IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 200 

Calling on the Egyptian Government to respect human rights and freedoms 

of religion and expression in Egypt. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2009 

Mr. WOLF (for himself, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. PITTS, Mr. KIRK, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. 

DOGGETT, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. 

MCCOTTER, Mr. SOUDER, and Ms. ESHOO) 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; 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
2 

•HRES 200 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 in its 2008 annual international religious freedom 

report, the United States Department of State concluded 

that religious freedom conditions declined in Egypt and 

the United States Commission on International Religious 

Freedom continues to place Egypt on its watch list due 

to serious problems of discrimination and intolerance; 

Whereas the independence of the judiciary continues to be 

undermined through exceptional parallel court systems, 

executive administrative orders overriding judicial decisions, and politically motivated lawsuits; 

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 continue to face discrimination when applying for government issued documents; 

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; 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
3 

•HRES 200 IH 

(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; 

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

and 

(7) prejudice against Christian guardians in child 

custody cases which involve parents of both Muslim and 

Christian faith; 

Whereas blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman is still serving a 

four-year prison sentence for the peaceful expression of 

his views and is the first Egyptian blogger to be charged 

and convicted for blaspheming Islam, inciting sectarian 

strife, and criticizing President Hosni Mubarak; 

Whereas Egyptian authorities continue to apply the law on 

nongovernmental organizations in an arbitrary and discretionary manner, dissolving and harassing Egyptian 

human rights and political advocacy organizations; 

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 Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim has been convicted in 

absentia on politically motivated charges; 

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

their work; 

Whereas excessive use of force by Egyptian security, including against African migrants at the Egypt-Israel border, 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
4 

•HRES 200 IH 

is occurring in violation of Egypt’s obligations to protect 

fundamental human rights; 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; 

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

8 forms of harassment, including judicial measures, 

9 the detention of media professionals and, more gen10 erally, human rights defenders and activists calling 

11 for reforms and to fully respect freedom of expres12 sion, in conformity with article 19 of the United Na13 tions International Covenant on Civil and Political 

14 Rights; 

15 (3) encourages the Egyptian Government to 

16 honor its commitment to repeal the state of emer17 gency in order to allow for the full consolidation of 

18 the rule of law in Egypt; 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
5 

•HRES 200 IH 

1 (4) encourages the Egyptian Government to 

2 take the steps necessary to fully implement and pro3 tect the rights of religious minorities as full citizens; 

4 (5) strongly supports measures to guarantee 

5 academic freedom, freedom of the media, and free6 dom of religion or belief in Egypt, including by end7 ing arbitrary administrative measures, such as those 

8 taken against the Centre for Trade Union and 

9 Workers’ Services; 

10 (6) urges the Egyptian Government not to im11 pose arbitrary restrictions on the peaceful activities 

12 of civil society organizations; 

13 (7) calls on the Egyptian Government for— 

14 (A) the immediate and unconditional re15 lease of Abdel Karim Suleiman and all other 

16 political prisoners and democracy activists; 

17 (B) an end to the harassment of the 

18 Koranists; and 

19 (C) a repeal of the 1960 presidential de20 cree banning members of the Baha’i community 

21 from practicing their faith; 

22 (8) welcomes the Egyptian Government’s deci23 sion to pardon opposition political leader Ayman 

24 Nour for medical reasons after he served three of his 

25 five-year prison sentence; 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
6 

•HRES 200 IH 

1 (9) stresses the need to fully implement the 

2 principles of the 1969 Organization of African Unity 

3 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Ref4 ugee Problems in Africa and the 1993 International 

5 Convention concerning the rights and the protection 

6 of migrant workers and their families; 

7 (10) supports the concluding observations of 

8 the United Nations Committee on Migrant Workers 

9 of May 2007, which called for the re-opening of the 

10 investigations into the killing of 27 Sudanese asy11 lum-seekers in December 2005; 

12 (11) calls for an immediate end to Egypt’s 

13 ‘‘shoot to stop’’ border policy which has left at least 

14 32 African migrants, including women and children, 

15 dead; 

16 (12) calls for an end to all forms of torture and 

17 ill treatment and calls for investigations when there 

18 is reasonable suspicion that acts of torture have oc19 curred; 

20 (13) calls on the Egyptian Government to 

21 allow— 

22 (A) a visit by the United Nations Special 

23 Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhu24 man, or degrading treatment or punishment; 

25 and 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
7 

•HRES 200 IH 

1 (B) a visit by the United Nations Special 

2 Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; 

3 (14) emphasizes the importance of ensuring and 

4 strengthening the independence of the judiciary by 

5 amending or repealing all legal provisions that in6 fringe or do not sufficiently guarantee its independ7 ence; 

8 (15) stresses the need for respect and protec9 tion of the freedoms of thought, conscience, and reli10 gion as ensured in article 18 of the Universal Dec11 laration of Human Rights, article 18 of the Inter12 national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and 

13 the 1981 United Nations Declaration on the Elimi14 nation of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimi15 nation based on Religion and Belief; 

16 (16) encourages Egypt and all other parties 

17 concerned to redouble efforts to fight smuggling 

18 through tunnels into the Gaza strip; and 

19 (17) urges the President and the Secretary of 

20 State to put human rights and religious freedom de21 velopments in Egypt very high on the United States 

22 Government’s agenda during meetings with Egyp23 tian officials. 

Æ 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS