CAIRO, Egypt: Citing a long list of chilling testimonials, human rights groups called on the U.S.-backed Egyptian government to stop discriminating against converts from Islam and members of some religious minorities who want their faiths reflected on their national identity cards.

Egyptians must list their religion on their ID cards, which are required for enrolling in university, starting a job, opening a bank account and most other aspects of public life.

Two advocacy groups, Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, spent two years documenting such cases and released their joint 98-page report Monday at a news conference in Cairo.