55.
The Complainants also submit that they have not submitted this Complaint to
any other procedure of international investigation or settlement.
56.
As far as Article 56(5) is concerned, they submit that on 10 June 2004, the
Complainants filed a lawsuit before the Court of Administrative Justice against the
Minister of Interior and the President of the Ministry of Interior’s Civil Status
Department (CSD) which is responsible for issuing official identification documents.
The lawsuit named the Complainants in their individual capacity and in their capacity
as guardians of their daughters.
57.
The Complainants submit that during the lawsuit, they asked the Minister of
Interior and the CSD to issue ID cards to them, new birth certificates for their
daughters, and that their Baha’i faith be recognized in those documents which require
applicants to mention their religious affiliation.
58.
The Court of Administrative Justice gave a decision on 4 April 2006, in favour
of the plaintiffs and ordered the CSD to grant the documents requested by the
Complainants. The Government decided to appeal the decision and on 15 May 2006,
the Appeals Inspection Chamber of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) declared
the Government’s appeal admissible. The SAC also granted the Government’s request
to suspend the implementation of the lower court’s ruling before the appeal.
59.
The Complainants submit that, the SAC further overturned the lower court’s
decision on 16 December 2006, and found that the State is under no obligation to issue
ID cards or birth certificates recognizing the Baha’i faith. They further submit that the
Ezzat case is final and cannot be appealed before any other Court within the
Respondent State.
60.
The Complainants further draw the attention of the Commission to the
decisions of the Lower Court of Administrative Justice on 29 January 2008 in the cases
between Rauf Hindi Halim v Minister of Interior and Others and Hosni Abdel-Massih v
Minister of the Interior and Others which are similar to the issues raised by the
Complainants. In those cases, the Lower Court ruled that the Baha’i applicants were
able to obtain certificates and identity documents that did not indicate any religious
affiliation, but did not find that the identity documents could state their religion as
Baha’i.
61.
The Complainants aver that, firstly, the decision in the cases above should have
no bearing on the admissibility of their case because the Commission and other
international bodies generally consider the effectiveness of domestic remedy by
reference to the state of the national law at the date the violation occurred. They submit
that, at the time they applied for identity documents, they were legally required to
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