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Published by Stetson
University Russia Religion News, August 15,
2004
American officials criticize Azerbaijan
persecution of Muslims
USA
HELSINKI COMMISSION EXPRESSES CONCERN OF SITUATION
AROUND "DZHUMA" MOSQUE
(Portal-credo.ru,
15 August 2004) - The chairman of the Helsinki
Commission of the Congress of USA, Christopher
Smith, accused Azerbaijani authorities of
continuing the persecution of members of the "Dzhuma"
society, Kavkazskii Uzel reports. This was how
Smith evaluated the decision of the Supreme Court
of the country that left in force the decision of
the Sabailsky court regarding eviction of the
society from the mosque of the same name. "The
actions of the government of Azerbaijan are
disgraceful and they demonstrate real contempt for
international norms of human rights and
obligations before CSCE," Christopher Smith noted.
"I again call the government to put an end to such
a policy and to return the mosque to the society
and permit it to act freely. An end should be put
to the practice of persecution and detention of
members of the society as well as the naming of
the imam of the mosque by the authorities,"
Christopher Smith stressed.
We recall that on 1 March the Sabailsky district
court issued a decision for the immediate eviction
of members of the "Dzhuma" religious society from
the mosque of the same name in the "Icheri shekher"
historic center of Baku. A suit for the eviction
was filed by the historic architectural preserve
of "Icheri shekher," which based its demand on the
premise that the mosque is an "architectural
monument." However members of the "Dzhuma" society
claimed that this conclusion was insubstantial,
claiming that the building had historically been a
mosque and since 1992 had been used for such
purposes.
On 22 April the Appeals Court left in force the
decision of the Sabailsky court, and on 30 June
police carried out an operation in execution of
these judicial decisions. Police officers evicted
members of the society from the mosque by force
during the performance of prayers. (tr. by PDS,
posted 15 August 2004)
US STATE DEPT CONDEMNS PERSECUTION OF "DZHUMA"
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY
(Portal-credo.ru, 15 August 2004) - The State
Department of USA condemned official Baku for
persecution of members of the "Dzhuma" religious
society, "525 Gazeta" (Baku) reports.
A representative of the State Department, Edgar
Vasquez, stated that the government of USA views
the seizure of the "Dzhuma" mosque and expulsion
of its imam as "a violation of international norms
of freedom of religion." The legal basis used for
evicting this society cannot be justified from the
point of view of international norms of human
rights and the principles of CSCE, of which
Azerbaijan is a members.
"We call the government of Azerbaijan to respect
its international obligations in the area of
freedom of religion and to return the mosque to
its legal parishioners with the right of choosing
their own imam by themselves," Edgar Vasquez
noted. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 August 2004)
DECLARATION OF THE FEDERATION OF RIGHTS DEFENSE
ORGANIZATIONS OF AZERBAIJAN
The Federation of Rights Defense Organizations of
Azerbaijan sharply condemns the campaign of
persecution of the religious society of the Dzhuma
mosque in Icheri Shekher in the city of Baku.
Slanderous statements in the pro-governmental
press, reaching to insinuations of a supposed
stash of weapons in this mosque for
antigovernmental purposes, and the arrest of the
mosque's imam Ilgar Ibragimogla, the forceful
expulsion of believers from the mosque, the arrest
of a group of believes during a funeral, and
finally, the accusation that supporters of
Ibragimogla supposedly beat Imam Surkhai Mamedov,
who had been appointed by the official Board of
Muslims of the Caucasus--all of this clearly
creates a negative image of this religious
society, whose methods of protest and
self-expression have always borne an exclusively
peaceful character.
Even the beating on 8 August of Mamedov, if it
actually happened, is more a part of the
propagandistic campaign and methods of operation
of the authorities than of the nonviolent campaign
of the "Dzhuma mosque" society for the return of
their temple to believers. It could have been
organized by the very same forces that organized
the recent beating by supposed "Islamists" of the
chief editor of the "Baky kheber" newspaper, A.
Guliev.
The federation, condemning the violent methods of
regulating relations between religious groups,
demands that the authorities conduct a full and
impartial investigation of the incident of the
beating of Mamedov, and before its results it
calls news media to refrain from hasty
conclusions. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 August 2004)
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