Egypt’s Baha'i Community Faces Cemetery Shortage Amid Ongoing Religious Restrictions

Cairo’s only Baha'i cemetery, surrounded by palms and overgrown shrubs, is rapidly filling, leaving the community with few burial options. Baha'i doctrine permits moving a body no more than an hour from the place of death, which has pushed families to transport the deceased to this site after burial grounds in Alexandria and Port Said were exhausted or reassigned. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights says applications for new cemeteries in those coastal cities have been rejected without written reasons.

The burial dilemma mirrors other systemic hurdles, such as the inability to register Baha'i marriages, leading to “single” status on identity cards and complications for inheritance and health benefits. Court rulings that once recognized such marriages have been overturned, heightening fears among couples. Government statements claim no restrictions on belief and cite sufficient burial sites, while President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi emphasizes religious coexistence.