news.am, Armenia
Nov 7 2009
Azerbaijani authorities detain worshippers without legal basis
11:40 / 11/07/2009
U.S. Department of Sate issued International Religious Freedom Report
2009. NEWS.am posts the passages about religious freedom in
Azerbaijan.
`The Constitution provides for freedom of religion. On March 18, 2009,
however, a national referendum approved a series of amendments to the
Constitution; two amendments limit the spreading of and propagandizing
of religion. Additionally, on May 8, 2009, the Milli Majlis
(Parliament) passed an amended Law on Freedom of Religion, signed by
the President on May 29, 2009, which could result in additional
restrictions to the system of registration for religious groups. In
spite of these developments, the Government continued to respect the
religious freedom of the majority of citizens, with some notable
exceptions for members of religions considered nontraditional.
There was some deterioration in the status of respect for religious
freedom by the Government during the reporting period. There were
changes to the Constitution that undermined religious freedom. There
were mosque closures, and state- and locally sponsored raids on
evangelical Protestant religious groups. There were reports of
monitoring by federal and local officials as well as harassment and
detention of both Islamic and nontraditional Christian groups. There
were reports of discrimination against worshippers based on their
religious beliefs, largely conducted by local authorities who detained
and questioned worshippers without any legal basis and confiscated
religious material.
There were sporadic reports of societal abuses or discrimination based
on religious affiliation, belief, or practice. There was some
prejudice against Muslims who converted to other faiths, and there was
occasional hostility toward groups that proselytized, particularly
evangelical Christians, and other missionary groups.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom with the Government as
part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S. embassy
officers conveyed concerns about the registration process and official
attitudes toward &`nontraditional’ religious groups and expressed
objections to the censorship of religious literature.’
The report consists of 4 sections: religious demography, status of
Government respect for religious freedom, status of societal respect
for religious freedom, U.S. Government policy.
The report also contains the information on religious freedom in
Nagorno-Karabakh:
`Forum 18, a Norwegian NGO that reports on religious freedom, reported
on January 5, 2009 and May 4, 2009 about the new &`Religion Law’
enacted by the de facto authorities in Azerbaijan’s breakaway region
of Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K), which has historically had a large Armenian
majority. The Government of Azerbaijan has no ability to administer
its authority in N-K. The &`law’ came into effect on January 9, 2009.
Apparent restrictions include the requirement of 100 members for
registration, banning of unregistered religious activity, the
requirement for the de facto authorities to approve all religious
literature, and proselytizing open only to the Armenian Apostolic
Church, which the de facto authorities claim as the &`official’
church. On March 19, the Armenian Catholic Church became the first and
only church registered thus far under the new &`law.’ (The Armenian
Apostolic Church does not have to register.) The U.S. embassy in Baku
cannot confirm these reports, and neither can the Government.
Forum 18 reported on May 4, 2009 that Revival Fire Evangelical Church
in the breakaway region of N-K was denied registration, the first
denial under the N-K de facto authorities’ new &`Religion Law.’
According to the &`law,’ citizens are not free to share their faith,
and in practice proselytizing was often discouraged. The &`law’
expressly prohibits religious proselytizing by foreigners, and the de
facto authorities strictly enforced this. There was an allegation that
foreigners were detained while participating in religious services of
various denominations and accused of proselytizing. The detention did
not result in prosecution. The de facto authorities were concerned
about Islamic missionary groups (predominantly Iranian and Sunni
Salafi) operating in the region and continued to restrict their
activities.
Hostility between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, intensified by the N-K
conflict, remained strong. In those areas of the country controlled by
ethnic Armenian separatists, all ethnic Azeris have fled, and the
mosques that were not destroyed remained inactive. 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 10,000 to 30,000
ethnic Armenians who remained were unable to attend services in their
traditional places of worship.’
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
