EGYPT'S BAHA'I WIN LEGAL BATTLE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000453 SIPDIS NSC STAFF FOR PASCUAL; DRL/IRF FOR COFSKY E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2019 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF KDEM EG SUBJECT: EGYPT'S BAHA'I WIN LEGAL BATTLE REF: A. 08 CAIRO 157 ¶B. 08 CAIRO 699 ¶C. 08 CAIRO 2349 Classified By: Minister-Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs William R. Stewart for Reason 1.4 (d). ¶1. KEY POINTS - (SBU) On March 16, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court dismissed a legal challenge filed by an Islamist lawyer that had heretofore blocked the implementation of a January 2008 court decision directing the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to issue identification documents to members of Egypt's Baha'i community. - (C) According to local Baha'is, they will immediately test the GoE's willingness to obey the court's decision by applying for identification documents. ¶2. (C) COMMENT: According to Rauof Hindy, a prominent Egyptian Baha'i who has become the public face of the Baha'is fight to obtain identity documents, the March 16 ruling represents an important victory for the Baha'i. Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR),a human rights NGO which represented the Baha'is, agreed and told us that the decision marks the end of the Baha'is legal battles. While this is an important legal victory, the issue now is whether the MoI will comply with the court's order, and if it does, whether it will read the decision broadly and issue identification documents to other Baha'is not involved directly in the case. -------------- EGYPT'S BAHA'IS' LONG WAIT FOR JUSTICE -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Egypt's Baha'is have long struggled with their inability to obtain Egyptian identification documents because of the legal requirement that all such documents specify the holder's religion as either Muslim, Christian or Jew (ref B). Many Bah'is are unwilling to accept documents so identifying them as members of a GoE "recognized" religion, both for practical and religious reasons. On January 29, 2008, the Cairo Administrtive Court ordered the MoI to issue identificatio documents with a dash in the religious identifiation space to three Baha'is (ref A). The MoI dcided not to appeal the decision, but the Baha'is ere unable to enforce the order when two lawyers long associated with Islamist causes, each fileda legal challenge to the decision with Egypt's Spreme Administrative Court. Following a GoE lega advisory board's issuance of an opinion that th challenges were invalid, on January 17, the Supree Administrative Court dismissed the first challege, and has now dismissed the remaining challeng, clearing the way, at least legally, for the imlementation of the 2008 decision. ¶4. (C) RaoufHindy, who is the father of two of the litigants told us that his children will immediately test he GoE's willingness to comply with the court orde by presenting their applications for identificaion documents to an MoI civil registry office onMarch 21. SCOBEY