handed down -- and also carried out -- in apostasy cases, but it has never before been set down in law.

"The law also extends to naming as apostate any follower of a religion other than Islam who had one parent who was a Muslim at the time of his or her conception. Thus, for instance, the child of a Muslim and a Christian who chooses to adopt the Christian faith would be considered an apostate under the terms of the law and therefore subject to execution," Ms. Dugal said.

Another troubling section of the proposed code would extend "security" laws outside the country, exposing those outside Iran to the government's reach.

"Iran is apparently not content with targeting those it considers its opponents only within its borders," said Ms. Dugal, explaining that Article 112 of the proposed code refers to actions "against the government, the independence and the internal and external security of the country.

"Since the notion of 'security' is not defined in the law, any action can be qualified as such," Ms. Dugal said. "Indeed, many Iranian Baha'is have been falsely accused of activities against the security of the state.

"If the new penal code is adopted, Iranian Baha'is -- and others -- all over the world would likewise be liable for actions taken outside Iran that are considered contrary to Iran's security.

"The code's vagueness with respect to "offending the sacred" and other crimes would give the government free license to act against any group it disapproves of, said Ms. Dugal. "The code includes articles that refer to the commission of unspecified crimes or felonies, as well as articles referring to those guilty of 'corruption and mischief on the earth,'" she said.

"It would also institute capital punishment for anyone who 'insults the Prophet,"

" Ms. Dugal explained. "Such provisions place many groups, including Baha'is, in an extremely vulnerable position, since an 'insult' to the Prophet can be defined in almost any context, especially where religious belief is concerned.

"In related developments, the president of the European Union recently expressed "serious concern" over the "deteriorating situation" of the Baha'i community in Iran.

"The EU expresses its serious concern at the worsening situation of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, in particular to the plight of the Baha'i," said Dr. Dimitrij Rupel of Slovenia, the president of the EU.

"The EU is concerned about the ongoing systematic discrimination and harassment of Baha'is in Iran, including the expulsion of university and high school students, restrictions on employment and anti-Baha'i propaganda campaigns in the Iranian media."

To view the photos and additional features click here:
http://news.bahai.org/

The following are excepts from the draft penal code currently under discussion by the Iranian Parliament, concerning "apostasy" and related crimes.

Islamic Republic of Iran

Proposed Bill for Islamic Penal Law (Penal Code)

Section Five: Apostasy, Heresy, and Witchcraft

Article 225-1: Any Muslim who clearly announces that he/she has left Islam and declares blasphemy is an Apostate.

Article 225-2: Serious and earnest intention is the condition for certainty in apostasy. Therefore, if the accused claims that his/her statement had been made with reluctance or ignorance, or in error, or while drunk, or through a slip of the tongue or without understanding the meaning of the words, or repeating words of others; or his/her real intentions had been something else, he/she is not considered an apostate and his/her claim could be heard and justified.

Article 225-3: There are two kinds of apostates: innate (Fetri) and parental1 (Melli).

Article 225-4: Innate Apostate is someone whose parent (at least one) was a Muslim at the time of conception, and who declares him/herself a Muslim after the age of maturity, and leaves Islam afterwards.

Article 225-5: Parental Apostate is one whose parents (both) had been non-Muslims at the time of conception, and who has become a Muslim after the age of maturity, and later leaves Islam and returns to blasphemy.

Article 225-6: If someone has at least one Muslim parent at the time of conception but after the age of maturity, without pretending to be a Muslim, chooses blasphemy is considered a Parental Apostate.

Article 225-7: Punishment2 for an Innate Apostate is death.
1 The word (Melli) in this case means ‘of parents’.
2 The word used here (Hadd) means limits but according to the definition given at the beginning of the document, Hadd in Islamic penal law applies to fixed penalties – their nature, limit, and condition, set in the religious laws, could not be changed, reduced or annulled. Crimes punishable by Hadd are adultery, pimping, false sexual accusations, defamation of the Prophet, apostasy and heresy and witchcraft, drinking, burglary, and spread of corruption and aggression on earth. It should be noted that in all these cases one of the conditions for accountability of the accused is his/her knowledge of the gravity of the crime in the Islamic law.

Article 225-8: Punishment for a Parental Apostate is death, but after the final sentencing for three days he/she would be guided to the right path and encouraged to recant his/her belief and if he/she refused, the death penalty would be carried out.

Article 225-9: In the case of a Parental Apostate, whenever there appears to be a possibility of recanting, sufficient time would be provided.

Article 225-10: Punishment for women, whether Innate or Parental, is life imprisonment and during the sentence, under the guidance of the court, hardship will be exercised on her, and she will be guided to the right path and encouraged to recant, and if she recants she will be freed immediately.
Note: The condition of hardship will be determined according to the religious laws.

Article 225-11: Whoever claims to be a Prophet is sentenced to death, and any Muslim who invents a heresy in the religion and creates a sect based on that which is contrary to the obligations and necessities of Islam, is considered an apostate.

Article 225-12: Any Muslim who deals with witchcraft and promotes it as a profession or sect in the community is sentenced to death.

Article 225-13: Assistance to the crimes in this chapter, in case there is no other punishment assigned to it by law, is punishable by up to 74 lashes in proportion with the crime and the criminal.

Human Rights Report Says Egypt Violating Religious Freedoms - Voice of America News - November 12, 2007

Human Rights Report Says Egypt Violating Religious Freedoms
By Challiss McDonough Cairo12 November 2007
McDonough report - Download MP3 (1.43MB) Listen to McDonough report
Human rights groups are urging the Egyptian government to lift restrictions on religious freedom that discriminate against those who do not belong to one of three recognized religions. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough has more from Cairo.
Basma Moussa has not had a national ID card since 2004, when Egypt's Interior Ministry refused to issue her one unless she changed her religion. Moussa is an Egyptian member of the Baha'i faith, a monotheistic religion that developed in Iran in the 19th century.
Moussa said officials told her they were prohibited from issuing an ID to anyone listing their religion as anything other than one of what he called the three "heavenly" religions: Islam, Christianity or Judaism.
In a new report, two human rights groups say basic services are being denied because of religious affiliation, even though Egypt's constitution guarantees freedom of religion.
Joe Stork is the deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, a co-author of the report.
"The law says nothing about it can be only Islam, Christianity or Judaism," said Stork. "Nothing about that. The law in terms of changing information on one's ID just says just file the new information, you don't need the permission of the ministry to do so... including religious affiliation, it makes no exception for that. So according to the letter of the law, there should be no problem."
But in practice, he says, Interior Ministry officials have been using their own interpretation of Islamic Law. Two groups of people are most severely affected - the Baha'i, and people who convert from Islam to another religion, usually Christianity.
"It's rather incredible, officers of the ministry telling individuals, not only refusing to register their actual religious belief, but actually trying to convert them to Islam, or to retaining a Muslim identity using bribery, using pressure tactics, using intimidation: 'OK, you won't convert? You won't stay a Muslim? We'll just have to bring forgery charges against you,'" said Stork.
Religion is listed on Egyptian birth certificates and every Egyptian over the age of 16 must also have a national ID card, which lists religious affiliation. In the past, the Baha'i were allowed to state their religion as "other," or just leave the space blank. But for the last several years, officials have been refusing to issue documents to the Baha'i unless they renounce their faith.
The consequences can be severe. Human rights researchers found people who had lost their jobs and apartments and children who had been kept out of school. Moussa says her relatives include five children under the age of six who have been unable to get birth certificates.
Moussa says without birth certificates, the children have not been able to be immunized.
Another Baha'i, Shady Samir, says after a year of trying, his children were able to get birth certificates with the space for religion left blank, but only because he is married to a foreigner, and the ministry created an exception for people with dual nationalities.
"This marriage is not recognized by the government," said Samir. "This is not considered as marriage. So we face problems even recognizing this marriage - we cannot stay in a hotel [together]. My wife cannot have residency in Egypt because we're not [officially] married. She's here on a tourist visa all this time.
This problem could be magnified next year, when computerized ID cards become mandatory. Paper IDs with the religious affiliation left blank will no longer be valid.
Also affected by the policy are those who have converted from Islam, including those known as "re-converts," who were raised Christian and now wish to return to their original faith. Officials have refused to allow them to switch back. And when a parent converts to Islam, his or her children are often listed as converts, sometimes without their knowledge. If they try to have their religious affiliation corrected, they say they are treated as if they are trying to convert away from Islam as well, even if they have never actually been Muslims.
A new court case is challenging this policy, and a verdict is expected Saturday. Lawyer Ramses El-Nagar says they are hoping for good news.
He says they want the court to rule that converts have the right to return to their original faith. And he says they also want the existing laws guaranteeing freedom of religion to be enforced.
The human rights groups acknowledge that Islamic Law forbids conversion to another religion. But they say there is no consensus among Muslim scholars about whether there should be a civil or criminal penalty for it. They quote the Grand Mufti of Egypt as saying it is a sin that should be dealt with by God on Judgment Day.
The other author of the new report, Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said the policy conflicts with the Qur'an's admonishment that there must be "no compulsion in religion."
He said, "This policy conflicts not only with Egyptian law and international human rights law, but also with Islamic Law."
The quasi-official National Council for Human Rights has called for removing religion from the national ID card, and has promised to draft an anti-discrimination law to enforce the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.
Joe Stork from Human Rights Watch says those would be welcome steps, but the government also needs to ensure that Egyptians are able to have their real religious affiliations reflected in state records.
"We think that if the government just does the right thing by simply complying with existing Egyptian law on these matters, it will set an example of tolerance, as opposed to an example of intolerance, and will be one step - one constructive step, albeit a small step - towards addressing those larger social prejudices," said Stork.
The report on religious freedom was the product of two years of work, and the authors say they made repeated requests for meetings with officials from the Interior Ministry without receiving a reply. But they said Monday that they have finally been granted a meeting with a senior ministry official, scheduled for later this week. They are hoping for a positive outcome.
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Egypt 'denies minority beliefs' - BBC NEWS November 12, 2007

Bahais are not recognised in all-important Egyptian ID papers Rights groups have criticised Egypt for forcing converts from Islam and members of some minority faiths to lie about their true beliefs in official papers.
Egyptians over 16 must carry ID cards showing religious affiliation. Muslim, Christian and Jew are the only choices.
Human Rights Watch says the requirement particularly hits members of the small Bahai community, and Coptic Christians who became Muslims but want to go back.
It says there are about 200 such people who converted for reasons like divorce.
The BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo says that without the all-important IDs, members of minorities face enormous problems in education and employment.
Ministry of interior officials apparently believe that they have the right to choose someone's religion
Joe Stork, Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch (HRW) also highlights the plight of other Egyptians who complain that they have been designated as Muslims against their will.
These are mostly members of Christian families whose fathers converted to Islam and left them.
When the children get their ID cards they find they have been listed as Muslims whether they like it or not.
'Arbitrary refusal'
The report is jointly issued by HRW and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
"Ministry of interior officials apparently believe that they have the right to choose someone's religion when they don't happen to like the religion that person, him or herself, has chosen," said Human Rights Watch's Joe Stork.
"So we are asking the government today to end this arbitrary refusal to recognise someone's actual religious beliefs," he said.
Egypt is a predominantly Sunni Muslim state. Conversions from Islam are viewed as apostasy, although Muslim scholars differ on the what action should be taken.
Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court is shortly to rule on whether seven Christian-to-Muslim converts who converted back can be recognised as Christians.
A ruling is also expected on whether the government must recognise minority Bahais.

هل تؤيد ذكر الديانة في بطاقات الهوية؟
وجهت جماعات لحقوق الانسان في مصر انتقادات للسلطات "بسبب إجبارها الأقليات على إنكار دينها في الوثائق الرسمية". ويتوجب على المصريين فوق سن السادسة عشرة حمل وثائق لاثبات الشخصية تبين انتماءهم الديني، ولا تشمل تلك الوثائق سوى خيارات الإسلام أو المسيحية أو اليهودية.من ناحيتها، أصدرت منظمة "هيومان رايتس واتش" تقريرا دافعت فيه عن حقوق الذين كتب في وثائقهم أنهم مسلمون رغم ارادتهم، مثل أبناء عائلات مسيحية تحول آباؤهم الى الاسلام ثم تخلوا عنهم.تقول المنظمة إن في هذا إساءة للطوائف الصغيرة مثل البهائيين والأقباط الذين تحولوا إلى الإسلام ثم رغبوا في العودة إلى دينهم الأصلي، حيث يقول تقرير المنظمة ان هناك حوالي 200 شخصا تحولوا عن دينهم بسبب الطلاق. ويحظر القانون حاليا عليهم تغيير الديانة إلى المسيحية مرة أخرى.هل تعتقد أنه من الضروري ذكر الديانة في بطاقات الهوية؟ وهل وجودها يسبب نوعا من التمييز بين مواطني البلد الواحد؟ أم أن هناك ضرورات تبرر إدراج هذه المعلومة في مثل هذه الوثيقة؟ أرسلوا آراءكم وتجاربكم.