OTHER KE Y DEVELOPMENTS Political Unrest Leading to Religious Freedom Violations Other countries actively enforced blasphemy laws in 2020. In Sri Lanka, after a Buddhist monk filed a complaint citing the country’s blasphemy laws, police summoned a nontheist activist and told him not to speak about Buddhism. Sri Lankan authorities charged a writer under these laws for posting a short story on Facebook deemed critical of Buddhism. In Morocco, officials charged an actor under blasphemy laws for posting a video on social media deemed critical of Islam. A court in Morocco sentenced a member of the Youssoufia city council to six months in prison over a Facebook post about Islam. In Egypt, a court sentenced a man to prison for managing a Facebook page that promoted atheism, and security forces detained a teacher for promoting Qur’anism. Poland used blasphemy laws to charge lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) protesters in August 2020. In Brazil, a judge ruled that a Netflix movie depicting Jesus as gay be removed on the grounds that it hurt “the honor of millions of Catholics,” though Brazil’s supreme court later overturned the order. In 2020, several post-Soviet countries experienced political unrest that prompted the emergence of religious freedom violations. In August, the reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus, widely viewed as fraudulent, was quickly followed by sustained protests across the country that drew hundreds of thousands despite brutal government crackdowns. The Catholic Church organized some of those protests, spoke out against regime violence, and protected protesters within its facilities. In August, state media responded to this participation by stopping the broadcast of Catholic Mass on Sundays. Belarusian officials blocked Catholic Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz from reentering the country after a short trip to Poland, eventually annulling his passport. Despite his readmission on Christmas Eve, the archbishop promptly resigned in January 2021. In September, the authorities deported a long-serving Catholic priest without explanation and have since harassed, fined, and detained Global Antisemitism other priests. Other religious communities faced similar consequences: for example, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church In 2020, far-right (including neo-Nazis), far-left, and Islamist extremdismissed Metropolitan Pavel, the head of the Belarusian Orthodox ists increasingly threatened Jewish communities in Europe. The Church (BOC) in August, after he visited protesters in the hospital and Nordic Resistance Movement harassed Jews in 20 cities across four spoke out against regime violence. Scandinavian countries during the week leading up to Yom Kippur, In October, Kyrgyzstan experienced a political revolution, with utilizing antisemitic posters and confronting Jewish worshippers outresulting unrest leading to religious freedom restrictions. The former side of synagogues. In Germany, the government began to examine Kyrgyz president was quickly replaced by Sadyr Japarov, a jailed closely the extent to which individuals associated with the far right politician who was freed during the uprising. Japarov’s base is highly are represented in the country’s security forces. In one instance, nationalistic, and his ascension heralds an authoritarian shift in what 29 officers were suspended for sharing images of Hitler and violent has historically been the most democratic former Soviet republic neo-Nazi propaganda in multiple group chats. Nationalist groups and in Central Asia. Among his first decrees were several that ordered other far-right extremists held marches in Spain and Ukraine featuring educators and the media to promote “traditional” moral, family, and antisemitic imagery and chants. spiritual values. He also reportedly plans to introduce Islamic eduGermany and the United Kingdom again witnessed record levels cation in Kyrgyz schools while characterizing minority religions like of antisemitic incidents throughout the year. The chief of German Christianity and Buddhism as foreign. domestic intelligence acknowledged that nearly all popular Islamist Political unrest in Yemen continued to undermine the religious organizations that are active in Germany include antisemitism as a freedom of Jews, Baha’is, and Christians severely, especially in areas part of their ideology. In October, the British Equality and Human controlled by the Houthis. Since Rights Commission found that 2014, the Houthis have sought the British Labour Party had greater political influence and failed to respond sufficiently control in Yemen, all w hile to far-left antisemitism within Throughout Europe, Jews faced espousing the slogan “Allah is the party, including Holocaust threats to ban or limit ritual slaughter, great/Death to America/Death denial and Rothschild conspiracy physical attacks, discrimination, to Israel/ Curses on the Jews/ theories posted by party memVictory to Islam.” In 2020, Jewish bers on social media in previous and rampant vandalism. prisoner of conscience Libi Salem years. Throughout Europe, Jews Musa Marhabi remained in prison faced threats to ban or limit ritual even though a court had ordered slaughter, physical attacks, dishis release. Despite the release of several Baha’is from Houthi prisons, crimination, and rampant vandalism. In France, in a July television the community remained a target of regular persecution throughout interview, the leader of the far-left La France Insoumise party accused the year. Christians reportedly faced an uptick in violent attacks as well. Jews of being responsible for the death of Jesus. In October, USCIRF reported on the importance of ritual slaughter to Jewish individuals who follow their faith’s dietary laws. Yet in Blasphemy Laws a far-reaching decision, the Court of Justice of the European Union There were many changes to blasphemy laws around the world in (EU) ruled in December that “member countries may ban the practice 2020. Some of these changes were positive. Early in the year, Ireland of ritual slaughter in order to promote animal welfare.” Additionally, abolished its blasphemy laws. Scotland also announced in April it would the Polish government came close to ending its $1.8 billion kosher/ repeal its blasphemy law, though debate endured on whether the hate halal meat export industry, which would severely hamper the ability crimes bill replacing the law would allow for criticism of religion. In July, of Jews and Muslims in neighboring countries to access religiously Sudan decriminalized apostasy and eliminated flogging as a punishpermissible meat. ment for blasphemy, although the blasphemy law remained in force. 88 U S C I R F | A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 2 1