CAIRO: The spokesman for the Baha’i community in Egypt, Rauf el-Hendi said last week that the crisis of social status on the country’s national identity cards for hundreds of the married, divorced and widowed Baha’is is still a growing concern. He said this comes despite continuous promises by government officials to consider this issue as a “prelude to finding solutions,” pointing out that the absence of a real breakthrough to the crisis caused by the “purposeful disruption by several government departments for the families of Baha’is.”

He added that the community is “facing serious difficulties in banking transactions, and in the issuance or renewal of driving licenses, and all government departments are completely immobilized.”

El-Hendi said that Baha’is are limited in access to official documents to national ID cards. “These are only for unmarried Baha’is,” he said.

Married, divorced or widowed Baha’is are not permitted to have new ID cards with the religion status remaining blank, which is causing major difficulties for families and individuals attempting to get a passport, driver’s license and other official paperwork.

The spokesman revealed that some officials have suggested resorting once again to the justice department “to file a lawsuit for solving and recognizing the social status item of the Baha’is and obtain a court ruling in this matter, but we prefer to consult with officials to find a solution and a compromise that satisfies both parties.”

He pointed out that the a group of Baha’is affected by the unresolved social formula of the National ID card, have already resorted to the Ministry of Justice several months ago, “which promised in turn to find solutions, but so far, nothing has been issued by the ministry or any other authority, nor any concrete steps taken towards a solution.”

El-Hendi expressed surprise at the postponement of this issue, which had been discussed with officials of the ministries of Interior, Justice, the National Council for Human Rights, as well as with Mufid Shehab, Minister of State for Legal Affairs and the legislature. He said that the Baha’is are not asking the state to recognize Baha’i marriages, but they hope “to develop a mechanism for, particularly the Baha’i families, to obtain national ID cards.”

“I do not understand the difficulty in this matter, especially since the cards that are being issued for Baha’i students are through the private mechanisms by the documentation authorities.”

The ministerial decree, which stipulated the right of Baha’is for the issuance of cards with religion blank “was not enough, as the problem of the marital status has not been resolved yet,” he said, which delayed the issuance of IDs for already married Baha’is.

BM

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