Dr. Basma G. Moussa, a leading Egyptian Baha’i blogger, and Assistant Professor at the prestigious Cairo University, wrote an article for the left-leaning El Badeel Newspaper on the discrimination adherents of the faith are met with in Egypt. Entitled “The Department of Civil Status Leads the Discrimination Against Baha’is”, the article is a forceful and compelling reminder of the importance of protecting the individual rights of citizens, regardless of race, gender or beliefs. For, as Dr. Moussa eloquently states, not guaranteeing these rights can weaken feelings of citizenship, thus creating opportunities for sectarianism to surface, and a return to the ignorant tendencies of the past.

Despite the January 29 ruling, the Department of Civil Status has shown signs of willingness to alter its position, justifying it by resorting to fatwas (religious edicts) that claim there are only three divine religions.

We at the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights share Dr. Moussa’s amazement and confusion at the Department’s rationale, and strongly condemn this injustice.

Islamists in Egypt have long posed a hurdle to efforts aimed at granting Baha’i citizens equal rights. Now a more chilling development has ensued, with the news that the Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Endowments) has begun distributing a book titled “The Baha’i Faith and the Stance of Islam” to all mosques.

This publication has not strayed from its predecessors, with its reiteration of baseless claims of Zionist support and covert attempts at weakening Muslims.

The book further went on stress the importance of meeting the Baha’i faith and all similar “intellectual epidemics” that diverge from Islam with firmness, and called on the state to invest all its efforts in combatting and uprooting them from society.

We at the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights fervently condemn the publication of this book, that would lead to further violence and hatred against the innocent Baha’i minority in Egypt. It is incumbent on Muslims not only in Egypt, but across the globe to rise and say enough! Enough to all the hatred, enough to all the violence, enough to all the injustice.

Reach out and make an effort to educate yourself on the Baha’is and their faith, and most importantly, respect their humanity.

Baha’is in Egypt and Iran are being denied their right to education. Why? Simply because of their faith. On the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights, we have written about the discrimination that Egyptian Baha’is have been receiving, which right now is comparable to what Iran has been putting its Baha’i students through for decades.

Inspired by these human rights abuses we have created a comic to raise awareness on the absurdity of this crisis. Why do I call it a crisis? Because this is intellectual abuse. Baha’i youth are being victims of intellectual starvation, they are unable to acquire an education which is their given right as citizens. They are being isolated and humiliated on a daily basis. These governments, instead of protecting them, are denying them the chance to learn, which means that they are robbing them of their dreams, of having a career, a future, a life.

Don’t all children deserve an education no matter who they are? The Egyptian and Iranian authorities have no right to treat the Baha’is so differently.

This comic should make you laugh first. And then it should make you think. It’s available in four languages so far: Arabic, Farsi (below), French, and English (below).

In Farsi:

According to “The Egyptian Today,” a prominent newspaper in Egypt, schools in Cairo refused enrollment of Baha’i students after having received instructions not to accept applicants who are neither Muslim nor Christian.

Parents have filed a complaint with the Ministry of Education, but have yet to receive a response from any relevant officials. The deadline for school admissions was yesterday. Parents do not know the fate of their Baha’i children, who are being refused their education (despite them being citizens) simply because of their faith.

Yousef Labib, the child’s parent, said in a statement to al Masry Al Youm: “I went to admit my daughter to a school, but its administration refused to accept students who do not state their religion in their birth certificates.” Only Islam and Christianity are accepted as religions, without allowing Baha’i parents to discuss the matter further.

According to Labib, other Baha’i parents have already filed complains for the same purpose, but no action has been taken and these children do not know whether or not they will be able to receive a formal education during the next school year.

Iranian Baha’is have a similar problem, with citizens being deprived of their education due to their religion. We hope that Egypt will not be comparable with such extreme mistreatment, and that Baha’is will soon be treated as citizens with rights that the government is required to respect.

Why are Baha’is being the denied the right to education? For many years people have been asking this question, and yet still, not a single government official from either Iran or Egypt has offered a legitimate response.

Please leave a comment on this article and express your outrage on the absurdity of children being refused their education simply because of their faith. This is a clear abuse of the most basic human rights!

For further information you may also read this article by the Daily News Egypt. Quoting the source:

The Interior Ministry, however, has been slow in implementing the court decision and producing identity cards with a blank religious affiliation field.

We issued a comic inspired by this issue. You may view it again here.

On 31 January 2008, the security authorities in Hamadan, Iran, went to the homes of Kamran Aqdasi and his mother and searched both residences for Baha’i materials. They confiscated all Baha’i-related documents and books. Mr. Aqdasi was arrested and imprisoned for eight days, but then released and allowed to return home pending his trial. On 3 April 2008, he was sentenced to a year in prison.

Mr. Aqdasi appealed this verdict to a higher court, but on 21 April the ruling of the previous court was upheld. The verdict was then appealed to Iran’s Supreme Court and the case was fast-tracked. However later the file was put on back-logs and will not come up for a minimum of six months. He began serving his sentence on June 19.

You may read the documents in Persian here.

In 1925, Egypt became the first Muslim-majority country to recognize the Baha’i faith as an independent religion. However, almost 80 years later, Baha’is in Egypt continue to face heinous discrimination, due to their failure to obtain identity cards. Identity cards are the key towards gaining access to education, health care, and economic opportunities. Without them, Baha’is cannot exercise their full citizenship rights. (See our video for more details.)

Although a landmark ruling in January decreed that Baha’is can obtain identification papers, the government has yet to implement the ruling, and recently, a lawyer for Egypt’s Islamic Research Council filed a challenge intended to stall the process.

…and in the meantime, thousands of Baha’is are left waiting.

“Quenching The Light” is a powerful video that documents the ongoing persecution of the Baha’i minority in Iran. I recommend everyone to watch this and pass it along in order to spread awareness.

In 1983, the ABC news network also featured an exclusive program on the persecution of Baha’is, which we translated into Arabic so more people can know about this in the region and you may find the video here.

Sadly, you can see that not much of this has changed.

But it will. We need to work with each other in order to ensure that.

Censeo, a platform that hosts comics in an effort to “re-examine truth”, recently featured a comic that touches upon the plight of Baha’is in Iran.

 Throughout the years, Bahai’s have suffered through and endured the hurling of baseless charges at them. This gross abuse against their human rights is intolerable and must be brought to an end!

On Wednesday morning, May 14th 2008, six Baha’i leaders were arrested in Iran, comparable to the “episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed.” (More on this here.)

“All seven Bahá’ís who form a group that sees to the needs of the Bahá’í community of Iran have been arrested, six of them in early-morning raids on 14 May 2008 at their homes in Tehran.”

We as Muslims strongly condemn this grave injustice which continues to occur in our name. Our religion does not promote these crimes nor does it justify it, and it is imperative that we stand up against this and voice our regret and concerns as well as share our support with the harmless Baha’i minority who have suffered such abuse for decades in Iran with their situation only worsening. To our Baha’i friends, our unconditional support, heart, and thoughts remains with you.

You may read some comments concerning this here. Please voice your support.

Three months after the landmark ruling, allowing the minority Baha’i community to obtain official papers, Baha’is in Egypt continue to face difficulties in procuring the important documents.

Teenage twins Imad and Nancy Raouf Hindi, as well as other Baha’is have so far been unable to obtaining the documents, states the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

Hossam Bahgat, head of the EIPR, was optimistic because the government hadn’t appealed the ruling, but expressed disappointment that the process of change was taking long.

We are encouraged by the positive signal that they did not appeal. But we think that all the necessary changes should not take three months,”

To read the EIPR report, click here.