E/CN.4/2001/0063 page 13 32. The Special Rapporteur regrets the lack of effort and care taken with this reply, which is no reply at all, and requests Egypt to communicate its views and comments on the allegations summarized above. 33. According to another communication from the Special Rapporteur, the Supreme Religious Court in Cairo declared the Baha’i faith a dangerous heresy in 1925. In 1960, all Baha’i assemblies were dissolved, their property and other assets confiscated and their religious activities banned. Nevertheless, Baha’is supposedly remained free as individuals to practise their religion in accordance with the freedom of religion guaranteed to all under the Constitution. To this day, however, the Baha’i community is said to be subjected to constant close surveillance: Baha’is are not allowed to meet in groups, especially for religious observances, and their literature is destroyed. It is alleged that they cannot legally celebrate their marriages, which are deemed to constitute concubinage, while the children born of such unions are regarded as illegitimate. 34. According to a third communication, since May 2000 a hate campaign has been waged by extremists in Cairo against the author Haidar Haidar, who is accused, together with his publishers, the Ministry of Culture and liberal intellectuals, of blasphemy because of his novel A Feast of Seaweed. According to information from a variety of sources, this affair is being politically exploited by Muslim extremists, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, in the context of the forthcoming legislative elections. 35. Egypt has replied: “Concerning the campaign against the Minister of Culture and the Syrian author Haidar Haidar, when the General Assembly of Houses of Culture decided to publish a work entitled A Feast of Seaweed, the newspaper The People (formerly published by the Labour Party, whose activity has been suspended) took advantage of the opportunity to launch a media campaign against Ministry of Culture officials for publishing material that was secular in nature and was also, according to the paper, contrary to religious values and principles. While the paper’s management attempted to justify their provocative position on the grounds that they were upholding religious convictions, their real motives appear to have been rooted in an attempt to win electoral support with a view to the prospective legislative elections, in which the Labour Party intends to participate.” Concerning measures taken to prevent extremists from taking over mosques, Egypt has the following to say: “(a) Management of all mosques and shrines has been centralized in the hands of the Ministry of Awqaf [Islamic endowments]; that Ministry now has responsibility for 50,000 mosques and 10,000 shrines; (b) Every person not expressly authorized to do so is prohibited from mounting a mosque pulpit and delivering a sermon, inasmuch as the law requires a statement from the Ministry of Awqaf;