BAHA'I CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS: ATTENTION FOCUSED ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 006756

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC STAFF FOR WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KIRF EG
SUBJECT: BAHA'I CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS: ATTENTION FOCUSED ON
NOVEMBER 20 APPEAL HEARING

REF: A. CAIRO 2934

B. CAIRO 2201

Classified by DCM Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: A November 20 judicial hearing will be
the next episode in the long struggle of Egypt's Baha'is for
citizenship rights. Any decision that results from the
upcoming hearing will have ramifications for human rights and
religious freedom in Egypt, but our contacts suggest that the
case, which has been postponed several times already, may be
postponed again. End summary.


2. (SBU) Egypt's small community of Baha'is, and advocates
of religious freedom generally, hope that a November 20
hearing by the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) will result
in affirmation of a April 4 lower court decision (ref B) that
ordered the GOE to allow Baha'is to list their religion on
their national identity cards. On May 15 (ref A),the
Appeals Inspection Chamber of the SAC ruled on procedural
grounds, in response to an appeal by the Ministry of
Interior, that the SAC must review the April 4 decision. The
initial SAC hearing on the issue, originally scheduled for
June 19, has been several times postponed, apparently while
the Court awaited the release of the SAC's Commissioner's
Advisory Report. The SAC hearing is now scheduled for
November 20. While religious freedom advocates hope for a
favorable ruling on November 20, both a leading Baha'i
activist and the Baha'is' lawyer tell us they expect another
postponement.


3. (SBU) The GOE's computerization of identity cards--which
began in the mid 1990s and included the requirement that all
citizens list one of three "heavenly" faiths (Jew, Christian,
or Muslim) on new national identity cards--created
significant problems for Egypt's small community of Baha'is.
As followers of a faith that originated in a schism within
Shi'i Islam in 19th century Iran, Baha'is are seen as
apostates by many orthodox Muslims. Leaders of Cairo's
Baha'i community estimate that there are approximately 2000
Baha'is in Egypt, though they note that limits on the
Bahai's' ability to meet and organize, due to the GOE's
formal dis-establishment of the faith in 1960, makes it
impossible to assess their numbers with greater accuracy.


4. (SBU) Prior to the computerization of Egyptian national
identity cards, Egyptian Baha'is, relying on the sympathies
and/or petty corruption of clerks issuing the handwritten
identity cards, managed to obtain cards listing their faith
or another acceptable designation. ("Other," or "---," are
the two most common formulations.) The GOE has thus far been
unwilling to issue Baha'is with identity cards that list
their faith or another acceptable term. Without the new
cards, Egypt's Baha'is are unable to register births and
deaths, to enroll children in school, to open bank accounts,
to obtain driving licenses, legally marry, and various other
acts regulated by the GOE bureaucracy.


5. (SBU) In the months since the April decision in favor of
the Baha'is, Egypt has witnessed several debates in the media
about the legitimacy of the Baha'i faith and whether Baha'is
should receive identity cards listing their faith. Senior
Islamic scholars from Al-Azhar have also weighed in with
familiar claims that Baha'is are apostates. Baha'is and
their supporters have noted that they are not seeking formal
Al-Azhar recognition of the Baha'i faith, but rather merely
their citizenship rights under the Egyptian constitution.
The SAC's Commissioner's Advisory Report, which was released
in October, repeated long-standing GOE arguments that Baha'is
in Egypt are not recognized as members of a "divine religion"
and therefore are not guaranteed freedom of belief under the
Egyptian constitution. Although the judges on the SAC are
not bound by the recommendations of the Commissioner's
Advisory Report, some of our Baha'i contacts worry that the
release of the report suggests that the GOE is determined to
un-do the favorable April 4 court decision. Also, the fact
that the powerful Ministry of Interior acted to appeal the
decision favoring the Baha'is suggests that the Mubarak
government is not sympathetic to their case.


6. (C) Post maintains regular and close contacts with
leaders of Egypt's small Baha'i community, as well as with
Hossam Bahgat, a human rights lawyer who is litigating their
case. The Ambassador has repeatedly urged the GOE to craft a
fair and just solution to the Baha'is' problems, most
recently in a May meeting with EGIS director Soliman (ref A).
In October, emboff and visiting DRL/IRF officer met with key
Baha'i leaders in Cairo, discussed the Baha'is' situation
with Egypt's quasi-governmental National Council for Human

CAIRO 00006756 002 OF 002


Rights (NCHR),and pressed the MFA's Director for Human
Rights, Ehab Gamal El-Din. The NCHR in particular has been
an advocate for Baha'i rights. During a November 5 meeting
with visiting NEA desk officer in Cairo, Baha'i leader Dr.
Labib Iskandar Hanna (protect) noted his appreciation for
sustained USG engagement on this issue both in Washington and
in Cairo.
RICCIARDONE