All American Patriots (press release), Sweden
World : Azerbaijan: International Religious Freedom
Report 2006
Posted by Patriot on 2006/9/17 7:23:36
Released by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
This report is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in
compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom
Act (IRFA) of 1998. The law provides that the secretary of state, with
the assistance of the ambassador at large for international religious
freedom, shall transmit to Congress "an Annual Report on International
Religious Freedom supplementing the most recent Human Rights Reports
by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters
involving international religious freedom."
Azerbaijan: The constitution provides that persons of all faiths may
choose and practice their religion without restrictions; however,
there were some abuses and restrictions.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period. Some religious groups reported delays in
and denials of registration while others indicated that they either
received or expect to receive their registration. There continued to
be some limitations upon the ability of groups to import religious
literature than in previous years. Most religious groups met without
government interference. However, local authorities monitored
religious services, and officials at times harassed nontraditional
religious groups.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, there was popular prejudice
against Muslims who convert to non-Islamic faiths and hostility
towards groups that proselytize, particularly evangelical Christian
and missionary groups.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy is engaged actively in monitoring religious freedom and
maintains contact with the Government and a wide range of religious
groups.
Section I. Religious Demography
According to official figures, the country has a total area of 33,774
square miles, and its population was approximately 7.9 million. There
were no reliable statistics on memberships in various religious
groups; however, according to official figures approximately 96
percent of the population was Muslim. The rest of the population
adhered to other faiths or consisted of nonbelievers. Among the Muslim
majority, religious observance was relatively low, and Muslim identity
tended to be based more on culture and ethnicity than
religion. According to the State Committee on Work with Religious
Associations (SCWRA), the Muslim population was approximately 65
percent Shi’a and 35 percent Sunni; differences traditionally have not
been defined sharply.
The vast majority of Christians were Russian Orthodox whose identity,
like that of Muslims, tended to be based as much on culture and
ethnicity as religion. Christians were concentrated in the urban
areas of Baku and Sumgayit.
An estimated 15,000 Jews, constituting the vast majority of the
country’s Jewish community, lived in Baku. Smaller communities also
existed in and around Guba and elsewhere. Most of the country’s Jews
belonged to one of two groups: the "Mountain Jews," descendents of
Jews who sought refuge in the northern part of the country more than
two thousand years ago, and a smaller group of "Ashkenazi" Jews,
descendents of European Jews who migrated to the country during
Russian and Soviet rule.
These four groups (Shi’a, Sunni, Russian Orthodoxy, and Jews) were
considered traditional religious groups. There also have been small
congregations of Evangelical Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Baptists,
Molokans (Russian Orthodox Old-Believers), Seventh-day Adventists, and
Baha’is in the country for more than one hundred years. In the last
ten years, a number of new religious groups considered foreign or
nontraditional have been established, including "Wahhabi" Muslims,
Pentecostal and evangelical Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Hare
Krishnas.
There were fairly sizeable expatriate Christian and Muslim communities
in the capital city of Baku; authorities generally permitted these
groups to worship freely.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides that persons of all faiths may choose and
practice their religion without restriction; however, there were some
abuses and restrictions. Under the constitution, each person has the
right to choose and change his or her own religious affiliation and
belief including atheism, to join or form the religious group of his
or her choice, and to practice his or her religion. The law on
religious freedom expressly prohibits the Government from interfering
in the religious activities of any individual or group; however, there
are exceptions, including cases where the activity of a religious
group "threatens public order and stability." In January 2006 the
Government announced its intention to amend the law on religious
freedom to restrict the political activities of religious groups.
A number of legal provisions enable the Government to regulate
religious groups, including a requirement in the law on religious
freedom that religious organizations be registered by the
Government. The State Committee for Work with Religious Associations
(SCWRA), which replaced the Department of Religious Affairs in 2001,
assumed responsibility for the registration of religious groups from
the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). Government authorities gave the SCWRA
and its chairman broad powers over registration; control over the
publication, import, and distribution of religious literature; and the
ability to suspend the activities of religious groups violating the
law. In addition, Muslim religious groups must receive a letter of
approval from the Caucasus Muslim Board (CMB) before they can be
registered by the SCWRA. On June 27, 2006, the president of the
country dismissed the chairman of the SCWRA. No public reason was
given for the dismissal; at the end of the reporting period the
Government had not announced a new SCWRA chairman.
Registration enables a religious organization to maintain a bank
account, rent property, and generally act as a legal
entity. Unregistered organizations are exposed to allegations that
they are illegal and find it difficult, but not impossible, to
function. Unregistered groups were more vulnerable to attacks and
closures by local authorities. In 2001 religious groups were called
upon to re-register with the SCWRA; however, the registration process
is burdensome, and there are frequent, sometimes lengthy delays in
obtaining registration
To register, religious groups must complete a seven-step application
process that is arbitrary and restrictive. In 2004 groups reported
that SCWRA employees charged with handling registration-related
paperwork repeatedly argued over the language in statutes and also
instructed some groups on how to organize themselves. Religious groups
are permitted to appeal registration denials to the courts. However,
appellate court records for the period of this report cannot verify
whether any appeals were adjudicated.
During the reporting period, the Government registered twenty-seven
religious groups and rejected the applications of six religious
groups, five of which the SCWRA identified as non-Muslim applicant
groups. Since the call for re-registration, 347 groups have
successfully registered, compared with 406 that were registered under
the previous law. The majority of the registered groups were
Muslim. The SCWRA estimated that two thousand religious groups are in
operation; many have not filed for registration or
re-registration. One of the minority religious communities that has
faced re-registration problems in the past is the Baptist
denomination. Of its five main churches, three have successfully
re-registered; however, in 2005 the SCWRA again rejected the
applications of the Baptist churches in Aliabad and Neftchala, which
remained unregistered.
Under the law on religious freedom, political parties cannot engage in
religious activity, and religious leaders are forbidden from seeking
public office. Religious facilities may not be used for political
purposes. In the aftermath of the November 2005 parliamentary
elections, the SCWRA announced plans to amend the law on religious
freedom to further tighten restrictions the political activities of
religious leaders. The drafting of the amendments remained in its
preliminary stage as of the end of the reporting period.
The law on religious freedom, which the Government enforces, prohibits
foreigners from proselytizing. In July 2005 the Government did not
renew the visa of the Swedish pastor of the Cathedral of Praise church
in Baku, although there were no other reported visa denials during the
reporting period. The law permits the production and dissemination of
religious literature with the approval of the SCWRA; however, the
authorities also appeared to selectively restrict individuals from
importing and distributing religious materials. The procedure for
obtaining permission to import religious literature remained
burdensome, but religious organizations reported that the process had
improved in the past year and that the SCWRA appeared to be handling
requests more effectively.
Registered Muslim organizations are subordinate to the CMB, a
Soviet-era Muftiate, which appoints Muslim clerics to mosques,
periodically monitors sermons, and organizes annual pilgrimages to
Mecca for the Hajj. Although it remains the first point of control
for Muslim groups wanting to register with the SCWRA according to the
law on religious freedom, it also has been subject to interference by
the SCWRA. It has attempted to share control with the CMB over the
appointment and certification of clerics and internal financial
control of the country’s mosques. Some Muslim religious leaders
objected to interference from both the CMB and SCWRA.
Religious instruction is not mandatory in public schools. State
education is separate from religion, but there is no restriction on
teaching religion in schools
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government restricted some religious freedoms during the reporting
period. The SCWRA continued to delay or deny registration to a number
of Protestant Christian groups but registered one Baptist church whose
application was previously denied or delayed.
In addition, in 2005 the Justice Ministry denied registration to a
religious nongovernmental organization (NGO), the Azerbaijan Centre
for Religion and Democracy. Human rights activists alleged that the
ministry denied the registration of this group because of its
criticism of the official religious structures and to obstruct its
activities.
Unregistered religious groups continued to function, and there were
fewer incidents than in previous years of official harassment,
break-ups of religious services, or police intimidation and
fines. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of beatings
during police raids.
For example, on April 16, 2006, Baku police interrupted the Easter
services of the Protestant Community of Greater Grace purportedly to
ascertain the legality of the group’s religious activities. However,
when the group complained to the Government, local officials
apologized for the incident.
Members of Jehovah’s Witnesses reported that local authorities,
particularly outside of Baku, occasionally interfered with their
ability to rent public halls for religious assemblies and fined or
detained overnight some of the group’s members for meeting in private
homes. For example, on June 12, 2005, police raided a gathering of
approximately 200 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Baku, detaining 29 members of
the group and then releasing them after several hours in police
custody.
Authorities raided Baku’s Mehebet Baptist Church summer camp in July
2005 in the town of Gakh, and in November 2005 they raided the Baptist
congregation in Ali-Bayramli.
In 2004, police reportedly harassed and occasionally raided the
meetings of other religious minorities including Seventh day
Adventists in Ganja.
MOJ officials and police forcibly evicted the Juma Mosque community
from its premises in 2004, following protracted litigation. The mosque
remained closed as of the end of the reporting period.
Government officials cited the political activity of the mosque’s
imam, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu as one reason for seeking the eviction of the
Juma Mosque community. Ibrahimoglu supported the opposition political
party leader Isa Gambar’s 2003 election movement, and in 2005 he
campaigned on behalf of opposition party parliamentary candidates in
the November parliamentary election.
Since his 2004 conviction for participating in post election
demonstrations in 2003, Ibrahimoglu has not been allowed to travel
outside the country, including to several meetings of the UN and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, where he was to
be an official NGO participant.
On June 30, 2005, the first anniversary of the Juma community’s
eviction from the mosque, police briefly detained and released
Ibrahimoglu for leading a group of worshippers into the Juma Mosque to
conduct prayers, although the mosque remained officially closed.
Local law enforcement authorities occasionally monitored religious
services, and some observant Christians and Muslims were penalized for
their religious affiliations. The law on religious freedom expressly
prohibits religious proselytizing by foreigners, and this was enforced
strictly. Government authorities have deported several Iranian and
other foreign clerics operating independently of the organized Muslim
community for alleged violations of the law. The Government was
concerned about Islamic missionary groups (predominately Iranian and
Wahhabis) that operated in the country, whose activities have been
restricted in recent years. In May 2005 the Government closed a Saudi
Arabian-sponsored Sunni mosque in the city of Sumgayit.
Various religious groups previously reported some restrictions and
delays in the import of religious literature by some government
ministries. However, the SCWRA has also facilitated the import of such
literature, and few religious groups reported difficulty importing
literature through the SCWRA.
The Government regulates travel for the purpose of religious
training. Prospective travelers must obtain permission from, or
register with the SCWRA or the Ministry of Education in order to go
abroad for religious studies.
No religious identification is required in passports or other identity
documents. In 1999 a court decided in favor of a group of Muslim women
who sued for the right to wear headscarves in passport photos;
however, the Center for Protection of Conscience and Religious
Persuasion Freedom (DEVAMM) reported that authorities prohibited
Muslim women from wearing headscarves in passport photos. In 2004 a
group of women appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
to protest the ban.
Some local officials continued to discourage Muslim women from wearing
headscarves in schools. However, in June 2005, a court in Sumgayit
upheld a school teacher’s right to wear a headscarf while teaching and
ordered the school to pay her back wages for the two months she was
not allowed to teach.
Following months of repeated refusals, local officials in the Zaqatala
region finally issued a birth certificate to Baptist parents who
wished to give their son a Christian name. Members of the ethnic
Georgian minority reported that difficulty in registering children
with non-Azeri names was particularly acute in this region.
On April 28, 2006, police arrested Mushfiq Mammedov, a member of
Jehovah’s Witnesses, for refusing to fulfill the country’s mandatory
military service requirement, due to his religious beliefs. Mammedov
appealed his arrest in court on grounds that he had a constitutional
right to alternative military service as a conscientious
objector. Mammedov remained in pretrial detention. In a previous case,
the Supreme Court ruled that a member of a religious minority must
fulfill compulsory military service despite his constitutional
entitlement to alternative military service because of his religious
beliefs. After seven months of litigation in the lower courts, the
Supreme Court held that while the country remained in a "state of war"
with Armenia, the military’s service requirement superseded the
individual’s alternative service right. The court further agreed with
the military’s argument that absent implementing regulations, the
military was not obligated to provide any alternative service
option. The individual and his family subsequently left the country.
The Baptist community reported that the authorities have not returned
a building of historic significance previously confiscated under the
Soviet regime that is used as a central Baku cinema. The Baha’i
community reported that the Government has not responded to its August
2005 request that the authorities return a Baku house of historic
value to the community. The Government claimed that the country does
not have a law on the restitution of seized property, rendering it
impossible to return the buildings.
Press reports indicate that in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region,
a predominantly ethnic Armenian area over which the authorities have
no control, the Armenian Apostolic Church enjoys a special status. The
largely Muslim ethnic Azeri population in Nagorno-Karabakh and the
seven occupied territories, which fled the region during the conflict
with Armenia in the 1990s, was not able to return to these areas.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Sporadic violations of religious freedom by some officials
continued. In many instances, abuses reflected the popular antipathy
towards ethnic Azeri converts to non-Russian Orthodox Christianity and
other nontraditional religious groups.
In March 2005 the head of the CMB appeared in a television expose
describing nontraditional religious groups as subversive sects. The
chairman of the SCWRA spoke on television claiming that Adventists
used financial bribes to recruit new adherents. On June 21, 2006, a
representative of the SCWRA criticized Adventists and other
nontraditional religious groups in an expose aired on a leading
television channel. In the same broadcast representatives of the Ganja
orthodox church described nontraditional religious groups as
"brainwashing" their members.
Nontraditional religious groups faced particularly acute problems
operating in remote regions of the country, including the exclave of
Nakhchivan. For example, in December 2004 the leader of the small
Baha’i community in Nakhchivan was briefly detained and released,
reportedly because of his religious activity and teachings.
Government authorities took various actions to restrict what they
claimed were political and terrorist activities by Iranian and other
clerics operating independently of the organized Muslim community. The
Government outlawed several Islamic humanitarian organizations because
of credible reports about connections to terrorist activities. The
Government also deported foreign Muslim clerics it suspected of
engaging in political activities. There also were reports that the
Government harassed Muslim groups due to security concerns. For
example, the Human Rights Resource Center in Khachmaz reported that
Wahhabis in Khachmaz were harassed because the authorities suspect
that all Wahhabists have links to terrorism. On April 18, 2006, the
authorities announced the conviction of a Wahabbist group called the
Jammat-al-Mujahiddin on charges of plotting terrorist actions.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country. Sunni Imam Kazim Aliyev, who appealed his 2002 arrest in
Ganja to the ECHR, was released from prison in January 2006 by
presidential pardon. In the northern city of Khachmaz, community
members reported that on several occasions, police harassed and
detained some Muslims who had disrupted public order. The police
allegedly shaved the detainee’s’ beards; however, police officials
denied detaining anyone for religious reasons.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from
the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Improvements in Respect for Religious Freedom
Some religious groups in the country report improvements in their
ability to function freely. Several churches indicated that they
either received or expected to receive their registration, they were
able to import religious literature, and they met without government
interference.
When minority religious communities outside of Baku reported that
local authorities illegally denied their registration, the SCWRA
intervened on their behalf and rectified the situation. In previous
years, the SCWRA had taken a particularly strict approach to the
registration of minority religious communities and had failed to
prevent local authorities from banning such communities.
During the reporting period, the Government worked actively to promote
interfaith understanding. SCWRA convened leaders of various religious
communities on several occasions to resolve disputes in private, and
has provided forums for visiting officials to discuss religious issues
with religious figures. During the reporting period the SCWRA
organized several seminars, conferences, and regional meetings on
religious freedom and tolerance.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, there is popular prejudice
against Muslims who convert to non-Islamic faiths and hostility
towards groups that proselytize, particularly evangelical Christian
and missionary groups. This has been accentuated by the unresolved
conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
As in previous reporting periods, newspapers and television broadcasts
depicted small, vulnerable religious groups as a threat to the
identity of the nation and undermining the country’s traditions of
interfaith harmony, which led to local harassment. In addition, the
head of the SCWRA has made remarks at times during these broadcasts,
which contributed to the climate of hostility these broadcasts
generate.
During the reporting period, articles critical of Wahhabism and
Christian missionaries appeared in many newspapers and one television
channel aired "exposes" of Christian church services. Religious
proselytizing by foreigners is against the law, and there is vocal
opposition to it.
Hostility also existed toward foreign (mostly Iranian and Wahhabist)
Muslim missionary activity, which was viewed in part as seeking to
spread political Islam, and therefore as a threat to stability and
peace. The media targeted some Muslim communities that the Government
claimed were involved in illegal activities.
Hostility between Armenians and Azeris, intensified by the unresolved
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, remained strong. In those areas of the
country controlled by Armenians, all ethnic Azeris have fled, and the
mosques that have not been destroyed are not functioning. Animosity
toward ethnic Armenians elsewhere in the country forced most of them
to depart between 1988 and 1990, and all Armenian churches, many of
which were damaged in ethnic riots that took place more than a decade
ago, remained closed. As a consequence, the estimated ten thousand to
thirty thousand ethnic Armenians who remained were unable to attend
services in their traditional places of worship.
There were few cases of prejudice and discrimination against Jews in
the country, and in the few instances of anti-Semitic activity, the
Government was quick to respond. Jewish community leaders consistently
remarked on the positive relationship they have with the Government
and leaders of other religious communities. In 2004, a new Jewish
community center was opened in Baku with high-level government
participation. Authorities also reserved one wing of a Baku school for
secular and religious classes for 200 Jewish students.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights. During the reporting period, embassy officers conveyed
U.S. concerns about the registration process and the overall attitude
towards nontraditional religious groups to the chairman of the
SCWRA. Embassy officers also expressed concerns about the Government’s
commitment to religious freedom with other members of the Government
and publicly in the press. The U.S. embassy repeatedly conveyed
objections to the censorship of religious literature, and concern that
proposed amendments to the law on religious freedom respect the rights
of religious believers.
The ambassador and embassy officers maintain close contacts with
leading Muslim, Russian Orthodox, and Jewish religious officials, and
regularly meet with members of nonofficial religious groups in order
to monitor religious freedom. The ambassador and embassy officers also
maintain close contact with NGOs that address issues of religious
freedom.
Released on September 15, 2006
Source: US State Dept.