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A Judge in the Azerbaijani capital Baku ordered two female Jehovah's Witnesses to be held for three months in the National Security Ministry secret police investigation prison, according to the decisions seen by Forum 18 News Service. Irina Zakharchenko and Valida Jabrayilova face up to five years' imprisonment if convicted of offering religious literature without state permission.

"This is a gross violation of the human rights of two innocent women, who are currently imprisoned because of their religious beliefs. The court's decision contradicts both Azerbaijani and international law," complained Jehovah's Witnesses members.
According to the article trouble began for Jehovah's Witnesses Zakharchenko, a 54-year-old pensioner, and 38-year-old Jabrayilova on 5 December 2014. They were going from door to door to discuss their faith and offer copies of Jehovah's Witness publications in Pirallahi. One of the residents reportedly filed a complaint against them to the district police for illegal distribution of religious literature. However, the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations - which implements the compulsory state censorship of all religious literature published in or imported into Azerbaijan - approved import of this publication on 11 August 2014. State Committee Deputy Chair Gunduz Ismayilov authorised the State Customs Committee to allow the import of 2,000 copies of the book, the Forum 18 notes.

As noted in the article the women's relatives (Zakharchenko's son and Jabrayilova's mother) came to the investigation prison to try to meet them. However, prison officials refused them. As the article notes, this is the first time Jehovah's Witnesses have been imprisoned on criminal charges not connected to refusal to serve in the armed forces, Forum 18 notes. In recent years the only non-Muslim prisoners of conscience jailed for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief have been Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors to compulsory military service, Forum 18 notes. In recent years several Protestant Christians have also served prison sentences to punish them for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief.

According to the article it was among Azerbaijan's prisons visited by a delegation from the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in December 2012. However, the Azerbaijani government has refused to allow the Committee to publish its report of the visit.

Forum 18 reminds that a Judge in Sumgait sentenced Sunni Muslim Zohrab Shikhaliyev to six months' imprisonment to punish him for maintaining a prayer room in his home. “Shikhaliyev established a Sunni Muslim prayer room in his home more than two years ago as no other Sunni mosque exists in Sumgait. The government is hostile to Sunni Muslims,” the publication reads.

The representative of the State Committee for Work with Religious Associations refused to discuss the problem with the “Forum 18.” The article notes that Many Muslims are in prison or on trial for exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief. The largest single group consists of those imprisoned to punish them for protesting on the streets of Baku in October 2012 against a 2010 Education Ministry ban on girls wearing a headscarf (hijab) in schools. Ten are still imprisoned