U.S. Commission condemns violations of religious freedom and human rights in Azerbaijan
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemns the violations of religious freedom and human rights taking place in Azerbaijan. These violations are evident in the arrests, detentions, and harsh sentences given to human rights defenders, members of religious groups, and civil society activists. The statement is published on USCIRF website.
“The Azerbaijani government continues to hold prominent prisoners of conscience including RFE/RL investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova and Leyla and Arif Yunus. These courageous advocates who support religious freedom and human rights should be honored for their work rather than facing false accusations and detention and, in the case of the Yunuses, being held in pre-trail detention for over a year and denied much-needed medical care,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George.
Ismayilova, whose trial just ended in Baku with the prosecution seeking a nine-year sentence, is a well-known atheist who publically has supported Muslims’ right to religious expression. Leyla Yunus is the head of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and her husband Arif is an expert on Islam. Supporters of religious freedom, they have been given prison terms on August 14, 2015 of eight and one-half and seven years respectively. Lawyer Rasul Jafarov was sentenced in April 2015 to 6 ½ years in prison on false charges; he had worked with Leyla Yunus to document cases of religious prisoners – both were arrested shortly after publicizing their lists of prisoners, USCIRF said in the statement.
In early-July meetings with Azerbaijani officials in Baku, a USCIRF delegation raised concerns about religious freedom in the country, including the detention of the Yunuses. The delegation also raised the cases of Zakariyya Isakh Mammadov and Shahin Hasanov, two readers of Turkish theologian Said Nurs, whose texts are banned in Azerbaijan, and two female Jehovah’s Witnesses, Valida Jabrayilova and Irina Zakharchenko, who are in pre-trial detention for distributing religious texts, which the government had not officially approved. These actions contrast with the government’s support for other religious minorities, including Jews, Catholics, and Russian Orthodox, USCIRF points.
In its annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) stated that in Azerbaijan, 11 members of religious groups were imprisoned at the moment, seven were released in 2014; two were pardoned by President Aliyev in March 2015. In November 2014, nine Sunni Muslims arriving to pray in a Sumgait home were detained for several hours; police claimed to have found weapons. In February 2015, a Baku court sentenced the home’s owner, Zohrab Shikhaliyev (who offered his home for prayer because all local Sunni mosques were closed) to a six-month term on false weapons charges. Islamic theologian Taleh Bagirov, who publicly criticized the naming of a CMB (statebacked Caucasian Muslim Board) imam to serve in his mosque, was sentenced in 2013 on fabricated drug charges. The trial of three Muslims – Eldeniz Hajiyev, Ismayil Mammadov and Revan Sabzaliyev – for allegedly reading “illegal” religious literature and organizing an “illegal” religious group began in Baku in December 2014. If convicted, they face three to five year prison terms. Jehovah’s Witnesses Irina Zakharchenko and Valida Jabrayilova were also arrested and face up to a five-year term for offering religious literature.
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USCIRF: Religious repression in Azerbaijan increased in 2014; 11 members of religious groups imprisoned
Forum 18: Sunni Muslims sentenced in Azerbaijan for selling religious literature