Egypt Denies ID Papers to Converts

November 13, 2007

Author: Staff Writer

Source: TVNZ.Reuters

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1444148

Human rights groups said that Egypt routinely denies converts from Islam and members of unrecognised minority faiths such as Baha'is the right to list their true religious affiliation on key identity documents.

Regulations, rigidly enforced in Egypt, require that official documents show a religious affiliation chosen from three recognised faiths: Islam, Christianity or Judaism.

Such documents are needed for all aspects of daily life in Egypt.

The rights groups said Baha'is and converts from Islam to minority faiths either cannot get proper papers or are pressured to accept documents labelling them as members of faiths viewed as more palatable in socially conservative Egypt - often Islam.