IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 413

Expressing the concern of the House of Representatives regarding the amount 

of United States foreign assistance provided to Egypt over the past 

25 years without meaningful political reforms by the Government of 

Egypt, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2005

Mr. POE (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. 

PENCE, Mr. WEINER, and Mr. FEENEY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 

RESOLUTION

Expressing the concern of the House of Representatives regarding the amount of United States foreign assistance 

provided to Egypt over the past 25 years without meaningful political reforms by the Government of Egypt, 

and for other purposes.

Whereas promoting freedom and democracy in Egypt is a foreign policy and national security priority of the United 

States; 

Whereas, despite being the second largest recipient of United 

States foreign assistance, Egypt’s democratic development has been extremely limited and its human rights 

record remains poor, according to the Department of 
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State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 

2004; 

Whereas criminal charges by the Government of Egypt 

against democracy activist and presidential candidate 

Ayman Nour have been dismissed as baseless by independent Egyptian lawyers and Nour’s trial is still pending until after the September 2005 Egyptian presidential 

elections; 

Whereas Egyptian authorities continue to mistreat and torture prisoners, arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, hold 

detainees in prolonged pretrial detention, and occasionally 

engage in mass arrests without charge; 

Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2005 report on Egypt finds that discrimination, intolerance, and other human rights violations committed by Egyptian authorities affect a broad 

spectrum of Egyptian society, including Muslims, Coptic 

Christians, Jews, Baha’is and members of other religious 

communities; 

Whereas tactics used by Egyptian state security services of 

interference, harassment, and surveillance against extremists and suspected terrorists are also employed 

against law-abiding members of all religious groups; 

Whereas state of emergency laws permit Egyptian state security services to detain individuals, particularly dissident 

Muslims, on charges of ‘‘unorthodox’’ Islamic beliefs and 

state security courts to prosecute those individuals who 

have been charged with insulting the so-called ‘‘heavenly 

religions,’’ Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, or inciting 

sectarian strife; 
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Whereas violent attacks on religious minorities, particularly 

Coptic Christians, by militant groups are an ongoing concern and the Government of Egypt has failed in the past 

to provide adequate protection for Christians or their 

property; 

Whereas permits required to build new non-Muslim places of 

worship require the approval of the President of Egypt, 

and repairs to existing non-Muslim places of worship require the approval of Egyptian governorates, causing 

such places of worship to languish for long periods of 

time under restrictive rules and practices; 

Whereas anti-Semitism in the state-controlled and semi-official media of Egypt as well as in the education system 

is prevalent; 

Whereas the Government of Egypt requires all citizens and 

residents to possess an identity card, listing an individual’s religion with choices limited to Islam, Christianity, 

or Judaism; 

Whereas converts from Islam to another religion have difficulty obtaining new identity cards when they attempt to 

register their change in religion with Egyptian authorities 

and often face harassment; 

Whereas those converts who alter their own identification 

cards and other official documents to reflect their new religious affiliation risk being criminally charged with falsifying official documents; 

Whereas all Baha’i institutions and community activities in 

Egypt are banned under a 1960 presidential decree, 

members of the Baha’i faith cannot obtain mandatory 

identity cards unless they list themselves as one of the 

three state-sanctioned religions, and Baha’is have been 
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labeled as apostates by Al-Azhar’s Islamic Research Center funded by the Government of Egypt; 

Whereas the Government of Egypt can and should do more 

to protect the right to freedom of religion or belief, in accordance with international human rights instruments to 

which Egypt is a party, to punish those responsible for 

religiously-motivated violence, and to combat widespread 

and virulent anti-Semitism and other intolerance in the 

media and in the education system; 

Whereas high level officials of the Government of Egypt have 

made public statements for years pledging political reforms, yet no discernible improvements are evident; and 

Whereas there are a number of Egyptian policies in place 

that could be repealed immediately and thereby demonstrate the Government of Egypt’s commitment to political reform: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

2 (1) calls on the Government of Egypt to imme3 diately—

4 (A) meet its obligations under the Uni5 versal Declaration of Human Rights and the 

6 International Covenant on Civil and Political 

7 Rights, to which Egypt is a party; 

8 (B) repeal the state of emergency and 

9 allow full access to the constitutional and inter10 national guarantees of the rule of law and due 

11 process for those individuals charged with vio12 lating section 98(f) of the Egyptian Penal Code, 
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1 which ‘‘prohibits citizens from ridiculing or in2 sulting heavenly religions or inciting sectarian 

3 strife,’’ instead of having those cases heard by 

4 the state security courts; 

5 (C) repeal a 1960 presidential decree ban6 ning members of the Baha’i community from 

7 practicing their faith; 

8 (D) take all appropriate steps to prevent 

9 and punish acts of anti-Semitism, including 

10 condemnation of anti-Semitic acts, and, while 

11 vigorously protecting freedom of expression, 

12 counteract anti-Semitic rhetoric in the govern13 ment-controlled media and other organized anti14 Semitic activities; 

15 (E) investigate and prosecute acts of vio16 lence against any individuals or groups on the 

17 basis of their religion; 

18 (F) implement procedures that would en19 sure that all places of worship are afforded 

20 equal treatment and protection; and 

21 (G) reform the national educational cur22 riculum to ensure that textbooks and other ma23 terials exclude any language or images that pro24 mote enmity, intolerance, hatred, or violence to-
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1 ward any individual or group of persons based 

2 on faith, gender, ethnicity, or nationality; and 

3 (2) calls on the Government of the United 

4 States to—

5 (A) seek to negotiate an agreement with 

6 the Government of Egypt to establish a time7 table, with a set of specific benchmarks for 

8 progress on political and human rights reforms, 

9 such that—

10 (i) if the benchmarks are met by the 

11 Government of Egypt, the United States 

12 should consider providing economic assist13 ance in areas where significant progress on 

14 reform has been made; or 

15 (ii) if the benchmarks are not met by 

16 the Government of Egypt, the United 

17 States should reconsider the dimensions 

18 and direction of economic assistance to 

19 Egypt; and 

20 (B) offer direct assistance to eligible Egyp21 tian human rights and other civil society 

22 groups, which seek to strengthen nonviolent, 

23 democratic principles and promote the rule of 
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1 law, without prior approval of the Government 

2 of Egypt.

Æ