Egypt Ends ID Bias against Baha'is

Egypt's Interior Ministry on March
19 issued a decree allowing adherents of
"non-recognized" religions to obtain vital identification documents without
having to misidentify themselves as Muslim or Christian, a change that was
urged by Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
(EIPR). A 2007 joint report by Human Rights Watch and the
EIPR publicized this problem and documented the Interior Ministry's policy of
refusing mandatory identification documents to Baha'i Egyptians as well as to
citizens who convert from Islam to Christianity unless they agreed to deny
their real religion. After the report was released, Human Rights Watch met with
Ministry of Interior and other government officials and urged the government to
change the policy, which discriminated against citizens solely on the basis of
their religious beliefs. The EIPR, an Egyptian organization that Human Rights
Watch works with closely, brought a case before the Supreme Administrative
Court in Egypt, which accepted the organization's contention that denying necessary
official documents from the Baha'i minority was discriminatory. Three days
after the court confirmed the ruling, the Interior Ministry corrected the
policy.
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