OTHER KEY DEVELOPMENTS COVID-19 and Religious Freedom Muslim minority, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) destroyed and closed mosques and shrines and removed religious symbols as well. Governments responded with sweeping action to the COVID-19 It also destroyed a thousand-year-old Buddhist temple in Shangxi global pandemic in 2020. While many of these restrictions were jusProvince as well as Taoist temples across the country. The CCP contifiable under public health exceptions defined in international law, tinued its ongoing demolition of churches and removal of crosses some restrictions harmed religious minorities or otherwise violated from church buildings, affecting both government-sanctioned and freedom of religion or belief. In Sri Lanka, authorities insisted on the underground Catholic and Protestant churches. cremation of those who died from COVID-19, including Muslims for Several other countries experienced attacks on churches in 2020. whom the practice is religiously prohibited. However, the World Health Weeks after a terrorist beheaded a teacher in France for showing Organization (WHO) cites a lack of evidence that cremation of COVIDimages in class of the Prophet Muhammad, a man killed three people 19 victims is necessary for public health reasons. USCIRF expressed in a church in Nice. In Azerbaijan, security forces party to the conflict concern about this requirement, and welcomed its lifting in early 2021. in Nagorno-Karabakh allegedly conducted two strikes on a church. Vietnam arrested members of the Ha Mon religious group on charges During protests related to a constitutional referendum in Chile, one of “sabotaging implementation of solidarity practices.” In Pakistan and church was firebombed and another set alight. Saudi Arabia, government authorities indicated Shi’a religious commuIn Pakistan, armed men attacked a church in Punjab, and a mob nities were responsible for the spread of coronavirus and subjected attacked Christians at a Christmas celebration at a church in Lahore. some neighborhoods and localities to stricter lockdown measures. On Also, a mob destroyed a Hindu a positive note, however, in sevtemple in northwestern Pakistan eral countries, as part of efforts and attacked the construction to reduce prison populations site of the first Hindu temple in for health reasons, nonviolent The pandemic also fostered a wave of Islamabad. Sikh gurdwaras also offenders, including prisoners of misinformation targeting religious minorities. came under attack in 2020. In conscience, were furloughed or Pakistan, protesters surrounded sent to house arrest. a gurdwara in Nankana Sahib and The pandemic also fostered threatened to overrun the site. a wave of misinformation tarIn Afghanistan, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacked a geting religious minorities. Despite being obligated to do so under gurdwara in Kabul, killing 25 Sikh worshippers. international law, many governments failed to respond adequately The government of Vietnam continued the expropriation and to this misinformation. In India, for example, Muslims were accused destruction of property belonging to the Catholic Church, and the of spreading COVID-19, leading to a reported increase in attacks on government worked with state-backed Cao Dai groups to forcibly take members of the community. In April, the United Nations (UN) Special over temples belonging to the independent Cao Dai. Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, issued In November, Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia’s northern a statement warning that the pandemic has precipitated a “flare-up in region of Tigray allegedly killed hundreds of people in the holy city of existing religious intolerance in many countries.” For example, USCIRF Aksum, a city of major significance for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. received reports of numerous anti-Hindu incidents in Bangladesh that Close by, fighters also shelled and looted the al-Nejashi Mosque, occurred with impunity, particularly during COVID-19 lockdowns. one of the oldest mosques in the world believed to have been built As reported at a USCIRF panel in September, a rise in antisemduring the time of the Prophet Muhammad by the first Muslims to itism also coincided with the outbreak of COVID-19, particularly in migrate to Africa. Europe. In Germany, protests against public health measures to In Burkina Faso, an unknown assailant threw a flammable bottle reduce the spread of COVID-19 involved the invocation of Holocaust into a mosque in the capital city in November, reportedly wounding six imagery and antisemitic conspiracy theories about mandatory vacpeople. Witnesses to the event reported that a note left on the ground cination. Social media users in France used antisemitic tropes to nearby the attack read: “Close the mosque or we’ll launch grenades criticize Jewish former health minister Agnes Buzyn, and a Polish at you.” In February, unidentified gunmen attacked a church during Holocaust revisionist claimed that COVID-19 was being used to introMass in the village of Pansi in the Yagha region, killing 24 people, duce “Jewish” values into “Western Christian culture.” including a pastor. In recognition of increasing attacks on houses of worship, in Attacks on Houses of Worship January 2021, after the reporting period, the UN General Assembly The desecration or destruction of houses of worship continued around adopted a resolution condemning attacks on religious sites. the world in 2020. As part of its ongoing campaign against the Uyghur USCIRF | ANNUAL REPORT 2021 87