CAIRO: The Ministry of Interior has yet to implement a court ruling that allows Bahais to leave the religious affiliation field on birth certificates and identity cards blank. On Jan. 29 Cairo's Administrative Court had granted members of Egypt's Bahai community the right to obtain identity papers without identifying their religious affiliation, placing a "dash in the field. "When we got the court ruling we were happy and we thought it would put an end to our suffering, but this feeling waned when we went to the Civil Status Authority, Raouf Hendi, who wanted to issue birth certificates for his two children, said. "They told us they needed more time to study the court ruling . I don't know why they won't accept us. He explained that the fact that some independent lawyers filed a grievance condemning the court ruling is a good excuse for the ministry to make things more difficult. Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Bahais' lawyer confirmed that this grievance is legally useless because the two lawyers who filed it are not part of the case, but the ministry of interior may look at it as an opportunity to buy more time. Bahgat said that he is going to file a request to the head of the Civil Status Authority demanding they implement the ruling immediately. He added that the Ministry of Interior asked for more time to prepare in order to facilitate the change in the future. "Bahais shouldn't have to wait this long, they face trouble on a daily basis because of this issue, he said. The administrative court had issued another ruling on Feb. 9 in favor of Christians who converted to Islam and then back to Christianity to have their original faith recognized on their identification cards. Islam, Christianity and Judaism are the only religions recognized by state authorities in Egypt. Until now, Egyptian Bahais have been forced to list themselves as Muslim, Christian or Jew in order to obtain the official documents necessary for them to access state services such as healthcare and education.
