GENEVA (BWNS) — A court in Egypt today removed any grounds for preventing Baha'is from receiving proper official identity documents, clearing the way for an end to years of deprivation for Egyptian Baha'is - and opening the door to a new level of respect for religious privacy in Egypt.

The U.S. Department of State's 2008 International Religious Freedom Report, released on Sept. 19, calls attention to the grave persecution faced by Baha'is in Iran, as well as the discrimination against Baha'is in Egypt

On June 24, 2008, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (VA – 10th district) introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on the Egyptian Government to respect human rights and freedoms of religion and expression in Egypt.

CAIRO, 29 January 2008 (BWNS)--In a victory for religious freedom, a lower administrative court here today ruled in favor of two lawsuits that sought to resolve the government's contradictory policy on religious affiliation and identification papers.

In a letter to Nabil Fahmy, Egypt's ambassador to the United States, U.S. representatives Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) express disappointment at a recent decision by the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court to deny Baha'is the right to document their religion on official documents.

HAIFA, Israel, 26 December 2006 (BWNS) -- The Universal House of Justice, the highest governing body of the Baha'i Faith, has addressed a message to the Baha'is of Egypt in the wake of a 16 December Supreme Administrative Court decision in Cairo that upheld a discriminatory government policy regarding the Baha'is and their identification cards.

CAIRO, 16 December (BWNS)-- In a closely watched case that has become the focus of a national debate on religious freedom, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court today ruled against the right of Baha'is to be properly identified on government documents.

For the first time since 1988, a representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States was invited to testify before a Congressional committee on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran and, for the first time, on Egypt.