Blogger: Baha’i Faith in Egypt
Article: Egypt: Media Coverage on Showing of Film on Baha’i Rights
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-28 05:14:00

The Egyptian newspaper el-Badeel, in its 28 August 2007 edition, published an article about the recent documentary film made by the independent film maker Mr. Ahmed Ezzat. The article is authored by Khaled Abdel-Rasoul and Sarah El-Masry and is entitled “First Film on the Baha’i Quagmire in Egypt.”

The film, titled “My Belief or My Country [Identity Crisis],” was shown at Egypt’s Cinematic Cultural Centre upon the invitation of the Egyptian Film Critics Association on 26 August. Previously, this film was invited for showing at the last Alexandria Film Festival, but was banned by Egypt’s security and censorship agencies. The documentary is 34 minutes long, and required approximately 35 hours of filming and 300 hours of montage.

The film’s director, Ahmed Ezzat, stated that “the principal reason for him to handle the Baha’i case was for the cause of justice and not religion, because human rights cannot be partial, but should be applicable to all.” He also added that “the film was produced entirely at his own expense.” It is of note that Ahmed Ezzat is an Egyptian Muslim.

Following the film’s showing, a heated discussion ensued at the exhibition hall, which was crowded with human rights activists, film makers and critics, thinkers, members of the Baha’i community and the general public. The discussion focused on the issues raised by the film as well as those facing Egypt, such as citizenship, freedom of belief, religious classification on ID cards, and freedom related litigation cases in general.

The film’s promotional piece is posted below. The film, in its entirety, will soon be available for viewing. When such time arrives, an announcement will be made on this site.

Blogger: The Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights
Article: Confidential Iran memo exposes policy to deny Baha?i students university education
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-28 00:50:25

The Baha’i World News Service have just published the following report:

The Baha’i International Community has received a copy of a confidential 2006 letter from Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research and Technology instructing Iranian universities to expel any student who is discovered to be a Baha’i.

The letter refutes recent statements by Iranian officials, who say Baha’i students in Iran face no discrimination - despite the fact that more than half of the Baha’i university students enrolled last autumn were gradually expelled over the course of the 2006-2007 academic year.

This letter from a government ministry to 81 Iranian universities instructs them to expel Baha’i students.

In early March, for example, newspapers carried a story by the Reuters news agency reporting that some 70 Baha’i students had been expelled from universities in Iran since autumn 2006.

In the Reuters story, however, an anonymous spokesperson for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations was quoted as saying in reply: “No one in Iran because of their religion has been expelled from studying.”

Read the full article here.

There is too much awareness and too much proof of the fact that Iranian Baha’is suffer from horrific discrimination which the government repeatedly attempts to deny. Another article posted on Iranian.com reveals the following by a Baha’i student (another excerpt of this was previously posted here):

Since 1979, the government of Iran has systematically sought to deprive its largest religious minority of the right to a full education. Specifically, the Islamic Republic of Iran has for more than 25 years blocked the 300,000-member Bahai community from higher education, refusing young Bahais entry into university and college.

Eventually, in response to an international outcry over this oppressive behavior, the government officially announced in late 2005 that it would drop the declaration of religious affiliation on the application for the national university entrance examination. Consequently, the Bahai students could take the examination in 2004 and 2005.Yet, later in the admission procedure, Bahai youth were passed over and not accepted.

In 2006, for the first time in 29 years, more than 200 Bahai students could enter national universities. However, from the very beginning of the school year, gradually most of these students were expelled according to a previously planned strategy.

Read full article here.

Iran’s systematic abuse of Baha’is is unjust and unacceptable, we must all unite in condemnation of this human rights violation.

Blogger: Point of no return
Article: The Jews of Egypt, through the eyes of an Egyptian
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-27 08:10:00

Professor Mohamed Aboulghar is an eminent Egyptian obstetrician whose book Yahood Masr (The Jews of Egypt) - from prosperity to dispersion (2005) was reviewed in the September 2007 issue of the Newsletter of the Association of Jews from Egypt (UK). The review is reproduced below, with the AJE’s permission.

“This is a very interesting book written in Arabic by an Egyptian on the subject of Egyptian Jews, their origins and their recent history, from their ascendancy and prosperity in the early part of the twentieth century to their exodus and dispersion in the second half of that century.

“Prof. Aboulghar, 67, is an eminent obstetrician at the University of Cairo specialising in IVF fertility research, and author of many papers in that field. His book on the history of Egyptian Jews, published by Dar El Hilal in 2005, was written after browsing relevant literature and holding discussions and interviews with ex-Egyptian Jews living in Cairo, Paris, Geneva and Florida. He quotes frequently from the works of Joel Beinin, Gudrun Kramer and Shimon Shamir.

“In his book, Prof. Aboulghar gives due credit to the contribution of Egyptian Jewry in the spheres of trade and commerce, finance, education, journalism as well as music and the cinema. He describes the political activities of those Egyptian Jews who became affiliated to communist movements and those who embraced Zionism and emigrated to Israel in 1948. However, he indicates that the majority of Egyptian Jews were apolitical.

“When discussing the position of the community within Egyptian society, Prof. Aboulghar points out that despite the hospitality and generosity accorded to them by the Egyptian people and Government, the Jews, with the exception of the Karaites and the poorer sections living in the Haret-El-Yahoud, never integrated fully. They did not identify with the Egyptian people’s interests and aspirations. They spoke foreign languages at home, mainly French, and did not learn how to read and write Arabic. When the nationality law was passed in the 1940s, many Jews did not apply for Egyptian nationality. They were looking more towards Europe, acquiring its various nationalities instead.

“Moreover, according to Prof. Aboulghar, when the Zionist movement began to establish deeper roots in Palestine and clash with the native Arab population, Egyptian Jews were not sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians, although some of their leaders voiced their opposition to the Zionist movement and its attempt to influence Egyptian Jewry. The Egyptian people, on the other hand, became increasingly involved with events in Palestine and angered by the treatment of Arabs by Jews. Their attitude to their Jewish community began to veer towards the hostile views of the Muslim Brotherhood. The establishment of the State of Israel with its attendant Arab refugee problem exacerbated anti-Zionist feelings to the extent that many Jews felt insecure and emigrated in 1948-51. Operation Suzannah (when Moshe Marzouk and Shmuel Azar were caught and hanged) contributed to the populist perception that Jews constituted a fifth column in Egypt.

“Finally, the book recounts that the Egyptianisation of commerce and industry, the nationalisation laws that Nasser promulgated and the expulsion, during the Suez war, of British and French nationals of all religions, led to the exodus of the entire community from 1956 onwards. Prof. Aboulghar claims that Jews were not targeted in particular, because other foreign communities, e.g. Greeks and Armenians, also left Egypt around that time. Even during the 1967 war with Israel, when the Egyptian authorities imprisoned Jews and other Egyptians
considered a threat to state security, the Jews were treated better than the detained Muslims and Copts.

“It thus becomes clear on reading the book that the author attached no blame to the Egyptian people or Government for the exodus of the entire Jewish community. In fact, he concludes that even if Israel had not been created, the Jews would have emigrated anyway because their livelihood was threatened and they would have been unable to enjoy continued prosperity and affluence. Most of the Jews he met had good things to say about Egypt. Some were critical of Israel.

Since Prof. Aboulghar welcomes comments on his book, James Levy, an AJE (UK) committee member, sent an email to him, making the following points:

· Whilst it is true that Egyptian Jews did not integrate, it was not deliberate. It was the product of years of foreign occupation, of poor standards of education in Government schools and of liberal multiculturalism and tolerance. In any case, the integration of the poorer Jews within the wider Muslim and Coptic communities did not help them when the crunch came, and they also had to leave their country of origin.

· Why should ‘Operation Suzannah’ be blamed on the Jewish community? It is tantamount to saying that the Muslim community in Britain is to blame for the terrorist acts of July 7^th 2005.

· Just as it was natural that Egyptians would sympathise with their Arab brethren in Palestine, why should it not be natural that Jews view Israel with some sympathy? Especially if they are treated unfairly in their country of origin and made to feel insecure?

· The entire Jewish community would not have emigrated because of the new laws and regulations on commerce and industry. After all, there were Jewish communities in Irak and Yemen who only spoke Arabic. Many young Egyptian Jews would have gone on to learn Arabic and continued to live in Egypt - provided, of course, that they would have been treated fairly by a democratic and moderate Government. This was not the case.

· Two examples of unfair treatment were given to Prof. Aboulghar:

1. Why did Jews have to apply for Egyptian nationality, even though they, their parents and grandparents were born in the country? They should have been entitled to that nationality automatically, just like Egyptian Muslims or Copts.

2. Why were Jews imprisoned during the 1967 war even though there were very few left and they presented no security risk to the state? The fact that they were treated in prison better than Muslims or Copts does not take away from the injustice.

Prof. Aboulghar acknowledged receipt of the comments and wished to pursue the dialogue, although there is little likelihood of him visiting the UK in the near future in view of his busy professional schedule. He is nonetheless a voice of moderation, at odds with the extreme views expressed on Egyptian media.

Blogger: Cherguis’ whispers
Article: Ramadan 2007
Originaly Posted On: 2007-06-10 03:43:00

Moroccan religious calendar being a lunar one, dates of the main events are changing every year. Ramadan in 2007, will start on 13th of September, “Inch Allah’, and end on 12th of October.

This is a very special time in Morocco, the Holy Month means a lot for most of Moroccans. But, religious or no, all Muslims must observe its rules, or they risk to spend some time in jail in this life, and stay in inferno the the after-one. And that’s not a joke, the risk or being signaled to the police and detained if you don’t respect the rules are real. Some Moroccans don’t respect Ramadan, but in the privacy of their home, behind closed curtains.

Ramadan preparation starts 40 days before. It’s a time when alcohol, already normally prohibited, is strictly and totally prohibited, among other things. Tolerance disappears and drinking alcohol becomes a worse sin than usual. During Ramadan, alcohol will actually not be sold any more to Muslims (in normal times, though prohibited, it happens everyday).

This year, this period will be at the same time as the electoral campaign (elections will take place on the 7th of September).

Ramadan ends with Aïd El Fitr, “the small celebration”, called with reference to Aïd el Kebir, the sacrifice celebration. Actually, celebration is every night, one visits his neighbors, friends, poor people are invited and fed, charity is distributed…

Life starts very early in the morning, and slows down in the day, and gets back in the evening, an hour after sunset (the first hour being for the first meal and prayers).

Less noticeable in the big centers, these changes are really visible in the South, in the small villages (and apart Ouarzazate and Zagora, everything in the South is a small village), where it can be impossible to find a shop opened to buy a bottle of water or a simple snack….

Blogger: Point of no return
Article: ‘Baghdad Jews must run for their lives’
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-22 11:02:00

As already highlighted on ‘Point of no return’, the saga of Baghdad’s last Jews rumbles on. Can they leave but don’t want to? Do they want to leave, but can’t? Canon Andrew White, the Jews’ caretaker, gives another interview, this time to The Jerusalem Post. (with thanks: Lily)

Eight Baghdad Jews who represent the remnants of that city’s Jewish community are facing security threats so grave that they need to flee the country, the community’s caretaker, Canon Andrew White, told The Jerusalem Post from London on Tuesday.

According to White, who himself has fled from Baghdad due to terrorist threats, the situation has become dire for the 2,600-year-old community, which only 100 years ago made up a third of Baghdad’s population.

Ever since sectarian violence in the capital first forced the community to assume a low profile, White, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has taken on the role of community keeper, bringing the families food, money and medicine. He has also been actively trying to increase awareness of their plight abroad, petitioning for diplomatic and humanitarian support in America and Europe.

White is the vicar of St. George’s Anglican Church in the US Embassy in Baghdad, where he has been posted since a 1998 sanction by Saddam Hussein gave him permission to serve the church. He said “violent incidents” had been recorded against the eight Jews. He also said they were constantly threatened by looming violence, given that they reside beyond the heavily guarded Green Zone.

“The time has come for them to flee,” White said.

Asked if the threat against them came from Shi’ite or Sunni groups, he said “everyone” was out to get them.

“I asked [the US] Congress about the Jews in Baghdad because their situation was so desperate,” White said, referring to his July 25 appearance before the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, where he stressed the growing threat to Baghdad’s minorities, including Jews. “In their passports it says Yihud [Jew in Arabic] under religion, and that only adds to the danger. They need to get out.”

According to White, an unspecified few have expressed their desire to leave. But despite efforts by Jewish organizations abroad and some Knesset members to bring them to Israel, the eight rejected the idea of the Jewish state as a possible point of refuge. The problem, White said, was that due to the umbrella of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiments they have lived under in Iraq, they are fearful of Israel and what it represents.

“They have been fed anti-Israel propaganda all their lives,” he said. “They do not trust Israel to be a good place. If some of them do want to go to Israel, they are scared of what the repercussions might be for the ones that stay.”

White said Labor MK Michael Melchior has been extremely supportive. Melchior, a member of the Knesset Committee on Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, told the Post the situation facing the eight Jews in Baghdad was very complex and sensitive. He said some had even been held hostage. “We always try to help when Jews are in need,” he said, adding that they were under the care of White.

White said an alternative to Israel as a point of refuge could be the Netherlands. The Baghdad Jews have relatives among the Iraqi community there who emigrated via Israel after the first Gulf War. He said there has been a flurry of back-channel activity between Israel and Holland concerning their possible emigration to either country, and praised the efforts made by Israeli representatives, saying the Israeli government has “done absolutely everything” to help.

However, White said the Dutch were ignoring requests for the visas needed to immigrate and refusing to absorb the community. “We’re talking about eight people,” he said. “[The Dutch] should be receptive, but they’re not.”

Dutch officials in Israel told the Post Monday that no activity toward such immigration has taken place.

“Lies. Damn lies. The fact is, is that they just don’t want to take them in,” White said. “I have spent hours sitting with them. How can they say that I was not there?”

Speaking from The Hague, Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Rob Dekker told the Post there have been no recent requests for visas, and that there have been no “formal discussions” between White and the Dutch government. He said informal meetings between White and a former Dutch ambassador to Baghdad had taken place.

Dekker said the Dutch Embassy in Baghdad was not equipped to handle the visa requests, and that the eight Jews would have to travel to Jordan or Syria to request visas. He acknowledged that their classification as Jews in their passports might not grant them safe passage to Damascus or Amman, but said these procedures “applied to everyone in Iraq,” regardless of religion.

Dekker also said asylum could not be given either, and could only be requested from Holland. Dutch law does not allow for asylum requests from Dutch embassies, he said.

Baghdad’s Jews have been leaving for North America, Europe and Israel for 60 years, most recently in 2003, when a few Jews left just after US and British troops invaded Iraq. Following Israel’s independence in 1948, 100,000 Iraqi Jews were brought into the newly created Jewish state. The community had been present in Iraq since the Babylonian exile, which began in 586 BCE. following the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem.

Read article in full

Blogger: The Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights
Article: Remembering July, 1997
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-19 18:13:18

10 years ago, two Baha’is were killed in Iran merely because of their beliefs. They shall be remembered:

Mr. Masha’llah Enayati (Masha’llah Inayati), a 63-year-old Baha’i resident of Tehran, who was well known for having constantly taught the Faith in a bold and zealous manner, died on 4 July 1997 after being severely beaten while in custody. During a visit to his native village of Ardistan to attend the meeting held to commemorate the anniversary of the Ascension of Baha’u’llah, Mr. Enayati was arrested in circumstances which are not clear.

He was taken to prison in Isfahan, where he was severely beaten on all parts of the body. It appears that he was held in prison for about a week before being taken to a hospital. His daughter, who lives in Australia, was in Iran at the time and visited her father in the hospital, where he was still under armed guard, though it was only a minor matter for which he had been arrested. She witnessed the effects of the beating, including visible bruising all over his body and especially on his hands, which were black from his injuries. She reports that he was in good health before his arrest. Mr. Enayati passed away in the hospital. The Friends in Iran have added that Mr. Enayati’s death certificate is worded in a most un… certificate. Under “cause of death” is entered, “Will be known later”, in the handwriting of the doctor.

Mr. Shahram Reza’i (Shahram Rida’i), a young Baha’i man who was serving as a conscript in the army near the city of Rasht, was shot in the head by his weapons training officer on 6 July 1997 and died the following day. In court the officer claimed that the shooting was an accident. He was released after a few days, once the court established that the man killed was a Baha’i. The court excused the officer of paying the blood-money normally required in such instances, ordering him to pay just the cost of the three bullets used to kill Mr. Reza’i. The Friends in Iran have no doubt that this was a case of deliberate murder and predicted before the “trial” that the officer would be released, since this has been so in other similar cases. We [Universal House of Justice] understand that Mr. Reza’i is the seventh Baha’i undertaking compulsory army duties to have been killed by colleagues or officers.

Such tragic events must be remembered and strongly condemned in order to avoid similar abuses from taking place in the future. May God bless all the innocent individuals who died for their faith.

Blogger: Point of no return
Article: BBC agrees to amend article on Jews of Iraq
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-16 15:07:00

Blogger: Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead
Article: Baha’i Rights in Farsi
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-16 13:50:27

We are very happy to announce the fact that our Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights will publish its newsletters in Farsi as well. You may read the first one here.

If you’re a new reader and don’t know about this network yet, you can read about our efforts here.

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Blogger: jerusalem wanderings
Article: All Nations Cafe - hike to Walaja
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-11 08:16:00

On Tuesday, I joined up with the All Nations Café (run by Dhyan and Daphna) who were having a hike from the beautiful Ein Lavan spring near the biblical zoo to the Palestinian village of Walaja. .

We were a small group of about 10 people at first, some of whom had accidentally discovered Haj Ibrahim’s guest house and were staying there. The spring was packed with people, mostly young, orthodox Jewish people who glanced curiously at our mixed Jewish/Palestinian group. Daphna taught us a simple song with a circle dance to it - like a chant – which we sang over and over again, switching partners as we went around the circle – singing it in Arabic, English, Hebrew and Esperanto. “One people, one planet, one spirit, one people, one planet, one spirit, one people, one planet, one spirit – all we need is love!!” We sang this loud and often and some young Jewish teens asked us what our group was about.

We asked them to join but they didn’t, preferring instead to watch us. One of the girls was wearing a Camp Kobi Mandel t-shirt. Kobi Mandel was a young Jewish boy of 13 who was murdered by terrorists while he was playing with a friend in a cave near to his home. His mother has since set up a camp for Jewish relatives of terror victims. I thought about the connection of our group and the camp – thinking if we had a much bigger circle of people singing this together, thousands instead of just two-digit numbers, there would have been no need to set up this camp and this poor mother’s young son might have been alive today.

We began our hike down the mountain, by the side of the railway tracks, to a dried up riverbed. I spoke with a young girl from the Shuafat refugee camp. I don’t often meet people from Palestinian refugee camps and I was happy that she was a regular member of this group. I, and other Israelis, often think of those living in refugee camps, as the most militant of Palestinians. Who would have thought that some would join a group such as this? Later in the evening there would be others from the Dehaishe refugee camp in Bethlehem who joined up with us.

Halfway through our hike, we ended up in Ein Haniyeh spring, off the old road to Gush Etzion. One of the Palestinian men took away my water bottle to fill it up at the spring. What do I know. To me, you fill up your water bottles from tap water or from the spring water you buy at the store. I would never have thought to have filled it up here - such a city chick I am. We made our way up the mountainside to Abu-Abdullah’s home which was a ramshackle of a home which he stays in by himself, leaving his family up the hill at the village of Walaja.

On the way there, the Palestinians took a few pinches of something off a tree – which was the sumac spice. I tasted it – it was extremely pungent – like eating Mike and Ike’s Zour candies – only presumably much healthier.

The reason for Abed Abu-Abdullah living in this place are the 200 fruit trees he has on the lands surrounding the old home – olive, grape vines, and who knows what else.

The army had tried to remove him and his groves but he steadfastly refused, showing them ownership papers he had from his grandfather. He was supposed to have taken us to see a holy 4,000 year old olive tree somewhere nearby, which people say, has miraculous healed anyone who eats olives from this tree. But he was in a bad mood, someone explained, and he has to be focused in order to take us there. Bad mood and all, which I didn’t feel by the way, he allowed us to pick the ripe grapes off his vines.

He made us all coffee and some of us had brought snacks to share. My new friend from the Shuafat refugee camp remarked sadly how there are no trees at all in her refugee camp, as we munched on the same bunch of grapes together.

The groves on the hill made the entire place seem so enchanting. There was something very magical about it that no wonder there’s a healing ancient olive tree nearby.

At dusk we went down the hill for the main gathering near an abandoned house by the roadside, which also belongs to Abu-Abdullah’s family. There more Palestinians awaited us – many of whom were from the Bethlehem area. A bonfire was lit and we were now a group of nearly 30 people.

I felt a lot of empathy these past two days because being in their “hood” I experienced the discomfort of going through a checkpoint from Dr. Dejani’s home with a miserable soldier, who shouted at us to move our car back. We wondered why the anger and someone suggested that perhaps to smile and show niceness wasn’t allowed. It can be mistaken for a sign of weakness, something the Israeli army wouldn’t dare want to show to outsiders. And now, as it became dark, and we were merely shadows from the road, an army jeep stopped in front of us, only the top of the jeep was visible through the trees.

“COME OVER HERE - NOW!!!!”

Let me tell you. To be shouted at like that by Israeli soldiers is quite frightening. Even for an Israeli like myself. And it happens to Palestinians all the time. It just happens to me when I’m hanging out with them. We answered them back in Hebrew, but they weren’t satisfied. Daphne, one of the organizers of the group, and a native Israeli, went down the hill to speak to them. After about 5 very long minutes she returned.

“They change soldiers here like they change underpants. The soldiers at the checkpoints know we meet here every week, but when they change the soldiers at the checkpoints, we have to explain about our group over and over again to them. Everything is ok now.”

Back at the bonfire, going around the circle, we shared a little about ourselves and we drank more coffee (and I couldn’t fall asleep that evening until 2:00 a.m.) and a debka teacher taught us some debka steps, which we practiced over and over again to the music of darbukas and then from Arabic music from someone’s cellphone.

The glow of the fire shone on the face of everyone there. I hate to sound so hokey, but it did put warmth in everyone’s hearts. There’s nothing like sitting around a fire. It’s soothing. People bond around a bonfire, don’t they? Well, it seemed that even though there was a language barrier as many of the 17 Palestinians there didn’t speak either English or Hebrew, they said they were touched by the fact that we (Jews) were there. It gives them hope in a world that seems hopeless.

Blogger: Baha’i Faith in Egypt
Article: Egypt Begins Soon Exclusive Use of New ID Document
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-12 15:50:00

Egypt’s leading daily newspaper Al-Ahram published an article on 8 August 2007, in which it describes plans for the exclusive use of the new computerised national ID number/card and the total abandonment of the older paper ID documents.

Thus far, Baha’is remain prevented by the government from being issued the new ID cards, and are only in possession of the old paper documents. The only option given to them, as instructed by the Ministry of Interior, is that they must lie on the application form regarding their religious affiliation in order to obtain ID documents. They are given only three choices (Muslim Christian or Jew). The application form clearly states that any false statements made by the applicant will be punishable by imprisonment and heavy fines. The ID card system does not allow for any other options, such as leaving the space for religion blank.

The newspaper article indicates that it was decided that the new ID card will be “an essential element in all transactions.” This was decided by Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazeef in a meeting on 7 August 2007 with the Minister of Interior as well as some other ministers.

The Prime Minister requested “a deadline” by which the use of the old paper ID card will stop. This will be accomplished very soon when nearly 90% of the population have been issued the new cards.

It was also reported in this article that according to a spokesperson of the Assembly of Ministries that the new ID system will be applied to “all services used by Egyptian citizens within the country.” This includes all government transactions. Currently several ministries have been exclusively accepting the new ID card. These ministries are: Interior, Defense, Health and Justice.

“In preparation for this, it is expected that the Ministry of Interior will announce soon the complete cessation of the use of the old paper ID document.”

The implications of this announcement are quite ominous. Soon the Baha’is and other religious minorities (except Muslims, Christians and Jews) will not be able to have any rights in their own society. It implies large-scale job firings and dismissals from universities. Already, Baha’is are unable to obtain health care and children cannot get vaccination in public institutions. In other words, Baha’is and any other religious minorities–if they exist–will suffer “civil death.”

Additionally, Egyptian Baha’i university students have been expelled because they were unable to produce the required military draft postponement document, which requires the new ID card for it to be granted. One student was expelled just before graduation from his university. Another student, after passing his first year examination, was prevented from being promoted to the second year and was suspended from the university until he can produce his military draft document.