Historical Background
- Main articles: Religion in Egypt: Unrecognised beliefs and religions, Bahá'í Faith in Egypt, and Persecution of Bahá'ís in Egypt
Similarly to Iran and several other Muslim-majority countries, the Egyptian government requires that its citizens list their religion on government identity documents. Egyptian law recognizes Christianity and Judaism, and provides for some measure of tolerance for these minority groups. Of those who do not identify themselves with one of the three government-recognized religions of Egypt, the largest group of Egyptians with unrecognized beliefs is believed to be the Bahá'ís. Although reliable statistics are not available, the number of Bahá'ís in Egypt has been estimated at about 2,000 as of 2006. Bahá'í institutions and community activities have been illegal under Egyptian law since 1960 by Law 263 at the decree of then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Egyptian Bahá'ís have suffered from continual persecution, including the government confiscation of Bahá'í centres, libraries, and cemeteries, and have been charged with apostasy. Although few Egyptians publicly identify as atheists or agnostics, they faced similar difficulties.
Read more about this topic: Egyptian Identification Card Controversy
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