COURT VICTORY FOR EGYPTIAN BAHAIIS

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002201 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR DNSA ABRAMS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2016 TAGS: KIRF PHUM EG SUBJECT: COURT VICTORY FOR EGYPTIAN BAHAIIS Classified by ECPO Minister Counselor Michael Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: An April 4 court ruling appears to set an important legal precedent for the civil and legal rights of Egypt's tiny Bahai community. The court ordered the Ministry of Interior to issue identity cards and birth certificates to a Bahai family and to note their religion as Bahai on the documents - contrary to stated GOE policy which recognizes citizens only as Muslim, Christian, or Jew. There are unconfirmed reports that the GOE will contest the verdict. The Embassy intends to weigh in at an appropriately high level to underscore USG concerns about the rights of Egyptian Bahais and other religious minorities. End summary. ¶2. (C) On April 4, an Egyptian Administrative Court ruled in favor of a Bahai family (a married couple and their three minor daughters) that had filed suit against the Interior Ministry (MOI),disputing the latter's confiscation of their identification cards and birth certificates. The confiscated documents identified the holders as "Bahai" in the religion block, and MOI reportedly refused to issue new documents to the family members unless they agreed to identify themselves as Muslims. ¶3. (C) Though the verdict was hailed in a press release by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR),a trail-blazing NGO that has championed the Bahais' cause (and the first Egyptian NGO to openly fight for gay rights), members of the small Bahai community reacted with characteristic caution and discretion, waiting to see the court's written verdict before assessing the significance of the decision. ¶4. (SBU) The Embassy obtained on April 11 a copy of the administrative court's written verdict. The court found that the confiscated documents, which mention Bahaiism as the holders' religion, are "in conformity with Islamic Shari'a...even though Islam does not recognize the manifestation of rituals like Bahaiism...Therefore the Civil Registration Department (of the MOI) should not abstain from issuing an identification card or birth certificate to anyone who embraces Bahaiism and should not abstain from mentioning it as the religion of its holder." ¶5. (SBU) The verdict deemed irrelevant a fatwa cited by MOI lawyers, issued January 21, 1986 by Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Center, which asserted that Bahaiism is not a religion and charged that Bahais "work to disunite the Islamic nation." The judges reasoned that the suit in question only dealt with whether the plaintiffs could have their religion mentioned on their civil documents - not whether they were active propagators of Bahaiism. The verdict concludes by deeming MOI's refusal to issue the plaintiffs their documents "illegitimate" and by ordering MOI to issue to the plantiffs IDs and birth certificates citing Bahaiism as their religion. ¶6. (SBU) The pro-government daily Rose Al-Youssef, citing unnamed GOE sources, reported on April 11 that the Ministry of Interior would appeal the court's verdict. ¶7. (C) Though Bahaiism has been technically illegal since Nasser issued a decree in 1960 (which also ordered the seizure of community property),the Bahais have come under new pressure since the GOE began automating national identity cards in 2003. The MOI's identity card software only allows three choices for citizens' religion - Muslim, Christian, or Jew. There is no "other" category. Pleas by Bahais, and religious freedom advocates, to either allow an "other" category or to remove the religion category altogether from civil registry documents, have so far been disregarded by the GOE. ¶8. (C) In numerous past discussions on the subject, our GOE interlocutors have asserted that it is necessary to classify citizens by religion in order to process their births, education, marriages, deaths, divorces, and inheritances according to applicable civil law. They have also argued to us that they do not harass Bahais and maintain that their advice that Bahai's self-identify as Muslims for registration purposes does not constitute persecution. ¶9. (C) Comment: The court verdict is a victory for Egypt's tiny and embattled Bahai minority, apparently setting an important legal precedent. We note that the report that the MOI will appeal the verdict was published by Rose Al-Youssef - an unreliable paper which distinguishes itself by its inflammatory attacks against Egyptian civil society/democracy/human rights advocates and which is widely acknowledged to be controlled by the security services. We will be weighing in with senior levels of the MOI to try to verify whether they will actually fight the judgment and to reiterate the USG's strong concerns about the need to respect the full civil, legal, and human rights of Egyptian Bahais and other religious minorities. End comment. RICCIARDONE