CAIRO: Almost 28 years after his father’s death, a young man is told that his deceased parent was a female, reported Al Akhbar newspaper describing the incident as one of the most shocking court case in years.
Nasser Ahmed was stunned to see the word ‘female’ written by mistake in the gender slot of his father’s official certificates. When he approached the clerk who made the mistake, he was told that it was almost impossible to correct it.
Years ago when Nasser was issued his father’s death certificate, he had noticed the mistake but he thought it would be easy to rectify.
Because Nasser is his mother’s only son he is exempt from military service. But when he proceeded to request the certificate of exemption he was told he couldn’t because his father was a woman.
So he returned to Al Badari health office in Assuit, which had produced the faulty certificate, but was told once more by one of the clerks that it was impossible to change.
Even a trip to the main civil affaires authority in Abbassiya in Cairo proved futile, despite the fact that he produced other documents proving that his father was a male.
Nasser lost his temper and began screaming in the middle of the office: “My father is a male, his name is Ahmed. But his screams fell on deaf ears.
His last resort was to file a lawsuit. But will it end this Kafkaesque ordeal?
