By USCIRF –
While Egypt’s government continues to support initiatives that selectively promote religious diversity and tolerance, it continues to systematically restrict freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) by enforcing laws, policies, and judicial decisions that repress non-Muslim and Muslim religious minority communities. Such FoRB violations affect Coptic Christians, Jews, Baha’is, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Qur’anists, as well as nonbelievers.
In January 2025, the United Nations (UN) working group evaluating Egypt for its Universal Period Review (UPR) expressed concern that these religious and belief communities continue to face “varying forms of discrimination, including restrictions on the building and operation of places of worship and burial sites, restrictions on the public practice of their faith, including prosecution under blasphemy laws, and acts of violence and sectarian attacks carried out with impunity, including by armed groups.”
Egypt’s government is restricting FoRB in a context of immense political pressure. It is navigating the impacts of the existing conflict in Gaza that began with the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, including the absorption of approximately 100,000 Palestinian refugees, managing the flow of humanitarian assistance through the Rafah Crossing, protecting its national security in the Sinai, and serving as an intermediary for ceasefire negotiations. Furthermore, since the armed conflict erupted in Sudan in April 2023, the Egyptian government has been managing an influx of more than 1.2 million Sudanese refugees. Collectively, these dynamics place additional stresses on FoRB in a country already governed by laws and policies that systematically restrict religious freedom. This country update assesses the current state of religious freedom in Egypt, considering how this fraught landscape affects the Egyptian government’s efforts to protect FoRB for all.
Background: Egypt’s population is approximately 111.2 million, an estimated 90 percent of whom are Sunni Muslims. Shi’a, Qur’anist, and other non-Sunni Muslims comprise less than one percent. Article 2 of Egypt’s constitution specifies Islam as the official country religion and the “principles of Shari’a” constituting the primary source of legislation. Although Article 64 provides for “absolute” freedom of belief, only followers of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism—the three “heavenly religions”—have formal legal status to publicly practice religion and build houses of worship.
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