Egypt
(1999)
Section I. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of belief and the
practice of religious rites; however, the Government places clear
restrictions on this right. Under the Constitution, Islam is the official
state religion and primary source of legislation. Accordingly, religious
practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited. However, for the
most part, members of the non-Muslim minority worship without harassment
and maintain links with coreligionists abroad.
The Government continued its efforts to extend legal
controls to all mosques, which by law must be licensed. The Government
appoints and pays the salaries of the imams officiating in mosques, and
proposes themes for and monitors sermons. Of the country's approximately
70,000 mosques, nearly half remain unlicensed and operate outside the
control of government authorities. In an effort to combat Islamic
extremists, the Government has announced its intention to bring all
unauthorized mosques under its control by 2000.
Most Egyptians are Sunni Muslims. Approximately 10
percent of the population belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church. There are
other smaller Christian denominations, including the Armenian Orthodox and
Armenian Catholic Churches, the Coptic Catholic Church, and an evangelical
Protestant community. These range in size from several thousand members to
hundreds of thousands. The Jewish community currently numbers approximately
200 persons. There is a small number of Shi'a Muslims and Baha'is.
While neither the Constitution nor the Civil and Penal
Codes prohibit proselytizing, Christians have been arrested on charges of
violating Article 98f of the Penal Code, which prohibits citizens from
ridiculing or insulting heavenly religions or inciting sectarian strife.
There were no reports of such arrests during the period covered by this
report.
There are no legal restrictions on the conversion of
non-Muslims to Islam. However, Muslims may face legal problems if they
convert to another faith. During the past two decades, several dozen
persons accused of proselytizing for Christianity, or who had converted
from Islam to Christianity, have been arrested on charges of violating
Article 98f of the Penal Code. During the period covered by this report,
there were a few unconfirmed reports that converts to Christianity were
subjected to harassment by the security services, including temporary
detention.
In February 1998, the Government lifted travel
restrictions that had been imposed on four former Muslims who had converted
to Christianity and consequently been charged with violating Article 98f.
Following their arrest in 1990, the men were detained for 10 months until
President Hosni Mubarak ordered their release in 1991. However, at the time
of their release the Government did not remove their names from an
immigration "lookout list" that prohibits citizens involved in
criminal proceedings from traveling abroad without government permission.
The issue lay dormant until recently when the men began traveling. In two
separate incidents, one in late December 1997 and the other in February
1998, two of the converts were arrested at the airport and briefly
detained. Following these incidents, the Government removed the names of
all four converts from the lookout list.
In other cases involving conversion from Islam to
Christianity, authorities have charged converts with violating laws
prohibiting the falsification of documents. In such instances, converts,
who fear government harassment if they officially register the change from
Islam to Christianity, have altered their identification cards and other
official identity documents themselves to reflect their new religious
affiliation. There were no confirmed reports of individuals detained or
charged under these laws during the period covered by this report. In 1997
human rights activist Mamdouh Naklah filed suit seeking removal of the
religious affiliation category from identification cards. The court
referred the case to the State Commissioner's Office, which has not yet
issued an opinion.
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) and
other local human rights groups reported that in the course of an
investigation in August and September 1998 into the murder of two Copts,
the police detained hundreds of citizens, including relatives of suspects,
women, and children, in the largely Coptic village of al-Kush in Sohag
governorate. Local observers reported that dozens of these detainees were
subjected to torture and mistreatment. All torture victims appear to have
been Christian, but human rights activists note that Muslims were also
detained and mistreated, if not tortured, during the investigation. There
were credible reports that in the course of the investigation the police
disparaged the faith of the Christian detainees. Police abuse of detainees
is a general problem in Egypt regardless of the detainees' religious
beliefs. It is still unclear whether religion was a factor in the
individual officers' actions. Some advocacy groups believe that religion
was a factor, but most human rights and Christian activists in Egypt do
not.
In September 1998, 15 residents of al-Kush filed a
complaint with the public prosecutor in Sohag citing unlawful detention,
brutality, and torture by four police officers in al-Kush. In October 1998,
the public prosecutor charged local clergymen Bishop Wisa and Arch-Priest
Antonius with witness tampering after they publicly protested the police
conduct. They were questioned and released after each paid bail. On
December 1, 1998, a state security prosecutor charged the secretary general
of the EOHR, Hafez Abu Se'da, with accepting foreign money and publishing
false information with the intent to harm national interests. The charges
were based on a report critical of the Sohag incident published by the EOHR
on September 28, 1998. Abu Se'da was detained for 6 days and then released
on bail. A state security prosecutor also levied the same charges against
EOHR attorney Mustafa Zidane on December 9, 1998. Zidane is the author of
the EOHR report on the Sohag incident. He was not detained but was required
to pay bail. The charges raised against Bishop Wisa, Arch-Priest Antonius,
Abu Se'da, and Zidane have not been dropped. In May 1999, the public
prosecutor in Sohag announced that the medical evidence did not support the
allegations of police torture and mistreatment of suspects during the Sohag
incident, and dismissed the charges against the police officers. There was
no evidence to substantiate a report that the Government compensated the
four officers accused of torture and mistreatment of al-Kush residents, and
the Minister of Interior denied the report. The officers were transferred
during the investigation and have not been reassigned to al-Kush. There
were no means of independently verifying the conclusions of the public
prosecutor, and there remain some discrepancies between the official and
unofficial versions of events. As of late June, there were indications that
the Government was taking action to address these discrepancies.
An 1856 Ottoman decree still in force requires
non-Muslims to obtain what is now a presidential decree to build a place of
worship. In addition, Interior Ministry regulations issued in 1934 specify
a set of 10 conditions that the Government must consider prior to issuance
of a presidential decree permitting construction of a church. These
conditions include the location of the proposed site, the religious
composition of the surrounding community, and the proximity of other
churches. The Ottoman decree also requires the President to approve permits
for the repair of church facilities. In response to strong criticism of the
decree, President Mubarak in January 1998 delegated to governors the
authority to approve permits for the repair of church facilities. Despite
this action, the approval process for church construction and repair
remains time consuming and insufficiently responsive to the wishes of the
Christian community. Although President Mubarak has approved all requests
for permits presented to him (reportedly a total of more than 230 during
his 18-year tenure), Christians maintain that the Interior Ministry
delays--in some instances indefinitely--submission to the President of
their requests. They also maintain that security forces have blocked them
from utilizing permits that have been issued.
During the 1990's, the Government increased the number
of building permits issued to Christian communities to an average of more
than 20 per year, compared with an average of 5 permits issued annually in
the 1980's. During the period covered by this report, the Government
approved a total of 39 permits for church-related construction, including 3
permits for the construction of new churches; 10 permits for the
construction of additional church facilities; and 26 permits for churches
previously constructed without authorization. The Government reported that
governors issued a total of 207 permits for church-related repair during
1998; this total represents a significant increase in approvals. However,
the Government was unable to provide a breakdown by governorate. Unofficial
reports from the governorates vary. In January 1996, human rights activist
Mamdouh Naklah filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the Ottoman
decree. In December 1998, an administrative court referred Naklah's case to
a state body of legal experts. This decision was considered a setback, as
the body is not required to issue an opinion expeditiously and its opinions
are not binding. As a result of these restrictions, some communities use
private buildings and apartments for religious services. In June 1998,
state security forces shut down a church in the Cairo suburb of Ma'adi. The
building had been used for several years for worship by the Coptic Orthodox
community, although the community never had received a response to its
request for a permit. In mid-October 1998, the Government permitted the
church to reopen.
In 1960 Baha'i institutions and community activities
were banned by presidential decree and all community properties, including
Baha'i centers, libraries, and cemeteries, were confiscated. The ban on
Baha'i institutions has never been rescinded.
In most matters of family law, including marriage,
divorce, alimony, and child custody, Christians are subject to canon law.
In cases of family law disputes involving a marriage between a Christian
woman and a Muslim man, Shari'a (Islamic law) applies. The children of such
marriages must be raised as Muslims. Muslim women are prohibited from
marrying Christian men.
Government discriminatory practices include: Suspected
statistical underrepresentation of the size of the Christian population;
omission of the Coptic Era of Egyptian history in the school curriculum;
and negligible media coverage of Christian subjects. There are no Copts
serving as deans or university presidents, no Coptic governors, and no
Copts in the upper ranks of the military or police.
There was a trend toward improvement in certain aspects
of the respect and protection of the right to religious freedom during the
period covered by this report. Besides increasing the approval rate for
church repair, in January 1999, the Government formed a committee of
academics to revise the history curriculum in the primary and secondary
schools. A primary objective of the committee is to reintroduce into the
curriculum the Coptic and Byzantine periods of Egyptian history. In a
separate initiative, the Ministry of Education rescheduled exams to ensure
that they did not conflict with Christian holidays. Government-owned
television and radio devoted significantly more programming time to
Christian issues and, for the first time in decades, offered a live
broadcast of the Christmas and Easter celebrations. The media did not
broadcast any discriminatory programs. Government newspapers provided more
editorial space to Christian themes and authors than in past years. The
Ministry of Culture sponsored several events devoted to Coptic issues,
including a seminar on the nationalist role of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The Ministry of Tourism supported development of sites that, according to
tradition, were visited by the Holy Family during their sojourn in Egypt.
The first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, has endorsed the development of reading
materials that advocate tolerance. These materials are distributed by
projects under her patronage that promote literacy and educational
opportunities for girls.
The Minister of Awqaf, Hamdy Zaqzouq, established in
1996 a committee to address a dispute with the Coptic Orthodox Church that
originated in 1952. At that time, the Government seized approximately 1,500
acres of land from the Church and transferred title to the Ministry of
Awqaf, which is responsible for administering religious trusts. Based on
the committee's recommendations, more than 800 acres have been returned to
the Church in the past 2½ years. The committee continues to review claims
to the remaining disputed property. The Ministry of Awqaf engages in
interfaith discussions both domestically and abroad.
In September 1998 in Cairo, and in May 1999 in the
southern city of Assiyut, the Binational Fulbright Commission conducted
workshops on empathy and tolerance.
There were no reports of religious prisoners. An
estimated several thousand persons are imprisoned because of alleged
support for or membership in Islamist groups seeking to overthrow the
Government. The Government states that these persons are in detention
because of membership in or activities on behalf of violent extremist
groups, without regard to religious affiliation. There were no reports
linking their detention to religious belief.
There were no reports of the forced religious conversion
of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the Government's refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
During the past two decades, the Islamic Group and other
terrorist groups that seek the overthrow of the Government have committed
violent assaults, including assaults against Christian targets. During 1998
extremists were responsible for targeting and killing eight Christian
Egyptians in the governorate of Minya. There were no reported targeted
killings of Christians by extremists during the first 6 months of 1999.
Government, Islamic, and community leaders have criticized the attacks
against Christians. The Government remains fully engaged in efforts to
arrest and convict these extremists. However, some Christians allege that
the Government is lax in protecting Christian lives and property (see
Section II).
Section II. Societal Attitudes
The Coptic Orthodox Church was established in Alexandria
in the 5th century. Although today there are numerous Christian
denominations, the term "Copt" is used generically to distinguish
Christians from Muslim Egyptians. Both Muslims and Copts share a common
history and national identity. They also share the same ethnicity, race,
culture, and language. Christians are geographically dispersed throughout
the country, and Christians and Muslims live as neighbors. At times
religious tensions flare up and individual acts of prejudice occur.
Discrimination is practiced by members of both faiths. The majority of
citizens agree that more needs to be done to eliminate discrimination, but
argue that development of the economy, polity, and society is the most
effective and enduring way to abolish social prejudice.
During the past 2 decades, the Islamic Group and other
terrorist groups that seek the overthrow of the Government have committed
violent assaults, including assaults against Christian targets. Some
Christians allege that the Government is lax in protecting Christian lives
and property. During 1998, extremists were responsible for killing eight
Christians in the Minya governorate, where about 30 to 40 percent of the
inhabitants are Christian (see Section I).
The Constitution provides for equal public duties and
rights without discrimination due to religion or creed. However, the
Government discriminates on the basis of religion in some areas. Government
discriminatory practices related to education and employment include:
Failure to admit Christians into schools of Arabic studies to become Arabic
teachers, as the curriculum involves study of the Koran; job discrimination
in the public sector--the police, the armed forces, and other government
agencies; and reported discrimination against Christians in staff
appointments at universities.
There were reports of forced conversions of Coptic girls
to Islam. Observers, including human rights groups, find it extremely
difficult to determine whether compulsion was used, as these cases
typically involve a Coptic girl who converts to Islam when she marries a
Muslim boy. Reports of such cases are disputed and often include
inflammatory allegations and categorical denials of kidnaping and rape.
According to the Government, the girl in such cases must meet with her
family, with her priest, and with the head of her church before she is
allowed to convert. However, there are credible reports of the Government's
failure to ensure that such meetings occur, of government harassment of
Christian families that attempt to regain custody of their daughters prior
to the marriage, and of the failure of the authorities to uphold the law
that states that a marriage of a girl under the age of 16 is prohibited and
between the ages of 16 and 21 is illegal without the approval and presence
of her guardian.
There is no legal requirement for a Christian girl or
woman to convert to Islam in order to marry a Muslim. If a Coptic woman
marries a Muslim man, she is excommunicated by the Church. Ignorance of the
law and social pressure, including the centrality of marriage to a woman's
identity, often affect her decision. Family conflict and financial pressure
also are cited as factors. In addition, conversion is a means of
circumventing the legal prohibition on marriage between the ages of 16 and
21 without the approval and presence of the girl's guardian. Most Christian
families would object to a daughter's wish to marry a Muslim. However, if a
Christian girl converts to Islam, her family loses guardianship, which
transfers to a Muslim custodian, who is likely to grant approval. In the
past there have been reports that the authorities failed to uphold the law
in dozens of cases of marriage of an underage Christian girl to a Muslim
boy. The law is silent on the matter of the acceptable age of conversion.
Official relations between Christian and Muslim
religious figures are amicable, and include reciprocal visits to religious
celebrations. A committee on dialog was established in 1998 by the Vatican
and Al-Azhar, the country's foremost Islamic institution and a preeminent
seminary of Sunni Islamic study. Al-Azhar engages in other interfaith
discussions, both in the country and abroad. The Coptic Evangelical
Organization for Social Services supports a Center for Intercultural
Dialog. Other informal interfaith discussions take place as well. Private
Christian schools admit Muslim students, and religious charities serve both
communities.
Rejecting foreign and some local negative
characterizations of government treatment of Christians, local Christian
and Muslim leaders formed in 1998 a Council of "Wise Men" to
define the problems of the Christian community and propose solutions to the
Government and society. The Council identified the following five
priorities: Abolishing the Ottoman decree and related regulations governing
the construction and repair of churches; increasing the number of
Christians nominated for elected positions by the governing National
Democratic Party; increasing the number of Christians appointed by the
Government to positions in the military, security services, and
universities; correcting the imbalance in media treatment of Christian
subjects and prohibiting the inclusion of discriminatory materials; and
correcting the deficiencies in the educational curriculums, including the
insufficient treatment of the Coptic era of history. The Government has
begun to address some of these concerns (see Section I).
Anti-Semitism in the press is found in both the
government press and in the nonofficial press of the opposition parties.
The Government has advised journalists and cartoonists to avoid
anti-Semitism. There have been no anti-Semitic incidents in recent years
directed at the tiny Jewish community.
Section III. U.S. Government Policy
The subject of religious freedom is an important part of
the bilateral dialog. It has been raised at all levels, including by the
U.S. Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, the
U.S. Ambassador, and other embassy officials. The Embassy maintains formal
contacts with the Office of Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. In addition, the Ambassador has discussed religious freedom with
senior government officials and religious leaders. The Embassy also
regularly discusses religious freedom issues in contacts with other
government officials, including governors and Members of Parliament.
President Clinton raised the treatment of Egypt's
Christian community with President Mubarak during Mubarak's visit to the
United States in mid-1999. In February 1999, the Secretary of State's
Special Representative for International Religious Freedom visited and met
with official interlocutors and community activists. Other senior U.S.
government officials, including the Secretary of Defense and the Under
Secretary for Economics, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, have raised
religious freedom during visits with government officials.
The U.S. Embassy maintains an active dialog with the
leaders of the Christian and Muslim religious communities, human rights
groups, and other activists. The Embassy investigates every complaint of
religious discrimination brought to its attention. Embassy intervention
resulted in the release from temporary detention of two Muslim converts to
Christianity and the lifting of outdated travel restrictions on these men
and two other colleagues. The Embassy also discusses religious freedom with
a range of contacts, including academics, businessmen, and citizens outside
of the capital area and those from a lower-income background.
The U.S. Mission, including the Department of State, the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the U.S. Information
Service (USIS), works in concert to expand human rights and to ameliorate
the conditions that breed religious strife by promoting economic, social,
and political development. U.S. programs and activities support initiatives
in several areas directly related to religious freedom. One initiative is
to strengthen civil society, including training for nongovernmental groups
that promote religious tolerance. USAID is supporting the establishment of
a nongovernmental organization (NGO) service center to provide training and
technical assistance to NGO's. USIS supported participants interested in
advocacy for the U.S. Information Agency's International Visitors Program,
and invited American specialists as part of the Agency's speakers program.
A second initiative is to strengthen the rule of law. USAID supports a
major effort to improve the administration of justice, and USIS training
and exchange activities promote legal reform and access to justice. A third
initiative is the promotion of civic education. USIS is supporting the
development of materials that encourage tolerance, diversity, and
understanding of others, in both Arabic-language and English-language
curriculums. USAID works with the Children's Television Workshop to develop
an Egyptian version of the television program Sesame Street, which is
designed to reach isolated households and to promote tolerance. USAID also
supports private voluntary organizations that are implementing innovative
curriculums in private schools. A fourth initiative, led by USIS, is the
effort to increase the professionalism of the press, with an emphasis on
balanced and responsible coverage. Finally, USAID is working with the
Supreme Council of Antiquities to promote the conservation of cultural
antiquities, including Islamic, Christian, and Jewish historical sites.
Sources: U.S. State Department - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor |