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On 4 September, a court in Azerbaijan's capital Baku extended the pre-trial detention of two female Jehovah's Witness prisoners of conscience for a further three months. The two female face up to five years' imprisonment for offering religious literature to nearby residents. They - 54-year-old Irina Zakharchenko (a disabled widow) and 38-year-old Valida Jabrayilova – have been imprisoned at the National Security Ministry (NSM) secret police Investigation Prison in Baku since February of this year to punish them for talking to residents near their homes about their faith in December 2014, international organization for freedom of religion or belief Forum 18 writes.

“The jailing of Muslim and Jehovah's Witness prisoners of conscience for their beliefs is part of a broader state crackdown,’’ Forum 18 says.

In the 4 September hearings at Baku's Sabail District Court, Judge Rauf Ahmadov ruled that Zakharchenko and Jabrayilova can be held in pre-trial detention until 17 December. "The two women were taken to the court, but as the hearings were closed, their relatives or friends were banned from attending. Such hearings are normally closed," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18.
Forum 18 was unable to reach Judge Ahmadov to find out why he considered it necessary to meet the Investigator's request to hold the women in the secret police Investigation Prison for a further three months. Each time Forum 18 called on 9 September, his assistant said he was in a court session.

The international organization goes on telling about the five Sunni Muslims were arrested in late February this year in Baku for selling religious literature without the compulsory state registration. All five – Imam Mubariz Qarayev, Habibulla Omarov, Salim Qasimov, Eyvaz Mammadov and Azad Qafarov – were connected with the Lezgin Mosque in Baku's Old City. Imam Qarayev led prayers there. The authorities have been seeking to forcibly close the Lezgin Mosque, as they have done with many other Sunni Mosques.

The other known NSM secret police prisoner of conscience arrested for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief is Shia Muslim Jeyhun Jafarov. He was arrested in March 2015 to punish him for being a translator of Islamic works and public broadcasts. Forum18 notes, that the NSM secret police is investigating Jafarov on charge of treason under Criminal Code Article 274. If tried and convicted, he faces imprisonment of between 12 years and life.

According to the information, while Jafarov has been allowed to have a copy of the Koran, he has been denied any other religious literature while in the NSM Investigation Prison. Zakharchenko and Jabrayilova have been denied any religious literature at all. Fellow Jehovah's Witnesses tried to hand in a copy of the Bible for them, but prison guards rejected it. Jehovah's Witnesses have repeatedly expressed concern about both women's emotional well-being.

The NSM secret police is investigating Zakharchenko and Jabrayilova under Criminal Code Article 167-2.2.1. This punishes: "Production, sale and distribution of religious literature, religious items and other informational materials of religious nature with the aim of import, sale and distribution without appropriate authorisation" when conducted by an "organised group". Punishment is a fine or imprisonment of two to five years.

Related:
Azerbaijani authorities deprived Orthodox believers of possibility of Sunday liturgy

Forum 18: Old Testament on police list of banned religious literature in Azerbaijan