Some Might Be More Fortunate Than Others!

While several thousand Baha'is continue to struggle in Egypt to survive in an oppressive environment that sanctions discrimination against them by depriving them identification (ID) documents, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior and the Foreign Ministry are deputizing emissaries to the United States and Canada to meet with Egyptian expatriates, in these countries, so that they would facilitate and expedite the issue of ID cards to these citizens living abroad.

This information was published in one of Egypt's leading newspapers, Al-Gomhoreyah [the Republic] in its 3 January 2009 edition (attached with this post). It announces that this consular mission, headed by Ambassador Muhammad Al-Dorghamy will travel to the cities of "New York, Washington, and Los Angeles in the US" as well as the "cities of Montreal and Toronto in Canada." This mission will also be accompanied by representatives of other Egyptian government agencies.

One cannot but to wonder at the irony of this precarious situation: government ministries that deprive its Egyptian citizens, living in their homeland, of their basic civil rights merely because of their religion while, at the exact same time, have its representatives travel thousands of miles to faraway lands in search for Egyptians--who are enjoying their full rights in these foreign countries (regardless of their religion)--to facilitate the issue of ID cards to such individuals who do not necessarily feel the urge or the need to acquire these documents!