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386 granted Egyptian citizenship
Jordan Times, Thursday, October 30, 2003
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt has granted nationality to 386 people born to Egyptian mothers and foreign fathers, a move praised Wednesday by the new citizens but criticised by women's rights activists as falling short of the constitution.
Gen. Hamdi Hafez, head of the Passport Control Authority, announced Tuesday that the interior ministry had granted citizenship to 386 of the 4,000 who people who have applied since the government opened the door for applicants in September. "I could not believe myself when I knew I was granted the Egyptian nationality," said Bassel Samih, 31, who was born to an Egyptian mother and a Syrian father.
"I always wished it because I have been living here for all my life ... and I wanted to become Egyptian," said the manager of a tourism company.
Approximately 287,000 Egyptian women are married to non-Egyptians, according to official records. Their children are not citizens and so do not benefit from public education or subsidised healthcare. Mothers must pay the equivalent of $200 every five years to renew their child's residence.
Women activists, human rights groups and female parliamentarians, led by the president's wife, Suzanne Mubarak, have tried for years to amend the law, but all previous proposals were rejected.
Last month, President Hosni Mubarak acknowledged the right of Egyptian women to pass on their nationality to their children and assigned the government to prepare a draft law to amend the nationality law. The interior ministry is taking applications now for when the law is passed.
Until then, the interior minister must approve citizenship applications. The people who were recently approved meet the general requirements of the citizenship law: They are all over 21; speak Arabic; have spent at least 10 consecutive years in Egypt; have no handicaps and have a source of income. Women activists complained that the approval was not a move forward, as the nationality law still has not been amended in favour of Egyptian women married to foreigners. "There is no development since it is still up to the ministry of interior to decide who deserves to be granted the nationality," said Hoda Badran, head of the Alliance for Arab Women, a nongovernmental organisation.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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