FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
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
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Friday
AZERBAIJAN: Large fine amid continuing religious censorship
A Baku court fined Kamran Huseynzade four months' average wages for selling
religious books outside a mosque without state permission. The head of the
censorship department at the State Committee for Work with Religious
Organisations lamented that only 42 of 100 places selling religious
literature have the required state licence. All published and imported
religious literature is subject to prior compulsory censorship.
AZERBAIJAN: Large fine amid continuing religious censorship
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
Amid the continuing imposition of state censorship of all religious
literature published and distributed in Azerbaijan or imported into it, a
court in the capital Baku has handed down another large fine for selling
religious literature without state permission. A judge fined Kamran
Huseynzade about four months' average wages. The 180 books seized from him
were confiscated.
Huseynzade faced charges not related to the content of the books but solely
to offering the books for sale without state permission. He chose not to
appeal against his fine (see below).
The head of the department that censors religious literature and objects at
the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, Nahid Mammadov,
lamented at a conference on state censorship on 23 September that only 42
of the more than 100 shops selling religious literature across the country
have the required state licence. He complained that the unlicensed shops
"create certain problems" (see below).
Mammadov was not in the office at the State Committee on 27 September. One
of his colleagues put the phone down when Forum 18 asked why all religious
literature is subject to prior compulsory state censorship (see below).
When police detain Jehovah's Witnesses on the street as they share their
faith with others, officers often seize any religious literature they find.
Similarly, during raids on Jehovah's Witness meetings in homes, police
often check whether religious publications have the required sticker from
the State Committee showing that they have undergone the state religious
censorship (see below).
Muslim theologian Elshad Miri is preparing to lodge a case to the European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in October over the 2018 State
Committee ban on the publication of one of his books on Islam. Four
Jehovah's Witness cases over state bans on the import of their literature
are still pending with the court, as is a case lodged by Muslims who study
the works of the late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi (see below).
Complete religious literature censorship
All religious literature produced in, published in (including on the
internet) or imported into Azerbaijan is subject to prior compulsory
censorship
(
). If the
State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations "Religious Expert
Analysis [Censorship] Department" gives permission to publish or import a
work, it also specifies how many copies can be produced or imported. All
religious materials sold must have a sticker (each costing 0.02 Manats)
stating that they have State Committee approval.
State officials have repeatedly denied that this is censorship.
"One of the main directions of our activity is to prevent the spread of
unauthorised religious literature," a Deputy Chair of the State Committee,
Siyavush Heydarov, stated in January 2017.
(
)
The Old Testament, the 14-volume "Risale-i Nur" (Messages of Light)
collection of writings by the late Turkish theologian Said Nursi, and
several Jehovah's Witness publications were included on a 2014 police list
of alleged "banned" religious literature
(
), based on State
Committee "expert analyses".
In May 2018 a State Committee official confirmed to Forum 18 that it does
not make public lists of religious publications it has banned.
(
)
Religious literature and other materials can be sold or distributed only at
specialised outlets which have been approved both by the State Committee
and the local administration. People who sell religious literature and
materials without such permission are routinely fined, with the materials
being seized.
Raids on shops selling religious literature were frequent, with several
waves of raids and subsequent fines in 2017 and 2018
(
). They appear to have
reduced since then.
Baku: Raid, fine, book confiscation
Trouble began for Kamran Huseynzade in early July, when State Committee
officials and officers of the police and State Security Service secret
police raided a mosque in the settlement of Qarachukhur in Baku's Surakhani
District, the State Committee noted on its website on 5 July. They found
Huseynzade selling religious books on the street outside the mosque.
Officials seized 180 religious items, taking them away for "expert
analysis", the State Committee added. It stressed that the books were
seized "to determine whether the legal requirements related to the sale of
literature and literature dealing with the production and sale of these
literature, as well as their control stickers were being observed".
The State Committee also claimed that the books were "suspected of
propagating religious radicalism and extremism".
State Committee officials appear to have found no "religious radicalism and
extremism". When the case was presented to Baku's Surakhani District Court,
Huseynzade faced charges not related to the content of the books but solely
to offering the books for sale without state permission under
Administrative Code Article 516.0.2.
Administrative Code Article 516.0.2 punishes "Selling religious literature
(printed or on electronic devices), audio and video materials, religious
merchandise and products, or other religious informational materials, which
have been authorised for sale under the Religion Law, outside specialised
sale outlets established with the permission of the relevant government
authority distributing religious literature, religious objects and
information material without State Committee permission".
Punishments are: for individuals fines of between 2,000 and 2,500 Manats;
for officials fines of between 8,000 and 9,000 Manats; for organisations
fines of between 20,000 and 25,000 Manats; and for foreigners and stateless
persons fines of between 2,000 and 2,500 Manats with deportation from
Azerbaijan. Punishment also includes confiscation of the literature,
merchandise and products or other materials concerned.
On the morning of 23 July, Judge Jeyhun Qadimov of Surakhani District Court
found Huseynzade guilty under Administrative Code Article 516.0.2. He fined
him 2,200 Manats, the Judge's assistant told Forum 18. The assistant said
Huseynzade did not appeal against the decision. The assistant declined to
comment on why an individual should be punished for offering religious
literature and items for sale without state permission.
A fine of 2,200 Manats represents four months' average wage for those in
formal work.
Police seize religious literature
When police detain Jehovah's Witnesses on the street as they share their
faith with others, they often seize any religious literature they find.
Jehovah's Witnesses note 17 such detentions between September 2018 and
August 2019 in Baku and eight other cities or towns.
Two police officers who detained a Jehovah's Witness on the streets of the
north-eastern town of Khachmaz in February 2019 forcibly took him to the
police station, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. A State Committee
official asked him why he was talking about the Bible and not the Koran.
Officers seized his religious literature, threatened to have him fined,
held him for 12 hours without food or water, mocked his beliefs, forced him
to write two statements and then freed him. During his detention, one
police officer threatened to beat him.
During raids on Jehovah's Witness meetings in homes, police often check
whether religious publications have the required sticker from the State
Committee showing that they have undergone the state religious censorship.
On 23 June, three police officers in the north-western town of Mingachevir
tried to search the home of a Jehovah's Witness where other Jehovah's
Witnesses had gathered. They took the names of those present, but when they
tried to search the home without a warrant the home owner refused to allow
it. The officers left, saying they would return with a warrant. They did
not return, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18.
On 4 June, Shirvan Appeal Court rejected the appeals of both a husband and
wife against massive fines for having religious literature and holding a
New Year meeting for children without state permission.
(
) A local court had
fined Baptist couple Safqan and Gulnar Mammadov each more than three
months' average wages for those in formal work.
Challenging state bans
In February 2018, the State Committee imposed the pre-publication ban on
the publication and distribution in Azerbaijan of Muslim theologian Elshad
Miri's book "Things Not Existing in Islam".
(
) The book covers seven
of what Miri regards as myths about what Islam teaches. Chapters include
"There is no magic in Islam" and "There is no child marriage in Islam".
The State Committee banned Miri's book because a State Committee official
disagreed with the book theologically. Replying, Miri told the State
Committee that "it is not correct to ban a book I wrote in a country which
does not [officially] have censorship".
Miri has been seeking to overturn the State Committee's ban on his book
through the courts. On 25 June 2019, Azerbaijan's Supreme Court rejected
his appeal against the state.
(
)
Miri is now preparing a case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)
in Strasbourg. The case is expected to be lodged in October, his lawyer
Khalid Agaliyev told Forum 18 from Baku on 27 September.
Jehovah's Witnesses say the State Committee has not banned the import of
any of their publications since November 2015 and has not restricted the
sale of control stickers.
Jehovah's Witnesses have lodged four cases to the European Court of Human
Rights in Strasbourg over earlier state bans on importing their
publications
(
) and one
complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
Muslims who read the works of the late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi
also lodged a case to the European Court of Human Rights in 2012 over state
censorship of religious literature
(
) after police seized
books in a raid. That case too is still pending.
State celebrates religious censorship
The State Committee held a conference in Baku on 23 September entitled
"Religious Expert Analysis: Law and Practice", it announced on its website
the same day. Also taking part were publishers, as well as representatives
of the Spiritual Values Promotion Foundation (which is subject to the State
Committee) and the state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board, the only Muslim
organisation the government allows to exist.
State Committee Deputy Chair Gunduz Ismayilov told the conference that
"harmful literature" was rarely encountered because of the law mandating
censorship and the "close cooperation" between the State Committee and
publishers and authors.
Nahid Mammadov, the head of the State Committee's "Religious Expert
Analysis" (Censorship) Department, claimed the state censorship was in line
with international practice. He claimed that censorship also protected
against piracy and tax evasion.
He maintained that the control stickers enhance trust in religious
literature. "Every citizen reads religious literature with the appropriate
sticker and refuses any other literature offered to them," the State
Committee website cited him as saying. "It also means that our citizen,
without knowing the contents of the book, will be able to determine whether
the text of the book is malicious thanks to the control sticker."
Mammadov also told the conference that 42 shops across the country have the
required state licence to sell religious books and items, though more than
100 exist. He complained that the unlicensed shops "create certain
problems", though he does not appear to have specified what these are.
Mammadov said that the State Committee had banned the import of 63 out of
1,603 publications in 2017; 52 out of 1,704 in 2018; and 158 out of 2,412
in January to September 2019. The State Committee had banned the
publication in Azerbaijan of 4 out of 214 publications in 2017; 26 out of
197 in 2018; and 17 out of 192 in January to September 2019. (END)
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan
(
)
For more background, see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey
(
)
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(
)
A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan
(
)
Follow us on Twitter @Forum_18
(
)
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(
)
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© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855.
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