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