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Pressure mounts on imprisoned imam's supporters
By Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (09.12.2003)/ HRWF Int. (10.12.2003) C Website: http://www.hrwf.net/ - Email: info@hrwf.net - The active members of a newly-founded committee to defend imprisoned imam Ilgar Ibrahimoglu have themselves come under threat of arrest, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Najaf Allaverdiev (Ibrahimoglu's brother) and Seymur Rashidov have been summoned in writing to appear at their local police stations tomorrow (10 December), where they fear they might be arrested, as happened to Ibrahimoglu. "I'm afraid if I go they won't let me out again, they will transfer me to the general procuracy and I will be tortured," Allahverdiev told Forum 18 from the capital Baku on 9 December. "The situation is catastrophic." He said another committee member - who did not want his name to be revealed - had been held by police the whole of the previous night. "He was told that if his name was published abroad it would be bad for him and his family."
Committee members maintain that the authorities have found nothing to use against Ibrahimoglu, and so are hoping to fabricate evidence of terrorism against him by extracting confessions from his associates. "They allege he kept weapons at the Juma mosque, but this is all lies," Allahverdiev insisted. "In fact they are worried that he is fighting for religious freedom, for Baptists to be able to import books and for Muslim women to wear the hijab [headscarf]."
The Baptist Church has leapt to Ibrahimoglu's defence. "We are indignant about his arrest," Ilya Zenchenko, head of the Baptist Union, told Forum 18 from Baku on 10 December. "We believe the actions against him were not legal. There is no proof." He said the Baptists intend to do all they can to prevent such actions in future. Zenchenko praised Ibrahimoglu for the moral support he had given them and help in resolving problems with the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, the government agency that controls religious activity in Azerbaijan. "His work for religious freedom and human rights has been a great support." He said he had wanted to visit Ibrahimoglu in prison the previous day, but that the imam's supporters had told him that access to Ibrahimoglu has been barred to everyone except his lawyer. Committee members accuse the authorities of wanting to crush the group, founded on 4 December, the day after Ibrahimoglu was ordered by a Baku court into three months' pre-trial detention (see F18News 4 December 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=203 ). "They say we are conducting anti-state activity."
Ibrahimoglu, an imam at the Juma mosque in Baku's old city and a board member of the Islam-Ittihad Society, is also a religious freedom defender. He is leading coordinator of Devamm (Centre for the Protection of Freedom of Conscience and Religion) and Secretary General of the Azerbaijani Chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA).
Allahverdiev told Forum 18 that the committee is preparing a protest against the imprisonment of Ibrahimoglu for 10 December, international human rights day. He said they will tape over their mouths and chain up their hands to symbolise the denial of freedom.
The written summons to Rashidov and Allahverdiev came after police officers visited several committee members at their homes on 4 and 5 December and pressured them to come to the police station. On the advice of their lawyer, Rashidov and fellow-committee member Shahin Hasanov refused to go without a written summons, despite repeated police visits. They stayed away from their homes to avoid being detained. Among others summoned has been Reshat Valiev. Allahverdiev complained that the police have pressured the relatives of committee members.
The Baku office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says it has been monitoring the growing pressure on Ibrahimoglu's supporters. "We know that some of Ibrahimoglu's colleagues have been summoned to the police," human dimension officer Branislav Solovic told Forum 18 from Baku on 9 December. "The OSCE office is following the situation."
Ibrahimoglu is one of more than one hundred opposition supporters detained in Baku's Bailov investigation prison in the wake of the rigged 15 October presidential election. brahimoglu was a vocal supporter of the Musavat (Equality) party's candidate, Isa Gambar. Many of the prisoners began a hunger strike on 1 December to protest against their continued detention. Solovic said OSCE officials have visited the prison to talk to the prisoners.
One of the most prominent prisoners is Rauf Arifoglu, Musavat's deputy leader and a devout Muslim. Since his arrest on 27 October, he has been denied access to the Koran. "Two days after his arrest, and at his request, I took him a copy of the Koran," Arifoglu's lawyer, Samad Panahov, told Forum 18 from Baku on 9 December. "Prison guards immediately took it away from him by force." When Panahov tried to take him another copy later, this too was confiscated by guards before he could give it to Arifoglu. Panahov said there is nothing in law preventing Arifoglu having the Koran and officials know the law. "But they still violate it." He said denying him access to the Koran was in effect preventing him from praying.
It remains unclear whether Ibrahimoglu has access to the Koran. "I think he is OK in prison," his lawyer Elton Kuliev told Forum 18 from Baku on 9 December. He said he had not seen his client since he was taken to Bailov prison on 6 December, but that he intended to visit on 10 December.
Meanwhile, sources in Baku have told Forum 18 that Azer Ramizoglu, leader of Devamm and chairman of the Islam-Ittihad Society, remains at liberty, but has gone into hiding to avoid arrest. The authorities tried to seize him together with Ibrahimoglu when they raided the Juma mosque on 17 October during Friday prayers (see F18News 22 October 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=168 ).
Source: http://www.forum18.org/
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Muslim human rights activist jailed in rigged trial
By Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (04.12.2003)/ HRWF Int. (04.12.2003) C Website: http://www.hrwf.net/ - Email: info@hrwf.net - Despite assurances from law enforcement agencies on 20 October that he did not face any criminal charges, leading independent Muslim activist Ilgar Ibragimoglu was yesterday (3 December) ordered to remain in prison for three months ahead of a possible trial. In an evening hearing, Nasimi district court in the capital Baku ruled that there was sufficient evidence to keep him in detention while he is investigated on charges that he organised demonstrations on 16 October, the day after the rigged election that saw Ilham Aliev become president. "The criminal investigators were given proof that Ibragimoglu had not taken part in any public disorder and clashes with the police," Seymur Rashidov, a spokesman for Ibragimoglu's religious rights group Devamm, told Forum 18 News Service from Baku on 3 December. "All he did was monitor the post-election situation." Rashidov complained of the court procedure. "The hearing was full of falsifications, it was over very quickly and none of the lawyers' arguments were taken into consideration." He reported that court officials declared the hearing closed, barring access for ten or so of Ibragimoglu's colleagues who wished to attend. He also complained that six hours before the court ordered Ibragimoglu into pre-trial detention, the procurator general Zakir Garalov appeared on pro-government television to announce that he had been detained. "He ignored the principle of presumption of innocence and proved that the verdict of the court had already been arranged in advance," Rashidov told Forum 18.
Ibragimoglu, one of the imams of the Juma mosque in Baku's old city, is a board member of the Islam-Ittihad Society, leading coordinator of Devamm (Centre for the Protection of Freedom of Conscience and Religion) and Secretary General of the Azerbaijani Chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA). In the presidential election, bragimoglu made no secret of his support for opposition candidate Isa Gambar, leader of the Musavat (Equality) party. After police raided the Juma mosque on 17 October in an apparent bid to arrest him, Ibragimoglu took refuge for three days in the nearby Royal Norwegian Embassy (See F18News 20 October http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=165 and 22 October http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=168 ). Ibragimoglu was ordered to appear for questioning at the general procuracy in Baku on 1 December as a witness in a criminal case. After eleven hours of questioning he was himself detained (see F18News 2 December 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=201 ).
Rashidov reported that the 30-year-old Ibragimoglu is now in Baku's Bailov investigation prison, where most of the more than 100 opposition activists detained in the wake of street protests against the way the presidential poll was conducted are being held. Ibragimoglu is being investigated for allegedly having violated Article 220.1 of the criminal code (organising mass public disorder) and Article 315.2 (resisting representatives of the authorities). Despite the charges that Ibragimoglu was allegedly involved in organising street protests, Rashidov noted that during his interrogation, investigators were particularly concerned that Devamm was frequently used as a source by the United States State Department in the religious freedom section of its annual human rights report for Azerbaijan, issued in March 2003.
Devamm points out that Ibragimoglu, in his work for the organisation and for IRLA, had helped to overturn the monopoly of a company close to the government in organising haj pilgrimages to Mecca, had helped to end the ban on female Muslim teachers and students wearing headscarves in educational institutions, had helped several Protestant churches to gain registration with the government's State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations and had helped the Baptist Church to extract a shipment of books that had been held up in customs. "Ibragimoglu is quite an influential young religious leader who has opposed the repressions of the government," Azer Hasret, head of the Journalists' Trade Union, told Forum 18 from Baku on 4 December. "He defends the rights not only of believers, but of all people, that's why the government doesn't like him." He said the authorities had tried to restrict Ibragimoglu's activity even before the election, but had been unable to do so. "Ibragimoglu quoted the Koran as declaring that one should resist all violators of one's rights. They used this to argue that he was inspiring street protests against the election results."
The Baku office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is closely monitoring Ibragimoglu's case. "We know Ibragimoglu as a participant in several OSCE events and conferences and as a human rights defender," human dimension officer Branislav Solovic told Forum 18 from Baku on 4 December. "That's why we are watching his case closely."
Rashidov noted that despite Ibragimoglu's imprisonment, regular prayers are continuing at Juma mosque. The Justice Ministry, which handles the registration of non-governmental organisations, has consistently refused to register Devamm and the Azerbaijani chapter of the IRLA. Earlier this year it stripped the Islam-Ittihad Society of its registration, a move the society is now challenging at the Supreme Court. Solovic said the OSCE has not specifically raised the issue of the denial of registration of Devamm and the IRLA, but has urged the authorities to change the law to make registration of NGOs much simpler. "This is a general problem we are concerned about," he told Forum 18." There are so many NGOs that have been denied registration."
Another of the post-election prisoners, Rauf Arifoglu, deputy leader of the Musavat party and editor-in-chief of its paper Yeni Musavat, has complained that prison officials have been preventing him from praying. "He is a devout Muslim and his lawyer has reported that he has been denied the right to fast and pray," Hasret told Forum 18. Arifoglu was ordered by a court on 27 October to spend three months in pre-trial detention while the case against him is being investigated. Part of his imprisonment fell in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Source: http://www.forum18.org/
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Independent Muslim human rights leader detained
By Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (02.12.2003)/ HRWF Int. (21.10.2003) C Website: http://www.hrwf.net/ - Email: info@hrwf.net Ilgar Ibragimoglu, imam of the Juma mosque in Baku's old city, was detained yesterday evening (1 December) after being interrogated at the general procuracy for some eleven hours. Seymur Rashidov, spokesman for religious freedom group Devamm, told Forum 18 News Service from the capital Baku on 2 December that Ibragimoglu had originally been summoned as an alleged witness in a criminal case. "There is no indication what that case was about and who was allegedly involved," Rashidov declared. Ibragimoglu, who is being held in a police isolation cell in the city's Nasimi district, now faces a court hearing within 48 hours to determine whether he is to be charged with a criminal offence or released. "There are no indications which way it will go," ashidov declared.
Agakhan Akhadov, an investigator at the general procuracy for especially serious crimes who had summoned Ibragimoglu for questioning and had interrogated him all day, declined to give Forum 18 any details about any charges that might be levelled at Ibragimoglu or why he was questioned for so many hours. "I don't know you, I can't see you," he told Forum 18 by telephone from his office on 2 December. "Anyone could phone me up and claim to be a journalist." All he would confirm was that Ibragimoglu was formally detained at 9 pm on 1 December. Rashidov maintained that Akhadov had been reluctant to sign the warrant to detain Ibragimoglu, believing there was no reason for his detention. So the warrant was signed by Ramid Rzayev.
As well as being imam of the Juma Mosque, Ibragimoglu is a board member of the Islam-Ittihad Society, leading coordinator of Devamm (Centre for the Protection of Freedom of Conscience and Religion) and Secretary General of the Azerbaijani Chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA). "Probably, certain reactionary circles did not like the vigorous activity of Devamm and IRLA in the construction of a legal civil society and the struggle for human rights," Devamm declared in the wake of Ibragimoglu's detention. After what Rashidov describes as a campaign of "slander" against him in the media, including allegations that he was abroad and was being sought by Interpol, Ibragimoglu gave media interviews in November making clear that he was in Baku and was not being sought. On 28 November, Ibragimoglu received a letter from the department of investigation of criminal cases at the general procuracy, signed by Akhadov, ordering him to appear for questioning at 10 am on 1 December as a witness in case No. 80308. Ibragimoglu went for questioning with his lawyer Elton Guliyev.
In the wake of the disputed 15 October presidential election, which the opposition claims was rigged, police raided the Juma mosque during Friday prayers on 17 October in what appears to have been an attempt to arrest Ibragimoglu and his colleague Azer Ramizoglu. Ibragimoglu escaped arrest by seeking refuge in the nearby Royal Norwegian embassy, which he left only on 20 October (see F18News 22 October 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=168 ).
Apart from participating in a human rights conference in neighbouring Georgia organised by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Ibragimoglu has spent all his time since then in Baku, continuing his "human rights, scholarly and religious activity", Rashidov declared. "We don't know what they have against him - he has done nothing illegal."
Source: http://www.forum18.org/
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Election crackdown on independent Muslim leaders
By Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (20.10.2003)/ HRWF Int. (21.10.2003) C Website: http://www.hrwf.net/ - Email: info@hrwf.net - From his refuge in the Norwegian embassy in the capital Baku, to which he had to flee to avoid arrest in the government's post-election crackdown, the imam of one of the city's oldest mosques has expressed concern about the fate of his colleague. "I'm very worried about Azer Ramizoglu," Ilgar Ibragimoglu, imam of the Juma mosque in Baku's old city, told Forum 18 News Service from the embassy on 20 October. "He has not been seen since last Friday [17 October]. I don't know if he is in hiding or if he has been detained by the authorities." Ibragimoglu and Ramizoglu, leading members of several independent Muslim groups and religious freedom organisations, have faced government opposition to their activity which only increased when they came out in support of opposition candidate Isa Gambar in the presidential elections held on 15 October. "Ibragimoglu will be a guest of the Royal Norwegian embassy until the matter is resolved," an embassy official told Forum 18 on 20 October. "Intensive negotiations are now underway at different levels."
Forum 18 was unable to find out whether Ramizoglu has been arrested or why the police raided Friday prayers at the Juma Mosque. The duty officer at the Interior Ministry in Baku, who refused to give his name, said they had "no information" about Ramizoglu or the raid on the mosque and put the phone down. Officers of the Sabail district police gave contradictory answers. One, who declined to give his name, categorically denied to Forum 18 that Ramizoglu had been detained, but refused to discuss the raid and put the phone down. Others refused to clarify his assertion.
Ramizoglu is leader of Devamm (Centre for the Protection of Freedom of Conscience and Religion) and chairman of the Islam-Ittihad Society, which works for inter-religious dialogue and tolerance. As well as being imam of the Juma Mosque, Ibragimoglu is a board member of the Islam-Ittihad Society, leading coordinator of Devamm and Secretary General of the Azerbaijani Chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA). The Justice Ministry has consistently refused to register both Devamm and the Azerbaijani IRLA chapter (see F18News 25 June 2003), and went to court to strip the Islam-Ittihad Society of its registration, accusing it of supporting Wahhabism (in the strict sense, the branch of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia) and the international terrorist group Al-Qaida. The Sabail district court ruled on 28 August in favour of the justice ministry.
In the early afternoon of 17 October, a few minutes before Friday prayers were due to begin, officers of the 9th police station of the city's Sabail district arrived at the Juma Mosque, apparently to arrest Ramizoglu and Ibragimoglu. "They wanted to arrest me and radicalise the believers," Ibragimoglu told Forum 18. Unable to seize the two because of protests from worshippers, the police took instead two other men, Azad Narimanoglu and Najaf Allahverdiyev, both Devamm coordinators and members of the IRLA Chapter. Other officers remained to try to arrest Ramizoglu and Ibragimoglu.
After Devamm appealed to the local offices of the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the OSCE's election monitoring group, the Norwegian embassy and other diplomatic missions, Norwegian ambassador Steinar Gil, Council of Europe representative Inkeri Aarnio-Lwoff and other representatives hurried to the mosque. "The representatives of the international diplomatic missions, while speaking to the police staff, stated that they were aware of the situation and that the latter should not act against the law," Devamm reported on 19 October. "At the same time the diplomats said to Devamm's press secretary that in case of the arrest attempt they could come to the embassy of Norway."
In his address at the mosque, Ibragimoglu called on believers not to respond to government "provocations" and to act strictly within the framework of the Constitution and international laws. "I told the believers not to engage in violence and to pray in the mosque," Ibragimoglu told Forum 18. After finishing his address at about 3 pm, the international representatives surrounded Ibragimoglu and accompanied him to the nearby Norwegian embassy. Soon afterwards, Ibragimoglu told Forum 18, international representatives went to the Interior Ministry to urge ministry officials not to take any illegal action against Devamm's leaders. But they were unsuccessful in getting guarantees of their safety.
Police meanwhile questioned Narimanoglu and Allahverdiyev about the participation of Devamm and the Islam-Ittihad Society in the election coalition Bizim Azerbaijan (Our Azerbaijan), which backed Gambar. Although the two were soon released, Devamm fears they could be arrested again.
Ibragimoglu told Forum 18 that the authorities have made no attempt to close down the Juma mosque, despite the police swoop on Friday prayers, and regular prayers are continuing, led by his colleagues. He said the mosque gained registration with the Justice Ministry as an independent religious organisation in 1993, registration which remains valid. It has applied for re-registration with the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, but has not so far received it. "It's their problem when they will register us," Ibragimoglu told Forum 18. He stressed that the mosque is not subject to the jurisdiction of the Spiritual Administration of Caucasian Muslims, despite state insistence that independent mosques cannot function legally. Ibragimoglu vehemently denied the justice ministry's allegations against Islam-Ittihad and insisted that it will challenge the court ruling even as far as the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if necessary. "It is fashionable for the government to accuse any democrats they don't like of links with Wahhabis and Al-Qaida," he told Forum 18. "But these accusations are absurd."
Because of their involvement with the opposition during the election campaign, Devamm and Islam-Ittihad have faced what human rights activist Eldar Zeynalov calls "harassment" from various state agencies. On 11 October, just days before the election, two government supported television channels, Lider TV and Space TV, broadcast items about Islam-Ittihad in their evening news bulletins that society members regard as slanderous. Further attacks appeared in government-supporting newspapers on 13 October, accusing it of having its own armed gangs, illegally storing weapons in the Juma mosque and receiving financial support from Wahhabis.
"I know Devamm as active supporters of the religious freedom of all believers of Azerbaijan," Zeynalov, the head of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan, told Forum 18 from Baku on 17 October. "In its newsletter, it propagates tolerance, morality and charitable activities."
Zeynalov points out that before Devamm made any comments about the presidential election, the head of the Spiritual Administration of Caucasian Muslims, Allahshukur Pashazade, had called on voters to back Ilham Aliev, son of the then incumbent president Heidar Aliev and, according to contested official figures, the outright winner in the poll. "That was considered by state officials normally. But the similar, and less aggressive actions of believers of the smallest religious community - which for the last 10 years has refused to subordinate itself to Pashazade C was described as foreign espionage and almost a coup d'etat," he reported.
"With all my opposition to the idea of the politicisation of believers, I see the obvious double standards of the authorities," Zeynalov warns, "and, moreover, the establishment of the institution of a new state religion."
Source: http://www.forum18.org/
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Catholics "shocked" by undiplomatic warning
By Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (29.09.2003)/HRWF Int. (30.09.2003) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email info@hrwf.net - Fr Daniel Pravda, head of the small Catholic community in Azerbaijan, said he is shocked by the reported warning by the government's senior religious affairs official that he has been conducting "illegal religious propaganda", an offence under Azerbaijani law punishable by deportation.
"I don't know what Rafik Aliev means by propaganda, but all I do is serve our Catholics," Fr Pravda told Forum 18 News Service. According to the local media, Aliev issued the warning to visiting Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran on 24 September.
Forum 18 was unable to reach Aliev to find out whether he had indeed warned Fr Pravda, if so why he had done so and why Azerbaijani law bans foreigners and people without citizenship from conducting "religious propaganda" in defiance of international human rights conventions.
The head of the Catholic Church in Azerbaijan has expressed his shock over remarks attributed by the local media to Rafik Aliev, the head of the government's State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, accusing him of engaging in "illegal religious propaganda". "This was a little unexpected," Fr Daniel Pravda told Forum 18 News Service from the capital Baku on 29 September. "I don't know what Rafik Aliev means by propaganda, but all I do is serve our Catholics." He insisted that everything he has done is in accordance with Azerbaijani law.
Aliev issued the warning during a meeting with the visiting Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, in Baku on 24 September. Fr Pravda told Forum 18 that Archbishop Tauran had told him nothing of the apparent warning and that he had only read of it in press articles.
Forum 18 was unable to reach Rafik Aliev to find out whether he had indeed warned Fr Pravda as reported, if so why he had done so and why Azerbaijani law bans foreigners and people without citizenship from conducting "religious propaganda" in defiance of international human rights conventions to which the country is a signatory. Officials at the State Committee told Forum 18 on 29 September that Aliev had begun a one-month holiday, and his assistant, Namik Allahverdiev, was not in his office.
The Azerbaijani news agency Trend reported on 24 September that Aliev had asked Archbishop Tauran for the Vatican "to specify the mandate of its representative in Azerbaijan who is violating the Azerbaijani law on religious propaganda".
Aliev pointed out that Azerbaijani law allows only Azerbaijani citizens to conduct religious propaganda. "Up till now, he said, several representative offices of foreign religious missions have been closed, but nothing of the sort has happened with regard to the Catholic Church," the agency quoted Aliev has having told the archbishop. "The Baku government's loyal policy can be explained by its respect for the Vatican, he said." The Interfax-Azerbaijan news agency carried a similar report.
The Trend agency said that Archbishop Tauran promised that "the issue raised by Aliev would be urgently solved".
The Catholic Church has one registered parish in Azerbaijan C in Baku C with about 200 members. In October 2000 the Vatican upgraded its representation in the country to a "missio sui iuris", which means that it is directly subject to the Vatican. In addition, the Azerbaijani state maintains full diplomatic relations with the Vatican, whose nuncio, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, lives in neighbouring Georgia.
Fr Pravda C a Slovak-born Belgian citizen - told Forum 18 he was surprised by the reported remarks because relations between Rafik Aliev and the Catholic Church have been "very good". "We are grateful that we Catholics enjoy respect, while relations with others C such as Protestants C are not so respectful." He said he and his colleagues C another priest and a monk C have had no indications of any official dissatisfaction with their activity. He believes the press reports of Aliev's remarks might have been made up by the journalists.
Aliev has a history of issuing warnings to religious communities through the press. He told Lider television in May that his State Committee was preparing a list of religious organisations which "violate the law", declaring that the Baku-based Greater Grace Protestant Church was "top of the list". "Both the Interior Ministry and the committee have seriously warned the church. If the latest warning does not have any effect, serious measures will be taken." Greater Grace leaders told Forum 18 they never received any complaint in writing and so ignored Aliev's threats.
In the same interview, Aliev declared that he would be recalling the more than 600 Azerbaijani students receiving religious education abroad "illegally". He said he would be submitting the list of their names to the Ministry of Education. However, it remains unclear why he believed he had the power to order the students to abandon their studies and return home and whether any attempt was made to enforce his threat.
In a December 2002 interview, also to Lider television, Aliev claimed that the Jehovah's Witnesses had had their registration stripped from them, although Jehovah's Witness representatives told Forum 18 this is not true and the community is still listed as registered on the State Committee website (www.addk.net).
In defiance of international commitments to free speech and religious freedom, the ban on foreigners and people without citizenship C even if legally resident in the country C from engaging in "religious propaganda" is enshrined in Azerbaijani law, although the term is never defined. "Foreigners and persons without citizenship shall be prohibited to conduct religious propaganda," Article 1 of the religion law declares.
Article 300 of the Code of Administrative Offences punishes such religious propaganda by foreigners and persons without citizenship with a fine of between 20 and 25 times the minimum monthly wage or deportation from Azerbaijan. This article has been used on a number of occasions. Numerous Iranian Muslim clerics, Lutheran pastor Gunther Oborski and some Western Protestant religious workers have been deported from the country in recent years. In the most recent known case Nina Koptseva, a Russian citizen living in Baku by invitation of the Greater Grace Protestant Church, was forcibly deported in April 2002 after being accused of conducting "religious propaganda".
In an apparent move to avoid similar problems the Russian Orthodox hierarch in Azerbaijan, Bishop Aleksandr (Ishchein), renounced his Russian citizenship and took Azerbaijani citizenship in November 2001. (Azerbaijan does not allow dual citizenship.) The Russian-born Bishop Aleksandr only came to Azerbaijan to take up a fulltime position in 1995.
Fr Pravda is among those who believe this ban on "religious propaganda" by foreign citizens and people without citizenship is "not compatible" with internationally-accepted values. "This provision should be abolished," he declared.
Source: F18 http://www.forum18.org/
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"KGB methods" used to break up Sunday school
By Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (04.09.2003)/ HRWF Int. (04.09.2003) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Pastor Fuad Tariverdi of the Greater Grace Protestant Church in the capital Baku has accused the local police chief of using "Soviet, KGB methods" in breaking up the children's Sunday school last Sunday, 31 August.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Mukhtar Mukhtarov said we do not have the right to teach kids and convert Azeri children," Pastor Tariverdi told Forum 18 News Service from Baku on 2 September. "He asked us to take the kids back to their parents." But Lieutenant-Colonel Mukhtarov, chief of police in Baku's Nasimi district where the church is located, vigorously denied doing anything wrong and blamed the church. "They're acting illegally," he told Forum 18 on 4 September.
The raid came as the Sunday school was almost ending. Pastor Tariverdi said the only children present in a club near the church were the children of church members. "Actually the parents asked us to take care of their children while they sit in the church service," he reported. "We even had written permission from each parent."
He said Mukhtarov had ordered the local police to make sure that the director of the club where the Sunday school is held "never lets us back in again". Pastor Tariverdi quoted Mukhtarov as saying that the church and its members are bad and "should be out of his area".
But Mukhtarov insists all he did was to call the Sunday school leaders to act in accordance with the law. "There was nothing bad, but this must be done with the permission of the Committee for Work with Religious Organisations," he told Forum 18. "They must list all the parameters of what they are doing, all the subjects they are teaching." He brushed aside as irrelevant church claims that all the parents had given written permission for their children to be present.
Mukhtarov then complained that the club where the Sunday school was held "is not designated for such use". But he denied that he had banned the Sunday school from meeting again and insisted he was not "against the church".
Pastor Tariverdi told Forum 18 that the church can no longer use the club, as the director is now too afraid to lend it. "We met him on Tuesday. He's been told if he lets us in he'll be imprisoned." The church does not know where it will take the fifty or so children for the Sunday school from now on.
Pastor Tariverdi claimed Mukhtarov has been "persecuting our church for years". "He always sends people to invite our leadership to talk to him and tries to prove to us that we are wrong, bad, illegal and tries to intimidate us, using Soviet/KGB ways and mentality," Pastor Tariverdi maintained. He said Mukhtarov had even turned up at the church one Sunday - a day when he was not working - and summoned the elders. "The elders have been summoned four times since January - each time without anything in writing."
Pastor Tariverdi believes Mukhtarov hates his church and is abusing his position to push his own private views. "He violates the Constitution of Azerbaijan and human rights, using his power and putting his personal dislikes ahead of Azeri law and government policy."
Azerbaijani officials at all levels have obstructed the work of many minority religious communities, especially Protestant churches which have many ethnic Azeris as members (see F18News 25 June 2003).
The Greater Grace church was registered with the Justice Ministry in 1993. It has been seeking re-registration with the Committee for Work with Religious Organisations for the past two years. "Hopefully we're now at the last stage of this re-registration process," Pastor Tariverdi declared.
Source: F18News http://www.forum18.org/
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Conscientious objection to military service
War Resisters' International (08.07.2003)/ HRWF Int. (14.02.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The right to perform alternative military service on grounds of belief is included in the Azeri 1995 Constitution. Yet decrees regulating alternative military service never have been implemented. Due to its Council of Europe membership, Azerbaijan was obliged to introduce the right to conscientious objection within 2 years (by 2003) (1). As a first step an amendment to the Constitution replacing the former phrase of "alternative military service" by "alternative service" is in force since a referendum in August 2002, and a new law on alternative service is going to be passed, but this has been delayed for quite a while now. It is hoped that the law will be passed during the next session of parliament in autumn 2003 (2). Detailed information about the envisaged service isn't available so far and it isn't certain that the law will be implemented soon. It has to be feared that conscientious objection will be limited to certain religious communities, and non-religious reasons for conscientious objection might not be seen as valid (3).
At the moment there are no cases of imprisoned COs, and investigations against two Jehovah's Witnesses have been stopped because of the legal changes. Most individuals who have a conscientious objection to military service try to avoid conscription altogether through bribing military officials and getting exempted on medical grounds. Members of some Christian groups avoid conscription by migrating to Russia. However, about 2,600 deserters and draft evaders are in prison but nothing is known about their reasons of avoiding military service (4).
Nagorno Karabakh
Nagorno Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan, but proclaimed its independence and is closely linked to Armenia. It maintains its own conscription system, and it is not known whether any form of conscientious objection is recognised. A new decree on conscription was signed by the President of Nagorno Karabakh, Arkady Ghoukassia, on 17 April 2003 (5).
There are reports of imprisonment of conscientious objectors in the past years. Vladimir Kiroian and Edgar Bagdasarian, who had been convicted to custodial sentences charged with ''evasion of military development call-up'' in the first half of 2001, had reportedly been released by the end of 2001. When sentencing the two men and their co-defendant, Vladimir Osipian, who received a suspended sentence of one year, Shushinsky District court reportedly did not take into account that they had previously served in the army and were refusing only to attend a one-day military refresher course for reasons of conscience (6).
(1) Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly: Opinion No. 222 (2000), Azerbaijan's application for membership of the Council
of Europe; see especially Art 14 iii. g
(2) Email from Ramil Iskanderov, Azerbaijan Young Lawyers' Union, 30 May 2003
(3) Eldar Zeynalov, Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan: Conscientious objection in Azerbaijan, 1998,
(4) Email from Eldar Zeynalov, Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan, 21 September 2002
(5) NKR President signs decree about conscription. Noyan Tapan News Agency, 18 April 2003, http://www.nt.am/eng/news/18.04.2003/Politics/a2.htm
(6) Amnesty International: Concerns in Europe Bulletin, July C December 2001, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR010022002?open&of=ENG-AZE
http://mitglied.lycos.de/hrca/reports/other/conobj98.doc
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Religious freedom survey June 2003
by Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (25.06.2003)/ HRWF Int. (14.02.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The Azerbaijani government is fundamentally hostile to the idea of religious freedom, seeking to control faiths it regards as a potential challenge (especially Islam), to co-opt faiths it sees as useful (Judaism, Russian Orthodoxy, Lutheranism and Catholicism) and to restrict as far as it can other faiths that it dislikes (Evangelical Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hare Krishna). Only faiths with a small following and who function unobtrusively, such as Molokans (an early Russian Protestant group), Georgian Orthodox and Baha'is, tend to escape government attention.
In the absence of hard evidence, government harassment of minority religious communities C which violates Azerbaijan's commitments as a member of the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe - appears to stem from officials' fear of social change they cannot control and dislike of pluralism.
The prime instrument of 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 1992 religion law (amended in 1996 and 1997) 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 powerful 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.
The claim by committee chairman Rafik Aliev to Forum 18 on 5 March that "all those who applied for registration have received it" is patently untrue: of the 2,000 religious communities that are believed to function, of which 406 had registration with the Ministry of Justice before the State Committee was set up, only "about 175" have achieved reregistration with his committee, he reported in April.
The official list of 168 registered religious communities, dated 1 April and published on the State Committee website www.addk.net, testifies to how difficult it is to register non-Muslim communities outside the capital Baku: one Jewish community is registered in Kuba region, one Georgian Orthodox parish in Gakh region, an Adventist and a Baptist church in the city of Gyanja and a Molokan, a Baptist and a Baha'i community in Sumgait.
Only the Russian Orthodox diocese has gained reregistration, though this is by choice: diocesan secretary Fr Aleksei Nikonorov told Forum 18 that the State Committee wanted the Church to register its six parishes independently, but the Church refused, insisting that all are subject to the diocese and need registration only as branches of the diocese.
Baptist communities in Neftchala and in the town of Aliabad in the northern region of Zakatala, the Adventist community in Nakhichevan, the Greater Grace Protestant church in Ismaili, an independent Lutheran congregation in Baku, as well as a variety of Protestant churches in Sumgait are among those to have been denied registration either at local or national level. The authorities particularly dislike Protestant churches that attract a mainly ethnic Azeri membership. Rafik Aliev had Baku's Azeri-language Baptist church closed down by court order in April last year after alleging that the pastor, Sari Mirzoyev, had insulted Islam. Mirzoyev was "banned" from preaching and subjected to a harsh media campaign.
Although religious communities denied registration have the possibility of challenging the denial through the courts, 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 the 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 State Committee, like many government agencies, acts mainly behind closed doors, releasing little information about how it reaches decisions. Communities have scant opportunity to challenge how long the committee lingers over applications or how it decides which documents to challenge. Symptomatic of this lack of transparency is the committee's refusal to allow itself to respond to questioning by independent groups: Rafik Aliev has instructed his officials for example not to give interviews to Forum 18 as he believes it publishes "inaccurate information" (though neither he nor his officials have ever specified which information is inaccurate).
Rafik Aliev's untrammelled powers allow him to make public statements through the media based on questionable legal foundations which can worry religious communities. Last year he arbitrarily ordered closed 22 of the country's 26 madrassahs (Islamic schools), announcing the move through the press.
Last October he declared in an interview that he would seek the liquidation through the courts of the Jehovah's Witness community in Baku, alleging that it had engaged in holding "illegal meetings" and involving children in "unhealthy religious services". Although Jehovah's Witness sources have told Forum 18 that no such court action has been initiated and that the Baku community retains its registration, repeated claims in the media that the Jehovah's Witnesses are "illegal" create a mindset among officials and the public that the group is dangerous and a potential threat to society.
Speaking on Lider television on 6 May, Rafik Aliev said his committee is drawing up a list of religious communities that violate the law, with Baku's Greater Grace Protestant church "top of the list". He claimed that his committee and the interior ministry had given the church several warnings and warned of "serious measures" if the church did not modify its behaviour. Greater Grace leaders declined to comment on these statements, telling Forum 18 that the church has received no written warnings and is continuing its work. Again, such media claims, with no evidence of wrongdoing, add to a general climate of suspicion of religious communities many regard as "non-traditional".
In the same interview, Rafik Aliev complained that "over 600" Azerbaijani students (presumably mostly Muslim) are receiving religious education in foreign countries "illegally". He said his committee would draw up a list of them and recall them to Azerbaijan. It remains unclear why Azerbaijani citizens are breaking the law in travelling to other countries for religious education. Azerbaijan has abolished the Soviet-era system of exit visas for local citizens and the government has no authority to interfere in citizens' foreign travel, provided there are no criminal or national security implications.
While Protestant communities have been subjected to police raids, beating of church members, denial of registration and harassment of individual church members, 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.
The religion law requires all Muslim communities to be part of the state-sanctioned Caucasian Muslim Board, despite claims that the state does not interfere in the internal activity of religious organisations. Independent mosques controlled by Wahhabis, or other groups which dislike the control imposed by the Caucasian Muslim Board, have faced government pressure and interference. Imams the authorities do not like have reportedly been removed. Rafik Aliev has declared that the State Committee will take part in drawing up and enacting "attestation tests" for imams, a clear violation of the autonomy of religious communities.
Censorship of religious literature C which existed during the Soviet period C was continued in the 1992 religion law and its subsequent amended versions. The law requires permission from the State Committee before a religious community 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 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."
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 department of the State Committee C headed by Jeyhun Mamedov C oversees this censorship.
Numerous believers of all faiths C including Muslims, Protestants and others C have seen religious literature confiscated at customs. One Baptist pastor had his twenty-year-old personal Bible confiscated as he returned to the country last year.
Symptomatic of officials' fear of religious freedom are the attempts to suppress accurate reporting of events through intimidation of believers and obstruction. Rafik Aliev has warned a number of religious groups not to complain to foreigners about the violation of their rights. The local chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association, founded with interfaith backing last autumn, has seen its registration application languish unanswered at the justice ministry for the past seven months, while the Devamm group, which has campaigned for believers' rights, has failed to get any response to its application for more than two years, despite a court ruling in its favour.
Officials like to claim that Azerbaijan is a country of religious tolerance C a view sedulously promoted by government-favoured groups like the Russian Orthodox Church, the Jewish communities (Mountain, Georgian and Ashkenazi Jewish) and the Catholics (the papal visit in May 2002 offered the tiny Catholic community the opportunity to join in this dubious campaign). Orthodoxy's worldwide leader, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, repeated the same message during his high-profile visit in April. "All people in Azerbaijan, regardless of whether they are Jews, Christians or Muslims, live comfortably," President Heidar Aliev declared during the visit, ignoring the plight of members of religious minorities.
Under an authoritarian regime, which has continued many of the old communist mechanisms of control but with a highly-developed and corrupt cult of personality around the president, Azerbaijan has yet to introduce an open, democratic society where religious freedom can flourish. Overlaid on the anti-democratic mindset of many officials is a lingering feeling that it is "inappropriate" for ethnic Azeris to "convert" to other faiths.
While the spring 2002 wave of raids on religious meetings, with believers being beaten and places of worship sealed, seems not to have been repeated, a disturbing number of incidents still continue. As Azerbaijan prepares itself for what many believe will be President Aliev's imminent death and the inevitable subsequent struggle for power among rival clans, religious minorities fear that the fragile existence they have been able to sustain may be curtailed if officials even more hostile to the limited toleration of religious minorities take control.
Source: http://www.forum18.org
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Religious rights groups barred from registering
By Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (12.05.2003)/ HRWF Int. (14.02.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Six months after lodging its application with the Ministry of Justice for registration as a non-governmental organisation, the Azerbaijani chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) seems no closer to gaining legal status. "We applied to the Ministry of Justice six months ago but as usual it provides us with no reply," secretary-general Ilgar Ibrahimoglu told Forum 18 News Service from the capital Baku on 9 May. He said he and his colleagues intend to consult the head office of the IRLA in the United States and "will probably" challenge the denial of registration through the courts. The head of the registration department of the justice ministry said he "couldn't remember" the IRLA chapter's application. "We get many applications," Fazil Mamedov told Forum 18 from Baku on 12 May.
Ibrahimoglu noted also that the Centre for Protection of Religion and Freedom of Conscience Devamm, of which he is senior coordinator, has likewise failed to gain registration. "We are very sorry that although it is already more than two years since Devamm submitted its documents to the Ministry of Justice, our centre has not yet been registered," he told Forum 18.
The IRLA, which was originally founded by Seventh Day Adventists, describes itself as "a non-sectarian association, chartered in 1893, to promote principles of religious freedom around the world". Its Azerbaijani chapter, founded by representatives of a variety of faiths at a constituent conference held in Baku from 30 September to 1 October 2002, submitted its registration application to the justice ministry on 19 November.
Curiously, in the light of the denial of registration to the IRLA, the chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations Rafik Aliev continues to cite the IRLA chapter's existence as evidence of what he regards as the Azerbaijani government's benign attitude to religious freedom. "The branch of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA), whose headquarters is in Washington, was recently opened in Baku," Aliev wrote on 2 April to US congressman Chris Smith and US senator Sam Brownback in a response to their criticism of violations of religious liberty in Azerbaijan.
Devamm has, if anything, encountered even more opposition from the authorities in its work to promote religious rights. "Devamm conducts single-minded work to establish civil society and widely promotes within society such values as tolerance, religious tolerance, the defence of individuals' rights and basic freedoms, and the defence of freedom of conscience and faith," the group declares. It has taken up the cases of Muslim women who wish for religious reasons to wear headscarves in photographs on official documents. It has also protested against the requirement in Azerbaijan's religion law that all Islamic communities must be subject to the Board of Caucasian Muslims, which is led by Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, arguing that this violates the constitutional separation of religion from the state.
After receiving no reply to its registration application within the first year, Devamm lodged a complaint to the court. "It is widely known that courts in Azerbaijan are not independent," Ibrahimoglu reported. "Yet despite this - and having taken into account international public pressure - the Court nevertheless recommended to the Ministry of Justice to register Devamm." He said that after making minor adjustments to the application his organisation again submitted their application to the justice ministry. "However, there has not been any result for six months," he told Forum 18 sadly. He said Devamm is again preparing a legal challenge to the refusal to register the organisation.
After initial denials, Mamedov of the justice ministry eventually admitted to Forum 18 that he did recall Devamm's original application and the subsequent legal case. However, he claimed that the court had ruled against Devamm. He said he could not remember anything about any subsequent application.
At the same time Mamedov insisted there is no ban on registering non-governmental organisations that campaign for religious rights and religious freedom. "The only ban is on organisations that violate the constitution, such as those that call for the overthrow of the constitutional order or incite racial or religious hatred," he told Forum 18. He added that of the 1,500 or so registered NGOs, some 40 are human rights groups.
Without being able to recall the IRLA's or Devamm's applications for registration, Mamedov said he was unable to respond to the question of why they had not been registered.
An official of the Baku office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) highlights the difficulty of registering NGOs of any sort. "Obtaining registration which, one would presume, is an automatic and simple act constitutes a major problem here," human dimension officer Branislav Solovic told Forum 18 from Baku on 12 May. "This is, of course, in breach of all possible human rights standards and OSCE commitments." He said the OSCE office has been trying to exert some "positive influence" but with "limited" success.
He said a new Law on Registration of Legal Entities pending in parliament should, according to officials, improve the situation by replacing "registration" with "notification". "It has however been pending for more than a year and nobody from outside has ever seen it," Solovic told Forum 18. "Thus, our trust in quick improvement is limited."
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Nakhichevan is re-registration black hole
By Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (08.05.2003)/ (HRWF Int. (16.05.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Twenty months after the launch of the compulsory re-registration drive and more than a year after the re-registration process was due to have been completed, the senior religious affairs official in Azerbaijan's autonomous republic of Nakhichevan has admitted to Forum 18 News Service that none of Nakhichevan's dozens of religious communities has been re-registered. "Not one has yet been re-registered with the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations," Idris Abbasov, head of the Nakhichevan branch of the State Committee, declared on 8 May. "It is still a question whether re-registration should take place in Baku or in Nakhichevan. I don't know." He told Forum 18 that only Rafik Aliev, the chairman of the State Committee, knows the answer.
However, Abbasov denied that lack of re-registration prevented the dozens of religious communities in the autonomous republic from functioning. "They can work freely," he insisted. He resolutely denied reports that the Turkish and the Iranian mosques in Nakhichevan had been closed down last year. "We don't call them Turkish or Iranian. But no mosques have been closed down." He also denied reports that muezzins are banned from issuing the call to prayer from mosques. "This is not banned here," Abbasov insisted. "Maybe they don't do it for technical reasons. But they can, just as in any European country."
Nakhichevan is an autonomous republic on the Arax river sandwiched between Armenia, Iran and Turkey and has a population of some 350,000. It has its own government and parliament.
The controversial re-registration drive - launched in August 2001 just two months after the State Committee was established - was originally due to have been completed by the end of March 2002. But more than a year after this deadline, the process has seen only 168 religious communities gain re-registration (these are listed on the committee's website www.addk.net). This compares with 406 religious communities registered with the Ministry of Justice under the old system and an estimated 2,000 religious communities in Azerbaijan as a whole.
With the re-registration applications from Nakhichevan lodged with the State Committee in Baku (which has not shared the information with the Nakhichevan branch) and with the dispute over which branch of the State Committee should conduct the re-registration in Nakhichevan unresolved, local religious communities have fallen into a black hole.
Forum 18 tried to discover from the State Committee in Baku on 8 May why no religious communities in Nakhichevan have yet been re-registered, but no official was prepared to talk. Zemfira Rzayeva, the head of the registration department, angrily refused to discuss anything, complaining that Forum 18 publishes "untrue information" and misquotes State Committee officials after conducting interviews with them. Committee deputy chairman Namik Allahverdiev simply put the phone down after hearing that Forum 18 was on the line. Samed Bairamzade, head of department for relations with religious bodies, refused to give any information, claiming that he did not know whether it was true that the person calling him was a journalist or someone pretending to be a journalist.
Abbasov told Forum 18 he did not know how many religious communities exist in Nakhichevan. "There are individual people but not 'communities', as this is a legal term and they do not have registration." He estimated that there were about thirty mosques, one Adventist community and only a few individual members of other religious communities, such as Russian Orthodox, Jews or Baptists. "I can't say how many of these there are." He said he would only know how many religious communities exist when they apply for registration.
One Adventist pastor familiar with the justice ministry's attempts to liquidate the Nakhichevan Adventist church's registration through the courts (see separate F18News article) reported that the church had applied for re-registration more than a year ago to the State Committee in Baku. However, he said the Baku committee appears not to have control over what happens in Nakhichevan. "We want to re-register our church in Nakhichevan," he told Forum 18 on 8 May, "but the State Committee in Baku says it does not have links with the autonomous republic."
Although Rafik Aliev told Forum 18 in London on 5 March that religious communities that have not re-registered with his committee retain their old justice ministry registration, many religious communities in Azerbaijan have faced harassment from the local authorities and police if they cannot produce a re-registration certificate from the State Committee. As officials have insisted on the importance of re-registration, it remains unclear why no communities in Nakhichevan have yet been re-registered.
Source: http://www.forum18.org
Nakhichevan Adventist Church fights for survival
By Felix Corley
Forum 18 News Service (08.05.2003)/ (HRWF Int. (16.05.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Within days of the official reopening on 12 April of the Adventist church in Azerbaijan's autonomous republic of Nakhichevan after a year when the community was banned from meeting, the local Ministry of Justice wrote to inform the church that it was seeking its liquidation through the courts. The justice ministry claimed that the community was wrong to have given its legal address as the church in the capital Baku (of which it was a branch) when it registered in March 1996. Asked why the Nakhichevan authorities are again seeking to prevent the church from functioning, one Adventist pastor, who preferred not to be named, was reluctant to speculate. "We won't give our view as we don't want to offend the authorities," he told Forum 18 News Service on 8 May. "But the justice ministry waited a full seven years before pointing out our mistake C and they're the people who registered our church."
The justice ministry lodged the case to liquidate the church on 7 April in Nakhichevan city court. No date has yet been set for the hearing.
Idris Abbasov, head of the Nakhichevan branch of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, strongly denied that Nakhichevan's Adventists were being obstructed from worshipping. "No-one has informed me of any liquidation through the courts," he claimed to Forum 18 on 8 May. "They're engaged in prayers and services. No-one is stopping them from doing that. We have freedom of religion."
At the same time as the justice ministry is seeking to liquidate the old registration, the community's application for re-registration with the State Committee has been stalled for more than a year. "We gave in the documents to the State Committee in Baku, but they always reply that they're still thinking about it," the Adventist pastor told Forum 18.
Abbasov told Forum 18 that his branch of the State Committee had never received any registration application from the Adventists C or from any other religious community C and that all such applications were being considered in Baku. He said no religious groups have yet been re-registered in the autonomous republic (see separate F18News article). However, he pledged that the Adventists would get re-registration with the State Committee.
No official of the State Committee in Baku was prepared to talk to Forum 18 on 8 May. Zemfira Rzayeva, the head of the registration department, angrily refused to discuss anything, complaining that Forum 18 publishes "untrue information" and misquotes State Committee officials after conducting interviews with them. Committee deputy chairman Namik Allahverdiev simply put the phone down after hearing that Forum 18 was on the line. Samed Bairamzade, head of department for relations with religious bodies, refused to give any information, claiming that he did not know whether it was true that the person calling him was a journalist or someone pretending to be a journalist.
The Adventist pastor pointed out that new moves from the Nakhichevan authorities seem to follow anything the church does. He said that after eleven church members wrote to the prime minister of Nakhichevan last December requesting to be allowed to meet for worship, the justice ministry wrote to warn them of the mistake in the registration document (the church received the letter only in January).
In February the community restored the Nakhichevan church and in March a new pastor, Ivan Uklein, arrived to lead the community. It was on 16 April, four days after the reopening of the church, that the justice ministry wrote to the church to inform it that the ministry had lodged the liquidation case in court (the church received the letter only on 22 April).
The Nakhichevan Adventist church has faced a long history of harassment. The previous pastor, Vahid Nagiev, was hounded out of Nakhichevan with his family in June 2002 (though Abbasov denied to Forum 18 that they had been driven out of the autonomous republic). Keklik Kerimova, Nagiev's wife, told Forum 18 from Baku on 8 May that the family is "living like refugees" in the Azerbaijani capital, wanting and praying to be allowed to return home. She said they have no work and only one of their four children has been able to find a school.
The Adventist pastor stressed that the Nakhichevan congregation C which has eighteen adult members C holds all its services in Russian. "Officials react very badly when Azerbaijanis convert," he told Forum 18.
Only two Adventist congregations have been allowed to re-register with the State Committee since the re-registration drive was launched in August 2001, one in Baku and one in Azerbaijan's second city Gyanja. The re-registration drive saw hundreds of congregations of a variety of faiths failing to gain the new registered status.
Source: http://www.forum18.org
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British Parliament to hold hearings on Azerbaijan
Baku Today (12.02.2003)/ HRWF Int. (13.02.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - A workshop-hearing on relations among religious groups in Azerbaijan will be held at the Lords House of Great Britain on March 5, according to Assa Irada news agency.
Three members of the House of Lords, representing Islam, Christianity and Judaism, Lords Ahmed, Chener and Elton have visited religious communities in Azerbaijan, traveled to ethnic minority areas to become familiar with the situation in the regions. The workshop-hearing will be presided over by Lord Grazer, chairman of the England-Azerbaijan society.
According to Lord Elton, anti-Semitism does not exist in this country at all, which represents an excellent example of religious tolerance.
Head of the Azerbaijan State Committee on Religious Bodies, Rafiq Aliyev, has been invited to attend and give a talk to the workshop-hearing. Earlier, Rafiq Aliyev had made speeches at a commission of the US Congress, State Department and seven universities. During the visit to last from March 3 until 7, Rafiq Aliyev is expected to visit the England-Azerbaijan society, become aware of the situation with religious communities, and meet with lords of the British parliament.
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