Egyptian Courts Uphold Right to Religious Freedom

Several court rulings in Egypt in recent weeks have struck down the Egyptian government's discriminatory practice of preventing Baha'is and some converts from Islam from listing their actual religious belief in national identity documents, birth certificates, and other essential papers. The court decisions came after a November 2007 report issued jointly by Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). The report documented how the Egyptian government selectively uses Islamic law to deny some citizens their right to exercise religious freedom without discrimination or penalty. To obtain identity documents, Baha'i citizens were required to choose one of the three "revealed" religions-Islam, Christianity, or Judaism-and the recent ruling allows them to leave the religion entry blank. Another new ruling allows Egyptians who were born Christian and converted to Islam, to change their affiliation back to Christianity, which they were previously unable to do. Refusing to allow people to list their actual religious belief on official identification documents can have far-reaching consequences for their daily lives, including choosing a spouse, educating one's children, or conducting the most basic financial and other transactions. Human Rights Watch and EIPR continue to call on the Egyptian government to change its policy requiring citizens to list religion on official identification documents, or to at least allow citizens to accurately reflect their religious belief, without any negative civil or criminal consequences.