After years of legal hurdles, Egypt’s High Administrative Court upheld a verdict granting the minority Bahai community the right to be themselves, at least when it comes to official documents. “We greatly welcome the decision. We are very pleased that this is the end of the legal battle,” Soha Abdelaty, Deputy Director of Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told The Times. In recent years, Bahais were forced to choose Islam, Christianity or Judaism in the religious denomination slot in order to receive identification documents. Some of them went to court, arguing that they should be allowed to leave the ‘religion’ slot blank rather than choose a faith that is not theirs.
