Egypt: Media Coverage on Showing of Film on Baha'i Rights

Posted: 28 Aug 2007 06:00 PM CDT

The Egyptian newspaper el-Badeel, in its 28 August 2007 edition, published an article about the recent documentary film made by the independent film maker Mr. Ahmed Ezzat. The article is authored by Khaled Abdel-Rasoul and Sarah El-Masry and is entitled "First Film on the Baha'i Quagmire in Egypt."

The film, titled "My Belief or My Country [Identity Crisis]," was shown at Egypt's Cinematic Cultural Centre upon the invitation of the Cinematic Writers & Critics Association on 26 August. Previously, this film was invited for showing at the last Alexandria Film Festival, but was banned by Egypt's security and censorship agencies. The documentary is 34 minutes long, and required approximately 35 hours of filming and 300 hours of montage.

The film's director, Ahmed Ezzat, stated that "the principal reason for him to handle the Baha'i case was for the cause of justice and not religion, because human rights cannot be partial, but should be applicable to all." He also added that "the film was produced entirely at his own expense." It is of note that Ahmed Ezzat is an Egyptian Muslim.

Following the film's showing, a heated discussion ensued at the exhibition hall, which was crowded with human rights activists, film makers and critics, thinkers, members of the Baha'i community and the general public. The discussion focused on the issues raised by the film as well as those facing Egypt, such as citizenship, freedom of belief, religious classification on ID cards, and freedom related litigation cases in general.

The film, in its entirety, will soon be available for viewing. When such time arrives, an announcement will be made on this site.

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ABOUT THE MUSLIM NETWORK FOR BAHAI RIGHTS
The Muslim network for Baha’i rights is developed by a group of Muslim interfaith activists who believe in tolerance, coexistence and freedom. We created this site to promote human rights, religious freedom and respect within the Arab and Muslim world. We strongly believe that such values should apply it to all people equally regardless of their faith, cultural differences, political stance or nationality. We are making this effort not only as believers of freedom, but also for the sake of a better and more productive society.

In this network, there are a few things that readers should keep in mind:

The authors are Muslim interfaith activists who are deeply concerned with the treatment of Baha’is within the Middle East.
We don’t believe in the Baha’i faith, yet we respect those who do. There are minorities within our societies who are practicing Baha’is and for that, their rights are very rarely recognized, simply because of their religious differences. We do not approve of this.
We created this site to demand that the rights of Baha’i minorities is recognized by not only people, but by law.
We respectfully demand that all governments within the Arab and Muslim world allow Baha’i citizens to have equal opportunities in all fields and to practice their faith freely without facing any threats or discrimination whatsoever.
We would like to make the general public of the region be aware of Baha’i human rights abuses in order to take effective action against it. We can only successfully achieve the goals of this website if we move our citizens towards real action, no matter what our religious differences are. We are all civilians in need of basic rights, and thus we should join forces regardless of our differences and unite in a celebration of our diversity. Join us in this worthy struggle and make our goals a greater possibility in the name of freedom.