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US State Dept. Human Rights Report - Egypt

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by morris.sadek | February 26, 2009 at 07:16 pm

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National American Coptic Assembly
NACA
Washington DC
Mr. Morris Sadek-ESQ President

http://www.nationaFebruary 25, 2009
Freedom of Religion
The constitution provides for freedom of belief and the practice of religious rites; however, the government restricted the exercise of these rights. According to the constitution, Islam is the official state religion, and Shari'a (Islamic law), the primary source of legislation. Religious practices that conflict with the government's interpretation of Shari'a are prohibited.
Members of non-Muslim religious minorities officially recognized by the government generally worshiped without harassment and maintained links with coreligionists in other countries.
Members of religions not recognized by the government, particularly Baha'is, experienced personal and collective hardship. Religious groups seeking recognition must submit a request to the MOI, which determines whether, in its view, the group would pose a threat to national security or social order. The MOI also consults leading religious figures, particularly the pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church and the sheikh of Al-Azhar. The last official recognition of a religious group occurred in 1990. The government did not recognize marriages of citizens adhering to faiths other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, nor did it recognize conversions of Muslim-born citizens to other religions.
The law prohibited blasphemy and the "denigration of religions." Though there were no reported prosecutions, at least one Koranist was arrested and was being held without charges at year's end. The government prosecuted members of religious groups whose practices deviated from mainstream Islamic beliefs and whose activities were believed to jeopardize communal harmony. The law bans Baha'i institutions and community activities and stripped Baha'is of legal recognition. The government continued to deny civil documents, including ID cards, birth certificates, and marriage licenses to members of the Baha'i community. The MOI requires identity card applicants to self-identify as a Jew, Christian, or Muslim. As a result, Baha'is faced difficulties in conducting civil transactions, including registering births, marriages, and deaths, obtaining passports, enrolling children in schools, and opening bank accounts. During the year Baha'is were compelled either to misrepresent themselves as Muslim, Christian or Jewish, or go without valid identity documents. Many Baha'is chose the latter course.
Traditional practices and some aspects of the law discriminated against religious minorities, including Christians and particularly Baha'is. The law requires non-Muslims to obtain a presidential decree to build a new place of worship. In addition, MOI regulations, issued in 1934 under the Al-Ezabi decree, specify a set of 10 conditions the government must consider before a presidential decree for construction of a new non-Muslim place of worship can be issued. The conditions include the requirement that the distance between a church and a mosque not be less than 100 meters (328 feet) and that approval of the neighboring Muslim community be obtained before a permit to build a new church may be issued.
The law also requires non-Muslims to obtain a governor's approval to repair, renovate, or expand existing church complexes. Decree 291 of 2005 delegated such authority, formerly held by the president, to the governors, but loopholes in the law have been exploited to prevent implementation. For example, some local authorities refuse to process applications without "supporting documents" that were virtually impossible to obtain (e.g., a presidential decree authorizing the existence of a church that had been established during the country's monarchical era). Church and lay leaders also maintain that security forces blocked them from using permits that had been issued, and at times denied them permits, for repairs to church buildings and the supply of water and electricity to existing church facilities. As a result, in general, congregations continue to wait many years to be able to build and repair church properties.
The constitution requires elementary and secondary public schools to offer religious instruction. Public and private schools provided religious instruction according to the faith of the student.
The government did not carry out forced conversions; however, there were again reports of forced conversions of Coptic women and girls to Islam by Muslim men. Reports of such cases are disputed and often include inflammatory allegations and categorical denials of kidnapping and rape. Observers, including human rights groups, find it difficult to determine whether compulsion was used, as most cases involve a female Copt who converts to Islam when she marries a Muslim male.
On September 24, the Alexandria Court of Appeals upheld a 2006 Family Court ruling that the father of Mario Medhat Ramses, 11, and Andrew Medhat Ramses, 13, a convert from Christianity to Islam, was entitled to custody of his sons. The ruling would permit him to convert children to Islam over the objection of their Christian mother, who continued to raise them as Christians after her husband converted to Islam. Although Article 20 of the civil code grants custody of children to their mothers until age 15, the court applied Shari'a guidelines to reach the verdict. Despite the court order, the boys remained in their mother's custody at year's end.
Neither the constitution nor the civil and penal codes prohibit proselytizing, but police harassed or arrested some individuals proselytizing on charges of ridiculing or insulting the "heavenly religions" (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) or inciting sectarian strife.
Jehovah's Witness leadership reported that authorities monitored the homes, telephones, and meeting places of members of Jehovah's Witnesses. The government also reportedly maintained regular and sometimes hostile surveillance of Muslim-born citizens who were suspected of having converted to Christianity. On September 17, a criminal court sentenced Bahya Nagy Ibrahim to three years in prison for falsely claiming to be Christian. She remained free at year's end and human rights observers noted that they did not expect the sentence to be enforced; her sister, Shadia, was convicted of the same crime in November 2007, a conviction the public prosecutor subsequently reversed. Ibrahim had listed her religion as Christian on her marriage certificate in the 1980s, not knowing her father's brief conversion to Islam in 1962 made her official religion Islam according to the country's interpretation of Islamic law.
Authorities monitored and occasionally placed restrictions on religious materials (published in the country and imported) as they did other written materials.
The government banned women and girls in public primary schools from wearing veils. Girls in secondary or preparatory schools could wear a veil only upon a parent's written request.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Societal religious discrimination and sectarian tension continued during the year.
For example, on November 24, hundreds of Muslims attacked a recently opened, unlicensed Coptic church in the Ain Shams area of Cairo, fighting with Coptic worshippers and police attempting to restore order.
Authorities continued to detain two Copts accused of killing a Muslim who died at the time of the attack on the Abu Fana Monastery. There were no charges filed against the assailants who assaulted the monastery and abused the monks who were abducted.
The constitution provides for equal public rights and duties without discrimination based on religion or creed, and in general the government upheld these protections; however, government discrimination against non-Muslims existed. The government continued to discriminate against non-Muslims in public sector employment and in admission to publicly financed Al Azhar University.
Anti-Semitism in the media was common, although less prevalent than in recent years. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts directed toward the country's approximately 125 Jews. Anti-Semitic sentiments appeared in both the pro-government and opposition press. Anti-Semitic editorial cartoons and articles depicting demonic images of Jews and Israeli leaders, stereotypical images of Jews along with Jewish symbols, and comparisons of Israeli leaders to Hitler and the Nazis were published throughout the year. The government advised journalists and cartoonists to avoid anti-Semitism. Government officials insisted that anti-Semitic statements in the media were a reaction to Israeli government actions against Palestinians and did not constitute anti-Semitism.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2008 International Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/g/drl/irf.
There were nine women in the People's Assembly (out of 454 total seats) and 21 in the Shura Council (out of 264). Two women served among the 32 ministers in the cabinet.
There were six Christians (five appointed, one elected) in the People's Assembly; 10 Christians (all appointed) in the Shura Council; and two Christians in the cabinet. Christians, who represent 8 to 12 percent of the population, held fewer than 2 percent of the seats in the PA and Shura Council. In 2006, for the first time in more than 30 years, the government appointed a Copt as one of the country's 28 governors in Qena. During the year the government reappointed the Christian governor of Qena. There were no Christians in the upper ranks of the security services and armed forceslamericancopticassembly.webs.com/

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