USCIRF Pitches Adding Azerbaijan to State Department's Special Watch List

The U.S. religious freedom body USCIRF recommends Azerbaijan, along with 11 other countries, be added to the State Department's Special Watch (SW) List, for "their governments' perpetration or toleration" of severe violations of religious freedom, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The bipartisan commission, created in 1998 to make policy recommendations to the U.S. President, Secretary of State and Congress about global religious freedom, has been including Azerbaijan on its SW list for the second time in a row. Other 11 countries on this year's SW list include: Cuba, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

In its annual report issued on Wednesday in Washington D.C. the USCIRF mentioned that some countries used the COVID-19 pandemic to target religious minorities last year. Among its findings, the federal organization said that some governments targeted religious minorities through misinformation campaigns or with disproportionate restrictions during the pandemic.

In Azerbaijan, the government "continued to imprison individuals related to their religious activism," the report claims. Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that maintain lists of political prisoners in the country estimate that between 43 and 51 current prisoners are religious activists.

"In 2020, authorities released at least three religious prisoners, including Shi'a Muslim imam Sardar Babayev, who had served his full sentence, and two others released in consideration of the COVID-19 threat. Members of the Muslim Unity Movement (MUM) announced that the government subjected them to increased pressure during the year through summonses, detentions, and arrests on questionable or politically motivated grounds."

"In one instance, authorities reportedly detained and then arrested alleged MUM member Elvin Muradov for poems and songs he had written about imprisoned MUM leader Taleh Bagirzade. Throughout the year, Rahim Akhundov pursued a lawsuit alleging that he was discriminated against and forcibly dismissed from his position as a staffer at the National Assembly due to his identity as a Christian and role as pastor of a house church. In January, a judge ruled his case inadmissible in a decision that the Baku Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court upheld in June and September, respectively."

The report also recommends the U.S. Congress to hold public hearings to investigate Azerbaijan's religious freedom and broader human rights abuses, including its treatment of the MUM; raise related concerns directly with the Azerbaijani Embassy and other government officials; and advocate for the release of all prisoners of conscience.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.