IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1303 

Calling on the Egyptian Government to respect human rights and freedoms 

of religion and expression in Egypt. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2008 

Mr. WOLF (for himself, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, 

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. KIRK, Mr. MCCOTTER, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PITTS, Ms. WATERS, Mr. PENCE, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mr. GOODE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the Egyptian Government to respect human rights 

and freedoms of religion and expression in Egypt. 

Whereas the promotion of respect for democracy, human 

rights, and civil liberties are fundamental principles and 

aims of the United States; 

Whereas the United States attaches great importance to relations with Egypt and considers fair and transparent elections as the only way to make progress towards a more 

democratic society; 

Whereas Egypt plays a significant role in the Middle East 

peace process and in the fight against international terrorism and fundamentalism; 


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•HRES 1303 IH 

Whereas the Egyptian authorities have promised to put an 

end to the imprisonment of journalists and bloggers, but 

this promise has so far gone unfulfilled; 

Whereas Shiites, Koranists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other 

religious minorities are harassed, arrested, and imprisoned by security services; 

Whereas all Baha’i institutions and community activities have 

been banned in Egypt since 1960, and members of the 

Baha’i faith are denied government required identification cards solely due to their religious affiliation; 

Whereas material vilifying Jews appears regularly in the 

state controlled and semi official media; 

Whereas the Copts, Egypt’s largest religious minority group 

and the largest Christian population in the Middle East, 

suffer from many forms of discrimination, including— 

(1) a lack of employment in higher positions of the 

public sector, universities, army, and the security service; 

(2) disproportional representation in Parliament and 

Shura Council; 

(3) difficulty in building and repairing churches; 

(4) lack of protection and lack of prosecution of perpetrators in cases of sectarian violence; 

(5) government harassment of converts to Christianity while the government encourages conversion to 

Islam; and 

(6) the inability to obtain government issued identification cards which reflect conversion to Christianity; 

Whereas the opposition presidential candidate Ayman Nour is 

still serving a five-year prison sentence following an unfair trial in 2005 on politically motivated charges; 


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•HRES 1303 IH 

Whereas his health is deteriorating as a consequence of this 

imprisonment; 

Whereas his numerous appeals for release on the grounds of 

his medical conditions and his request for a presidential 

pardon in March of 2008 have all been rejected; 

Whereas Egyptian authorities closed the Centre for Trade 

Union and Workers’ Services and its branches, this being 

the first closure of a nongovernmental advocacy organization by an executive decision; 

Whereas the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies 

and its founder, Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, have been 

threatened for their work to promote democratic reforms; 

Whereas other civil society development organizations, including the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, have also been restricted in 

their work; and 

Whereas the recent arrests and action against nongovernmental organizations and human rights defenders undermines the commitments entered into by the Egyptian 

Government concerning fundamental rights and freedoms 

and the democratic process in the country: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes that respect for human rights is 

3 a fundamental value, and the bilateral relationship 

4 between the United States and Egypt should be a 

5 platform for promoting the rule of law and funda6 mental freedoms; 


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•HRES 1303 IH 

1 (2) calls on the Egyptian Government to end all 

2 forms of harassment, including judicial measures, 

3 the detention of media professionals and, more gen4 erally, human rights defenders and activists calling 

5 for reforms and to fully respect freedom of expres6 sion, in conformity with article 19 of the United Na7 tions International Covenant on Civil and Political 

8 Rights; 

9 (3) encourages the Egyptian Government to 

10 honor its commitment to repeal the state of emer11 gency in order to allow for the full consolidation of 

12 the rule of law in Egypt; 

13 (4) encourages the Egyptian Government to 

14 take the steps necessary to fully implement and pro15 tect the rights of religious minorities as full citizens; 

16 (5) strongly supports measures to guarantee 

17 academic freedom, freedom of the media, and free18 dom of religion or belief in Egypt, including by end19 ing arbitrary administrative measures, such as those 

20 taken against the Centre for Trade Union and 

21 Workers’ Services and the Association for Human 

22 Rights Legal Aid; 

23 (6) urges the Egyptian Government not to im24 pose arbitrary restrictions on the peaceful activities 

25 of civil society organizations; 


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•HRES 1303 IH 

1 (7) calls on the Egyptian Government for— 

2 (A) the immediate release of Ayman Nour, 

3 in light of reports of his deteriorating state of 

4 health, and calls for an immediate welfare visit, 

5 including a visit by qualified medical personnel; 

6 (B) the release of all political prisoners 

7 and other activists; and 

8 (C) an end to the harassment of the 

9 Koranists; 

10 (8) stresses the need to fully implement the 

11 principles of the 1969 Organization of African Unity 

12 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Ref13 ugee Problems in Africa and the 1993 International 

14 Convention concerning the rights and the protection 

15 of migrant workers and their families; 

16 (9) supports the concluding observations of the 

17 United Nations Committee on Migrant Workers of 

18 May 2007, which called for the re-opening of the in19 vestigations into the killing of 27 Sudanese asylum20 seekers in December 2005; 

21 (10) calls for an end to all forms of torture and 

22 ill treatment and calls for investigations when there 

23 is reasonable suspicion that acts of torture have oc24 curred; 


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•HRES 1303 IH 

1 (11) calls on the Egyptian Government to 

2 allow— 

3 (A) a visit by the United Nations Special 

4 Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhu5 man, or degrading treatment or punishment; 

6 and 

7 (B) a visit by the the United Nations Spe8 cial Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; 

9 (12) emphasizes the importance of ensuring and 

10 strengthening the independence of the judiciary by 

11 amending or repealing all legal provisions that in12 fringe or do not sufficiently guarantee its independ13 ence; 

14 (13) stresses the need for respect and protec15 tion of the freedoms of thought, conscience, and reli16 gion as ensured in article 18 of the Universal Dec17 laration of Human Rights, article 18 of the Inter18 national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and 

19 the 1981 United Nations Declaration on the Elimi20 nation of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimi21 nation based on Religion and Belief; 

22 (14) welcomes the efforts made by Egypt to se23 cure the border with Gaza and encourages all parties 

24 concerned to redouble efforts to fight smuggling 

25 through tunnels into the Gaza strip; and 


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•HRES 1303 IH 

1 (15) urges the President and the Secretary of 

2 State to put human rights and religious freedom de3 velopments in Egypt very high on the United States 

4 Government’s agenda during meetings with Egyp5 tian officials. 

Æ 


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