Egypt: Persecution of Minorities by Officials

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) have issued a joint report detailing the persecution of Christian converts and members of minority religions in Egypt.

According to media reports here and here:-

Every Egyptian over 16 years old must have an ID card which mentions religious belief, but the interior ministry systematically prevents converts from Islam and members of the minority Bahai faith from registering their belief or just putting nothing, it said.

Many of those interviewed for the report told how interior ministry officials tried to intimidate or bribe them into identifying themselves as Muslims because of a personal interpretation of Islamic sharia law that does not exist in Egyptian law.

"Interior ministry officials apparently believe they have the right to choose someone's religion when they don't like the religion that person chooses," said Joe Stork, deputy director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa division.

. . .

While there are around 2,000 Bahais in Egypt, Muslims who convert to Christianity account for many more and their treatment is often harsher as they are considered to be apostates, which some Muslims see as punishable by death.

As a result, many seek forged documents that turn them into criminals.

"State security tried to persuade us both to be Muslims," said one convert couple. "We were exhausted, more than 24 hours with no food. When they failed to convince us to become Muslims, they referred us to criminal investigation.

"From five in the morning until five at night, the state security grilled us. They said that they would bring forgery charges against both of us."

Consigned to lead a life of severely diminished existence, others simply allow a religion that is not their own to be put on their ID cards.

"The interior ministry's policy essentially says: 'If you lie, we'll give you the documents you need but, if you tell the truth about your religion, we'll make your life miserable by withholding them'," Stork said.

I had already heard about the problems experienced by Christian converts in Egypt but was unaware that officials only accepted Muslim, Christian or Jewish as someone's religion. It's interesting to note that the Jewish religion is accepted despite the expulsion of most of Egypt's Jews in 1956 and the confiscation of their property.