The department's International Religious Freedom Report 2010 portrayed
an Egyptian regime that distinguishes between recognized and unrecognized
religions. The unrecognized religions, which have undergone official
harassment, included Shi'ites, Bahais as well as Christian converts.
"The government also sometimes arrested, detained, and harassed Muslims
such as Shi'a, Ahmadiyas, Quranists, converts from Islam to Christianity,
and members of other religious groups whose beliefs and/or practices it
deemed to deviate from mainstream Islamic beliefs and whose activities it
alleged to jeopardize communal harmony," the report, released on Nov. 17,
said. "Government authorities often refused to provide converts with new
identity documents indicating their chosen faith."
The report said Egypt, which receives $1.7 billion in annual U.S.
military
and civilian aid, has failed to respond to anti-Christian violence. The
State Department highlighted Muslim attacks on Egypt's Coptic minority, said
to comprise 10 percent of the overall population.
"The government failed to prosecute perpetrators of violence against
Coptic Christians in a number of cases, including in Baghoura, Farshout and
Marsa Matruh," the report said.
The report said violations of religious rights in Egypt have increased
over the last year. Authorities were said to have promoted reconciliation
sessions while Muslim assailants escaped prosecution. The State
Department cited sectarian violence in Naga Hamadi in January 2010, in which
six Copts and one Muslim were killed.
"There continued to be religious discrimination and sectarian tension in
society during the period covered by this report, and some religious groups
and activists reported an increase in sectarian tensions," the report said.