Victory In Court For Egyptian Baha'i

By Adam Gonn - The Media Line Editor
The Court of Administrative Justice in Cairo has rejected a motion by the Egyptian Ministry of Defense (MoD) that sought to suspend the implementation of an earlier decision issued in favor of a Baha'i college student allowing him to continue his studies, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said in a statement.

This is a brief history of the case:
- Due to a decision in 2004, the Interior Ministry only issues a new ID card and other identification papers to people belonging to one of the three recognized religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
- 2006 Suez Canal's College of Physical Education suspended the student since the Ministry of Defence insisted that they could not grant him the deferment card unless he first presented a new, computerized identity card.
- 2007 ruling made ordering the MoD to issue the student, Nayer Nabil Al-Hamamsi, his military deferment card even though he did not have a national identity card.