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Egyptian court ruling on Bahais hit by U.S.

The State Department has condemned an Egyptian court ruling that denies Bahais the right to have their faith recognized on official identification documents.

Rejecting a lower court decision favorable to Bahais, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the Egyptian constitution recognizes only Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

"It is certainly a ruling that flies in the face of stated Egyptian commitments to freedom of expression, freedom of religion," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday. "We would hope that the Egyptian government would take steps that would allow people of the Bahai faith to obtain these identification cards."

The cards of Bahais have a line through the section for the person's religion.

The dispute directly affects only the country's Bahais, 2,000 or so of the more than 72 million Egyptians. Civil rights advocates in Egypt, however, said it's evidence that the court ignores all existing protections of religious freedom.

Islam is the official religion of Egypt, but it is considered by the constitution to be "a source" of Egyptian law, not "the source."

The Bahai faith is a monotheistic religion founded in the 1860s by Baha'u'llah, a Persian nobleman who the Bahais consider a prophet. Baha'u'llah taught that all religions represent progressive stages in the revelation of God's will, leading to the unity of all peoples and faiths.

Mr. McCormack said the inability of Bahais to obtain completed identity cards causes them serious problems.

"We would urge the Egyptian government really to address this issue. It's really a fundamental issue of religious freedom," he said.