Egypt's Baha'i community is running out of burial space at its last Cairo cemetery

Right · 2The last remaining burial place of Egypt's Baha'i community, a Cairo cemetery, is quickly running out of room, with graves packed so tightly that in places only narrow strips of sand and broken pavement separate one family's plot from the next. 1 2 Right · 1Joumana Labib, a 25-year-old architect whose extended family is buried there, said that if the area fills completely the community would have nowhere else to bury its dead. 1 Right · 1Baha'i practice allows a body to be moved no more than one hour from the place of death, whereas Islamic tradition requires burial within a day, which makes the shortage particularly acute. 1

Right · 2According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a Cairo-based rights group, burial grounds once used by Baha'is in Alexandria and Port Said have been filled or reassigned over the years, leaving many families to transport bodies to Cairo. 1 2 Right · 1Community members say requests for new burial grounds in Alexandria and Port Said, where much of the community lives, were rejected without clear written explanations, according to Marina Samir, who heads EIPR's freedom of religion and belief work. 1 Right · 2Egypt's government information agency and the governorates of Alexandria and Port Said did not respond to requests for comment. 1 2

Right · 2In a response to a UN human rights report last year, the government said it imposes no restrictions on personal belief or religious affiliation, including adherence to the Baha'i faith, and that based on government data there were sufficient burial sites for all citizens. 1 2 Right · 2President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly stressed religious coexistence and said the state works tirelessly to fight discrimination and promote tolerance, and the constitution guarantees religious freedom, though mainstream Islamic scholars view the Baha'i faith as heretical and officials are often reluctant in practice to recognise religions outside the main Abrahamic faiths. 1 2 Right · 2The faith was brought to Egypt by merchants in the 1860s, and its members, estimated in the thousands, are a tiny minority in a mainly Muslim country of about 110 million. 1 2

Right · 1A 2009 court ruling let people who follow neither Islam, Christianity nor Judaism leave a dash in the religion field of their identity documents, sparing Baha'is from declaring a faith they do not follow, but practical difficulties remain. 1 Right · 1Baha'i couples are often registered as "single" even after decades together, which can complicate child registration, inheritance, pensions and health insurance. 1 Right · 1Hanan Kamal El-Din, 65, won an individual court ruling recognising her marriage in 2020, but a higher court overturned it in January this year, a ruling other couples fear could affect them; Ahmed Helmy, 49, who also won a ruling, said his wife has already been removed from the family section of his government digital services account. 1