AZERBAIJAN USCIRF–RECOMMENDED FOR SPECIAL WATCH LIST KEY FINDINGS I n 2020, religious freedom conditions in Azerbaijan remained largely static, with the notable exception of recent violations committed amid renewed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories. The Azerbaijani government continued to regulate religious activity through its 2009 law On Freedom of Religious Beliefs (religion law), requiring all religious communities to register in order to operate, mandating state approval for religious literature and related materials, and placing limitations on certain other religious activities. In 2020, the Azerbaijani government reportedly registered 14 religious communities, including two Christian communities. It did not, however, provide registration to all unregistered communities—such as some Jehovah’s Witnesses and Lutherans—despite initial impressions that they would finally receive registration within the year. This issue remained a source of significant concern for unregistered religious communities, which the government attempted to alleviate in some cases by suggesting they “affiliate” with registered counterparts, or in one case by providing a letter to a small, unregistered Baptist community permitting their worship within the confines of a weekly two-hour time slot in a pastor’s yard. However, neither suggestion appeared to have any legal basis and therefore offered no guaranteed legal protections. The government continued to disallow conscientious objection to mandatory military service; while no reported prosecutions took place during the year, the Azerbaijani National Assembly failed to create an alternative civilian service, for which the country’s constitution provides and one Member of Parliament suggested. As in 2019, there were no known incidents of law enforcement raids on religious communities, although some interlocutors reported nevertheless limiting some of their activities for fear of possible repercussions. The government continued to imprison individuals related to their religious activism. 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 reemergence of active fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories in late September prompted serious concerns about the preservation and protection of Armenian places of worship and other religious sites in those areas. In October, Azerbaijani forces reportedly targeted and shelled the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in the city of Shusha two times, resulting in extensive damage to that building and possibly constituting a war crime. Azerbaijan claimed that during the fighting, Armenian forces damaged various religious and cultural sites as a result of shelling as well. Following the November 10 ceasefire and the cession of some territories to Azerbaijan, media outlets documented the apparently recent vandalization and destruction of Armenian cemeteries and gravestones. That same month, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pledged to protect Christian churches and specified that “Christians of Azerbaijan” would be given access to those places of worship. RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT • Include Azerbaijan on the U.S. Department of State’s Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA); • Work with the government of Azerbaijan to revise the 2009 religion law to comply with international human rights standards and to bring it into conformity with recommendations made in 2012 by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and the 58 USCIRF | ANNUAL REPORT 2021 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); • Assist the Azerbaijani government, in collaboration with international partners, to develop an alternative civilian service and permit conscientious objection pursuant to its commitment to the Council of Europe, obligations under international human rights law, and the Azerbaijani constitution; and • Allocate funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. Embassy in Baku to restore, preserve, and protect places of worship and other religious or cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories. The U.S. Congress should: • 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.