Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

F18News Summary: Azerbaijan; Belarus; Russia; Uzbekistan;

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • F18News Summary: Azerbaijan; Belarus; Russia; Uzbekistan;

    FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
    http://www.forum18.org/

    The right to believe, to worship and witness
    The right to change one's belief or religion
    The right to join together and express one's belief

    ========================================== ======
    24 September 2008
    AZERBAIJAN: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SURVEY, SEPTEMBER 2008
    http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id =1192
    In its survey analysis of religious freedom in Azerbaijan, Forum 18 News
    Service has found continuing violations of freedom of thought, conscience
    and belief. The state attempts to control or limit the majority Muslim and
    minority religious communities, including imposing strict censorship,
    violating its international human rights commitments. The situation in the
    Nakhichevan exclave is worse than the rest of the country. Officials often
    claim that Azerbaijan is a state of religious tolerance - a view promoted
    by government-favoured groups - but the state promotes intolerance of some
    minorities and has not introduced the genuine religious freedom necessary
    for genuine religious tolerance to flourish. Many officials are convinced
    that ethnic Azeris should not be non-Muslims, and act on this conviction.
    In practice, many violations of the human rights of both Muslims and
    non-Muslims - such as the detention of Baptist prisoner of conscience Hamid
    Shabanov and a ban on Muslims praying outside mosques - are based on
    unwritten understandings and even violations of the written law.
    * See full article below. *


    25 September 2008
    BELARUS: CHRISTIAN MUSIC FESTIVAL BANNED
    http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_ id=1193
    Belarus has banned a Christian music festival, initiated by Catholics,
    minutes before it was due to begin, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. The
    organisers had obtained written state permission for the festival. But, ten
    minutes before the first concert was to begin, local Ideology Department
    head Lyudmila Gornak arrived at the festival and announced that it was
    banned. Gornak refused to explain to Forum 18 why the event was banned,
    claiming - falsely - that she had told the organisers of unspecified
    "mistakes." Asked repeatedly by Forum 18 for examples of the "mistakes,"
    she would not name any. During a recent visit to Belarus, Cardinal
    Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone gave the government the thanks of Pope
    Benedict XVI "for the religious liberty that Belarus enjoys," and praised
    the 2002 Religion Law as "a good law." However, Belarusian Catholic,
    Orthodox and Protestant human rights defenders have collected a 50,000
    signature petition against the Law. Taking note of the human rights
    defenders' concerns, the European Parliament passed a resolution observing
    that the 2002 Law "contravenes international principles of religious
    freedom and human rights, including those laid out in the International
    Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)."


    22 September 2008
    RUSSIA: UNREGISTERED BAPTISTS PRESSURED
    http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?artic le_id=1190
    Baptists in different parts of Russia have experienced state harassment in
    recent months, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. This has included
    interrogation by the FSB security service, defamatory state television
    coverage, a warning for home worship and a fine for preaching in public.
    The congregations concerned all belong to the Baptist Council of Churches,
    whose communities do not register with state authorities. In one example,
    two FSB security service officers in Kurgan Region separately questioned
    two Yurgamysh church members for four hours about internal church matters.
    Regional state TV later broadcast a programme on the church called
    "Criminal News". This made unsubstantiated allegations, such as that
    children from the church are "retarded, downtrodden, dress differently from
    other [school] pupils and often have to repeat the year," and that church
    members live off illegal business. The region's parliament is to consider
    proposals "to protect citizens from religious sects" on 30 September.
    Proposals include compulsory notification of the existence of an
    unregistered religious group and compulsory registration for communities
    with ten or more members.


    22 September 2008
    UZBEKISTAN: CRIMINAL TRIAL FOR TEACHING RELIGION TO RESTART?
    http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1191
    The criminal trial in Uzbekistan of Protestant Christian Aimurat
    Khayburahmanov is expected to resume tomorrow (Tuesday 23 September), Forum
    18 News Service has been told by church members. Khayburahmanov has been
    detained since 14 June, and is being tried for teaching religion without
    official approval, and establishing or participating in a "religious
    extremist" organisation. If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of
    between five and 15 years' imprisonment. Elsewhere, Alisher Abdullaev, a
    Baptist, has been fined after police found him distributing free-of-charge
    Christian literature, which was confiscated. At his trial, it was decided
    to give the Russian-language literature to the state Religious Affairs
    Committee, as it could possibly be used by registered religious
    organisations, and to destroy the literature in Uzbek. The court reasoned
    that this could be used for missionary activity, which is a criminal
    offence. The Judge's assistant refused to discuss this with Forum 18.


    24 September 2008
    AZERBAIJAN: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SURVEY, SEPTEMBER 2008

    http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_i d=1192
    By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>

    Ahead of the Universal Periodic Review of Azerbaijan by the United Nations
    (UN) Human Rights Council in February 2009, Forum 18 News Service has found
    tight official controls over religious communities and unwritten
    restrictions on peaceful religious activity.

    Azerbaijan's government claims to be secular, officially recognizing no
    state religion. State-sanctioned Islam, Russian Orthodox Christianity, and
    Judaism are considered "traditional" and so their official bodies receive
    preferential treatment, such as being allowed a public voice and avoiding
    official harassment. Despite this preferred status, all three "traditional"
    religions are subordinate to government control and scrutiny, especially
    Islam.

    The state appears to be fundamentally hostile to freedom of thought,
    conscience and belief, state policy apparently being to control faiths it
    regards as a potential challenge (especially Islam), to limit or co-opt
    faiths it sees as useful (Judaism, Russian Orthodoxy, Lutheranism and
    Catholicism) and to actively restrict faiths that it dislikes (some
    Protestant Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses). Faiths with a small following
    who function unobtrusively, such as Molokans (an early Russian Protestant
    group), Georgian Orthodox, Hare Krishna and Baha'is, have mainly tended to
    be able to operate without much hostile government attention.

    Freedom of thought, conscience and belief acts as a litmus test of the
    state of the rule of law and human rights in any society. So violations of
    religious freedom are linked with violations of such human rights as
    freedom of speech and association, freedom of the media, etc., as well as
    with similar violations in other areas of society and politics. Since 1993,
    Azerbaijan has been ruled by the Aliev family, first by Heidar Aliev
    (President from 1993 to 2003), then by his son Ilham Aliev (President since
    2003). New presidential elections are scheduled for 15 October 2008, and
    the authorities are trying to ensure Ilham Aliev's victory. Despite massive
    oil wealth and a booming economy in the capital Baku, much of the
    population remains in poverty. Corruption is said by many observers to be
    widespread. The long-running dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh,
    remains unresolved and is a source of continuing tension, religious
    minorities having sometimes been accused of being "Armenian spies."

    Much of Azerbaijan's population of more than 8 million would identify
    themselves as Muslim by tradition. Although most of these are of Shia
    background, there is also a large Sunni Muslim minority. The state has been
    hostile to Muslim scholarship advocating genuine religious freedom, and
    seeing pluralist democracy as totally compatible with Islam. All Muslim
    communities are compelled by the Religion Law to be under the control of
    the state-favoured Caucasian Muslim Board.

    Government control of the majority religious community and harassment of
    minority communities violates Azerbaijan's international human rights
    commitments, such as those it undertook as a member of the Council of
    Europe and participating State in the Organisation for Security and
    Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). This appears, from Forum 18's observation of
    officials' responses, to stem from a fear of social change they cannot
    control, and a dislike of pluralism.

    The situation in Nakhichevan [Naxçivan], an exclave between Armenia, Iran,
    and Turkey separated from the rest of Azerbaijan is considerably worse that
    the rest of the country. There has long been a de facto ban on religious
    activity by non-Muslim communities in Nakhichevan. Baha'is, a small
    Adventist congregation and a Hare Krishna community have been banned. "Of
    course our people would like to be able to meet" a Baha'i told Forum 18.
    Muslim communities too are under strict control by the Nakhichevan
    authorities. "There is no democracy, no free media and no human rights in
    Nakhichevan," Professor Ali Abasov of the International Religious Liberty
    Association told Forum 18. Asked why, he responded with a grim laugh: "The
    authorities don't want it," insisting that the Nakhichevan authorities are
    doing what the authorities in the rest of Azerbaijan would like to do.

    Officials often claim that Azerbaijan is a country of religious tolerance
    - a view sedulously promoted by government-favoured groups such as the
    Russian Orthodox Church, and the Jewish communities (Mountain, Georgian and
    Ashkenazi Jewish). At the time of the 2002 visit of Pope John Paul II,
    Catholics also promoted this view. Land was subsequent granted in Baku for
    a new Catholic church to be built. Orthodoxy's worldwide leader, Ecumenical
    Patriarch Bartholomew, repeated the same message during his high-profile
    visit in 2003. Social relations between the more visible religious
    communities are generally good, but the government - through such devices
    as sometimes broadcasting hostile TV film footage after police raids -
    promotes intolerance of some minorities.

    Azerbaijan has continued many of the Soviet period's mechanisms of
    control, and has not introduced the genuine religious freedom which is an
    essential pre-condition for genuine religious tolerance to flourish. Many
    officials are therefore convinced that ethnic Azeris should not be
    non-Muslims, and act on this conviction.

    For example, during an autumn 2007 police raid on a Protestant church in
    Sumgait [Sumqayit], north of Baku, some 30 church members were detained.
    Police pressured them to renounce their faith, calling in the local imam.
    "The imam held up a copy of the Koran and police tried to force church
    members to pass underneath it and deny their faith," one Protestant told
    Forum 18. It is illegal for police to force individuals to renounce their
    faith.

    National and local officials of the State Committee for Work with
    Religious Organisations have repeatedly alleged that Protestant Christians
    and Jehovah's Witnesses have violated the law by holding "illegal
    meetings", and that their communities should be closed down. Such claims
    encourage the belief among officials and the public that such groups are a
    threat to society.

    Unwritten controls

    Although the 1992 Religion Law (amended in 1996 and 1997) contains some
    restrictions on religious freedoms, most of the controls on free religious
    practice are unwritten. Without indications of approval from senior figures
    in authority, religious communities cannot be registered. Even though
    unregistered activity is not formally illegal, without some indications of
    official approval neither registered nor unregistered communities can only
    with difficulty undertake visible religious activity. This in practice
    prevents them from buying or building places of worship, recovering
    religious property confiscated during the Soviet era, holding large-scale
    events, running media operations, publishing religious literature or
    maintaining religious bookshops.

    Police and National Security Ministry (NSM) secret police officers often
    prevent religious activity that does not have such "authorisation". A
    religious community without links to influential figures can be raided,
    harassed and threatened. It can have its property taken away and individual
    members beaten and arrested.

    For example, Jehovah's Witnesses have faced repeated harassment with
    little legal foundation. Police in the north-western town of Zakatala
    [Zaqatala] arrested two Jehovah's Witnesses in July 2008 for talking about
    their faith to neighbours. Police questioned, threatened, insulted and
    swore at them, even though they had committed no crime. One was threatened
    with being dismissed from her job, even though this would be illegal. The
    other was expelled from Azerbaijan under the Code of Administrative
    Offences. In March 2008 police had raided the Zakatala home of another
    Jehovah's Witness and confiscated religious literature without a court
    order.

    Imam Kazim Aliev, who led the only Sunni mosque in Azerbaijan's second
    city Gyanja [Gäncä], was in March 2006 warned "unofficially" by police not
    to return to his mosque after being imprisoned, or be arrested. The mosque
    community insist that the charges against him of organising an armed
    uprising were falisfied. Imam Aliev categorically denied to Forum 18 the
    official claims. "How can three people organise an uprising? All our group
    did was to discuss Islam." He noted sadly to Forum 18 that he has given up
    trying to return to his old mosque as he knows "one hundred percent" that
    if he returned he would be sent back to prison.

    Azerbaijani law does not ban religious activity in private homes, although
    state officials generally believe that it does. Nine Jehovah's Witness men
    detained at a religious meeting in a private home in Baku in June 2008 were
    told by police the meeting was "illegal". Officers beat and threatened them
    with rape.

    Protestants too - including Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists - have
    faced repeated raids and fines. Police raided Adventist congregations in
    December 2007 in Baku and in Gyanja. The pastor in Gyanja was threatened
    with prison, if he refused to ban children from attending worship services
    and did not halt worship in two church-owned properties.

    Baptist communities in the mainly Georgian-speaking village of Aliabad
    near Zakatala have faced perhaps the greatest pressure in recent months.
    After years of harassment, threats, destruction of property, confiscation
    of religious literature and denial of state registration, Pastor Zaur
    Balaev was arrested by police in May 2007. He was accused of physically
    assaulting five police officers, a charge his congregation insists was
    fabricated by police. Despite serious illegalities in the court
    proceedings, including prosecution witnesses openly admitting that police
    told them what to say, Balaev was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. He
    was freed in March 2008. In June 2008, Balaev's fellow pastor Hamid
    Shabanov was arrested on charges of possessing a gun illegally. The
    congregation insists this charge too is equally fabricated. Shabanov's
    trial has begun, but a judge sent the case back to investigators in July
    2008 for further work. Yet again, there have been serious illegalities in
    the court proceedings.

    Said Dadashbeyli, a Muslim from Baku, founded an Islamic group called Nima
    in 2005. His family say he promoted a "European style of Islam", mutual
    respect and unity between Shias and Sunnis, and rejected fundamentalism. He
    received a 14-year sentence at a closed trial in December 2007. His lawyer
    and family insist that he and eight of the 15 people sentenced with him are
    innocent of the terrorism-related charges levelled against them. His appeal
    to Azerbaijan's Supreme Court was rejected in September 2008.

    Religious communities without approval - formal or informal - from senior
    figures in authority do not enjoy security of property ownership. In August
    2008 a Baku-based Protestant church, Cathedral of Praise, which claims 800
    adult members, had its place of worship confiscated. The church bought the
    land and building legally in 2004, but a private company claimed that the
    church had not not done so legally. No compensation is being offered. The
    Church is uncertain whether the action was based on hostility to religious
    freedom, but points out that its property rights have been violated. It was
    founded in 1994 but only managed to gain registration in 1999. Its Swedish
    pastor had his visa application denied in 2005 and was given two weeks to
    leave Azerbaijan. He was subsequently blacklisted from returning to the
    country.

    Communities without strong official approval of some kind cannot regain
    property confiscated during the Soviet era. Baku's Baptist community has
    long sought to regain a century-old church in the city centre, Baku's
    former Ashkenazi synagogue has not been returned, and Baku's Baha'i
    community would like to regain a building important to the history of their
    faith.

    Similarly, such communities cannot invite foreigners for religious work.
    In contrast, this has been permitted for Catholics, Jews, Lutherans,
    Russian Orthodox, the one permitted Georgian Orthodox parish and the one
    permitted English-language Protestant congregation.

    In north-west Azerbaijan, children given Christian (or Georgian) and not
    Muslim first names by their parents in Aliabad, Zakatala Region, have been
    denied birth certificates by officials. They have no formal power to deny
    Christian parents such choices of name, and without a birth certificate a
    child cannot go to kindergarten or to school, get treatment in a hospital,
    or travel abroad.

    Officials have also interfered in individuals' appearance and dress,
    especially when it appears to demonstrate their religious affiliation. In
    August 2008, according to the imam of Baku's Abu-Bekr mosque, police at two
    Baku police stations forcibly shaved off the beards of 20 men from the
    congregation. Muslim women have at times faced obstructions working in
    official institutions while wearing headscarves.

    Registration obstructions

    The main instrument of formal written control is official registration:
    without it, individual religious communities cannot act as a body,
    including owning or renting property, or holding bank accounts. Although
    the Religion Law does not make registration compulsory, government
    officials at all levels often act as though it does. Police and local
    authorities have raided many religious communities that have chosen not to
    register or have tried to register but have been refused.

    The State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, which has
    overseen the registration process since it was established in 2001, has a
    wide range of techniques for dealing with registration applications it
    regards as unwelcome: it pressures religious communities to withdraw those
    applications, ignores them, returns them repeatedly for "corrections" of
    "errors" or rejects them.

    Indeed, as registration applications need prior approval from local
    authorities before they even reach the committee, the scope for unpopular
    religious communities to be barred from registering is wide. An example is
    the actions of the State Notary in Aliabad. She has for many years refused,
    with no legal basis, to notarise the signatures of the ten founders of the
    local Baptist congregation. The State Committee registration regulations
    also require a certificate from the employer of each of the ten founders,
    without specifying why this is needed, what it should contain and what
    happens for founders who are not in employment. Founders must also provide
    a certificate from a headquarters body setting out the "need" for such a
    community, making it technically impossible to found an independent
    religious community.

    2,000 religious communities are thought to function in some form, of which
    406 had registration with the Ministry of Justice before the State
    Committee was set up in 2001. In September 2008 the State Committee
    reported that 480 Muslim and 32 non-Muslim religious communities are
    registered. There is no means of reliably and independently verifying these
    figures.

    Amongst those known to have been denied registration either at local or
    national level are: independent mosques; Baptist communities in Aliabad and
    the south-eastern town of Neftechala (at the mouth of the river Kura);
    Adventists in Nakhichevan; the Greater Grace Protestant church in Ismaili
    south of Quba; an independent Lutheran congregation in Baku; as well as a
    variety of Protestant churches in Sumgait. The authorities particularly
    dislike Protestant churches that attract a mainly ethnic Azeri membership.
    The former head of the State Committee, Rafik Aliev, had Baku's
    Azeri-language Baptist church closed down by court order in 2002 after
    alleging that the pastor, Sari Mirzoyev, had insulted Islam. Mirzoyev was
    "banned" from preaching and subjected to a harsh media campaign.

    Religious communities denied registration have the possibility of
    challenging the denial through the courts. However, most prefer not to take
    that step, fearing that corruption in the court system and the closeness of
    the judicial system to the government will prevent a fair verdict. When the
    Baku Baptist community challenged its court-ordered liquidation, it failed
    to have the liquidation order overturned. Communities denied registration
    also fear that if they make waves they will only attract further
    "punishment", such as police visits.

    The denial of registration to religious communities the government does
    not like also extends to religious-related groups. The local branch of the
    International Religious Liberty Association, founded with interfaith
    backing in 2002, applied for registration with the Justice Ministry but
    received no answer. The Devamm group led by Ilgar Ibrahimoglu Allahverdiev,
    which campaigns for Muslims' rights, failed to gain registration. This was
    despite a court ruling in its favour.

    Lack of openness in religious policy formulation and enactment

    Officials have for some years hinted that the Religion Law needs revision,
    but the State Committee told Forum 18 categorically in May 2008 that there
    will be no new Law. Many religious believers of a variety of faiths have
    called for removal of restrictions from it. No open public discussion on
    whether a new Law should or should not be presented to the Milli Mejlis
    (the parliament) has taken place.

    The State Committee, like many government agencies, acts mainly behind
    closed doors, releasing little information about how it reaches decisions.
    Its website dqdk.gov.az does not appear to have been updated since
    September 2007. Consultation hours for religious communities and members of
    the public at its Baku headquarters have been sharply reduced since Hidayat
    Orujev was appointed to lead it in July 2006.

    Communities have little opportunity to challenge the time taken to decide
    on registration applications, or how the State Committee decides which
    documents to challenge. Symptomatic of this lack of transparency is the
    State Committee's refusal to allow itself to respond to questioning by
    independent groups. Its officials try to avoid answering questions about
    specific religious freedom violations.

    The State Committee's in practice unlimited powers allow it to make
    decisions based on questionable legal foundations. In late August 2008,
    nearly two weeks after a fatal bomb attack at Baku's Abu-Bekr mosque, the
    State Committee banned worshippers from praying outside near mosques when
    they are full. The ban was communicated through the mass media only after
    police prevented worshippers from praying outside several Baku mosques. The
    State Committee claimed the "temporary" ban - which it said extended across
    the entire country - was to protect worshippers.

    State intrusion into religious communities' affairs

    Protestant and Jehovah's Witness communities have been subjected to police
    raids, beating and harassment of individual members and denial of
    registration. However, it is the Muslim community that faces the greatest
    state meddling. The government doubtless fears that it might become a
    source of opposition, with the power to mobilise large numbers of people.

    Articles 8 and 9 of the Religion Law require all Muslim communities to be
    part of the state-sanctioned Caucasian Muslim Board, led by Sheikh-ul-Islam
    Allahshukur Pashazade, despite claims that the state does not interfere in
    the internal activity of religious organisations. Independent mosques,
    which dislike the control imposed by the Caucasian Muslim Board, have faced
    government pressure and interference. Imams the authorities do not like
    have been removed. In June 2004 police ousted the community led by its
    imam, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, from the Juma (Friday) Mosque in Baku's Old City.

    Amongst the Muslim community, the state is particularly suspicious of
    fundamentalist-oriented Muslims - especially those linked or suspected to
    be linked with neighbouring Iran. The government appears to be fearful of
    losing control of traditional Muslim congregations, if
    fundamentalist-orientated Islam gains greater regional influence. However
    these fears lead to state surveillance of, and interference with,
    apolitical, peaceful Muslim groups. There appears to be little official
    understanding that this can increase the appeal of the very groups the
    government most fears, and that freedom of thought, conscience and belief
    reduces the tensions fuelling the appeal of such groups.

    The State Committee takes part in drawing up and enacting "attestation
    tests" for imams, a clear violation of the autonomy of religious
    communities. In 2007 it issued a book for imams on Friday sermons, with
    "recommendations" on what they should cover.

    The State Committee has always interpreted provisions in Articles 8 and 9
    of the Religion Law allowing non-Muslim communities to be governed by a
    headquarters based abroad as a requirement. It therefore refuses to
    register locally-based religious minority communities. This adds to the
    popular perception that religious minorities are "foreign".

    Religious censorship

    Censorship of religious literature - which existed during the Soviet
    period - was continued in the 1992 Religion Law and its subsequent amended
    versions. Azeri diplomats have denied that such censorship exists. The Law
    requires permission from the State Committee before a religious community
    or individual can publish, import or distribute any religious literature,
    in clear violation of Azerbaijan's commitments to freedom of speech.
    Article 9.2 of the July 2001 regulation covering the duties of the State
    Committee clearly spells out its censorship tasks: "Take control of the
    production, import and distribution of religious literature, items, other
    religious informational materials and give its consent on the bases of the
    appeals of the religious institutions and relevant state bodies in
    accordance with the established procedure."

    Only registered religious centres can apparently establish religious
    publishing houses - and all literature they produce must be subjected to
    prior censorship. The State Committee also insists that the number of
    copies of each work to be imported or printed locally must also be
    approved. A special Expertise Department of the State Committee oversees
    this censorship. The State Committee has denied that the compulsory prior
    approval required for all religious literature is censorship. Asked by
    Forum 18 how he would describe it, an official stated that the Committee
    "merely checks" to see which books were "not appropriate" for distribution
    and maintains a list of "banned" religious literature. This list is not
    published.

    Religious literature sent by post is often blocked. All incoming parcels
    are sent to the International Post Office in Baku, regardless of where the
    intended recipient lives in Azerbaijan. Wherever they live in the country
    (which has a land area of 86,600 km² or 33,436 miles²), the intended
    recipient has to - in person - go to the International Post Office in Baku.
    They then have to collect one copy of each title posted to them and - in
    person - take it to the State Committee. When and if the State Committee
    grants or withholds permission to receive the title, the intended recipient
    then has to - in person - collect a letter from the State Committee and
    take it back to the International Post Office. If the State Committee has
    granted permission, the intended recipient will at last receive the
    literature they have been sent. Religious minorities have complained of the
    extraordinary effort needed to try to extract even a handful of books that
    should rightfully be theirs, which often ends in failure. This has forced
    some religious minorities to ask friends abroad not to send them
    literature.

    Police also confiscate religious literature during raids. Baptist pastor
    Hamid Shabanov in the northern village of Aliabad had Christian Bibles and
    books in Georgian and Azeri confiscated in a police raid in June 2008.
    Religious literature was also confiscated by police in nearby Zakatala
    three months earlier from Jehovah's Witness Matanat Gurbanova. In both
    cases, police said the literature was "illegal".

    Numerous Azeri believers of all faiths - including Muslims, Protestants
    and others - have seen religious literature confiscated at customs. In
    their travel advice for their own citizens, some countries - such as
    Australia and the USA - warn visitors to Azerbaijan that "customs
    authorities may enforce strict regulations" on bringing in religious
    literature.

    Conscientious objection to military service punished

    Military service is compulsory for all healthy young men. Azerbaijan
    offers no civilian alternative to those who cannot serve in the military on
    grounds of conscience. In General Comment 22 on Article 18 of the
    International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Human Rights
    Committee has stated that conscientious objection to military service is a
    legitimate part of everyone's right to freedom of thought, conscience and
    religion.

    When Azerbaijan joined the Council of Europe in 2001, it pledged to
    introduce alternative civilian service by January 2003, but it has not done
    so. Article 76 of Azerbaijan's Constitution provides that "if beliefs of
    citizens come into conflict with service in the army then in some cases
    envisaged by legislation alternative service instead of regular army
    service is permitted". Despite the Constitutional provision and the Council
    of Europe commitments, officials at Azerbaijan's Human Rights Ombudsman
    Office told Forum 18 in 2006 that "signing such commitments doesn't mean we
    have to accept these rights without a corresponding law". A draft Law
    introducing an alternative service has been prepared but has not been sent
    to the Milli Mejlis.

    Conscientious objectors to military service are punished under Article
    321.1 of the Criminal Code: "Evasion without lawful grounds from a call to
    military service or from mobilisation, with the purpose of evading military
    service, is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years."

    Jehovah's Witness Samir Huseynov was insulted at the Military Conscription
    Office, when he declared he could not serve in the armed forces because of
    his faith. He was imprisoned for 10 months in October 2007 under Article
    321.1. He was freed in May 2008, even though his appeal failed, and has
    been left with a criminal record. In July 2006, conscientious objector
    Mushfiq Mammedov, who was studying to become a Jehovah's Witness, was found
    guilty of violating Article 321.1. He was given a suspended sentence of six
    months. In summer 2008, prosecutors sought to prosecute him for a second
    time on charges of evading military service, although the Constitution and
    the Criminal Code ban charging people a second time for the same offence.

    Restricted religious freedom for foreigners

    Foreign citizens are in international law entitled to religious freedom
    within the country. Although there is no specific legal provision that bans
    foreign citizens from leading religious organisations, the Religion Law
    describes religious communities as "voluntary organisations of adult
    citizens" and the State Committee insists that foreigners cannot lead them.

    In defiance of Azerbaijan's international human rights commitments,
    Article 1 of the country's Religion Law, as well as Article 18 of the 1996
    Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons states:
    "Foreigners and stateless persons have freedom of conscience equal to that
    of citizens of the Azerbaijani Republic. Foreigners and stateless persons
    are forbidden to carry out religious propaganda." Article 300 of the Code
    of Administrative Offences punishes those who "carry out religious
    propaganda" with fines of up to 25 times the minimum monthly wage and/or
    deportation.

    In August 2008, Imamzade Mamedova, an Azeri holding a Russian passport,
    became the ninth foreign Jehovah's Witness to be deported under this
    Article since December 2006.

    What changes do Azerbaijani citizens want in religious policy?

    Religious believers of a variety of faiths have told Forum 18 that they
    want to see Azerbaijan:

    - stop attempting to control all peaceful religious activity, including
    abolishing all formal legal and informal unwritten barriers to freedom of
    thought, conscience and belief;

    - establish full freedom of thought, conscience and belief in the
    Nakhichevan exclave;

    - stop officials making statements attacking religious minorities;

    - end police and NSM secret police raids on religious meetings, whether in
    private homes or elsewhere;

    - end interrogations and fines of peaceful religious believers;

    - end the imprisonment of religious believers for peacefully practising
    their faith;

    - end obstructions to building, buying or opening places of worship;

    - return confiscated religious property;

    - register all religious communities and religious-related organisations
    that wish to apply for registration;

    - stop interfering in the internal affairs of religious communities;

    - allow believers to publish, import and distribute religious literature
    freely, without state censorship including postal censorship;

    - introduce a genuinely civilian alternative to military service;

    - allow foreigners legally resident in Azerbaijan the religious freedom
    international law grants them

    - and bring to legal accountability those responsible for attacking
    individuals' religious freedom. (END)

    For a personal commentary, by an Azeri Protestant, on how the
    international community can help establish religious freedom in Azerbaijan,
    see <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 482>.

    More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan
    is at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=& religion=all&country=23>.

    The previous Forum 18 Azerbaijan religious freedom survey can be found at
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_ id'>.

    A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the
    Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_ id=806>.

    A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at
    <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpedition s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba& gt;.
    (END)

    © Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
    You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
    F18News http://www.forum18.org/

    Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
    http://www.forum18.org/
Working...
X