Jan 23, 2024

USCIRF Releases New Report on Religious Freedom in Indonesia

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report:

Indonesia Country Update - This report provides an update on religious freedom conditions in Indonesia during 2023. Blasphemy allegations and convictions remain persistent religious freedom violations throughout Indonesia. The new criminal code, passed at the end of 2022 and signed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in January 2023, will further criminalize blasphemy and expand on other religious freedom violations when implemented in 2026. Additionally, local government initiatives to codify discrimination against minority communities, including religious minorities, continue to gain traction throughout the country. Finally, Indonesia’s education system in some locales continues to mandate the wearing of religious clothing such as the hijab, even for non-Muslim girls.

In its 2023 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended the U.S. Department of State place Indonesia on its Special Watch List (SWL) for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom. In March 2023, USCIRF held an event on Rising Authoritarianism in ASEAN Member States, and in September 2023 released a report on The Bureaucratization of Religion in Southeast Asia.

###

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].

Jan 19, 2024

USCIRF Commemorates the Anniversary of the U.S. Government’s Determination of the Uyghur Genocide

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) commemorates the third anniversary of the U.S. government’s determination of China’s genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang region.

We applaud the U.S. government—both the then Trump administration and the current Biden administration—for recognizing the Chinese government’s atrocities in the Uyghur region as genocide and crimes against humanity. We also appreciate the overwhelming bipartisan support on Uyghur issues in Congress,” stated USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel. “But, as we mark the third anniversary of the Uyghur genocide determination, the Chinese government’s persecution in the Uyghur region remains unrelenting. The U.S. government and like-minded international partners must redouble their efforts to hold the Chinese government accountable for its despicable atrocities against ethno-religious minorities in Xinjiang.”

Chinese authorities have placed millions of Uyghurs in concentration camps in which they experience torture, sexual violence, forced abortion, and forced sterilization. Nearly a million Uyghur children have been forcibly separated from their detained parents and placed in state-run boarding schools. The government also continues to subject Uyghurs to forced labor in factories in Xinjiang and throughout China.

The Chinese government is one of the world’s worst religious freedom violators. Its persecution of Uyghur Muslims in particular demands strong condemnation and concrete policy actions,” USCIRF Commissioner David Curry stated. “The Chinese government not only persecutes religious groups inside China, but it has also increasingly extended its authoritarian reach overseas, relentlessly intimidating Uyghurs, Tibetans, Christians, and Falun Gong practitioners in the United States and other countries. We urge the U.S. government’s continued action on these concerns, including Congress supporting the passage of the Uyghur Policy Act of 2023 (H.R.2766).

USCIRF has consistently highlighted the Chinese government’s religious freedom violations. USCIRF applauded the U.S. government’s joint sanctions with like-minded partners against Chinese officials responsible for egregious religious freedom violations against Uyghur and other Muslims in Xinjiang. USCIRF also applauded President Joseph R. Biden for implementing a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in protest against the Chinese government’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. Additionally, USCIRF recommended the U.S. Congress support human rights legislations that address China’s religious freedom and human rights abuses, including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (Public Law 117–78).

In its 2023 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended the U.S. government redesignate China as a “Country of Particular Concern,” or CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. On December 29, 2023, the U.S. Department of State redesignated China as a CPC. Earlier this month, USCIRF released a Policy Update on China, with recommendations to the U.S. government on steps it can take to address China’s techno-authoritarianism, transnational repression, and malign political influence in the United States.

###

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].

Additional Name(s): Soroush Eqani

Gender: Male

Current Location: Adel Abad Prison, Shiraz

Perpetrator: Iran

Religion or Belief: Bahá`í

Appeal: Reduced to 6 Months' Imprisonment

Sentence: Originally 2 Years' Imprisonment

Date of Detainment: January/14/2024

Date of Sentencing: June//2023

Current Status: Not Released

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: Religious Belief Religious Identity

Nature of Charges: Illegal Assembly

Soroush Iqani

Extra Bio Info:

Soroush Iqani is imprisoned for his religious identity.

In June 2023, Branch 1 of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court sentenced Iqani, an Iranian Baha'i, to two years in prison on charges of "gathering and collusion against the security of the country." The punishment also included a two-year ban from leaving the country and a two-year mandatory residence in Mehriz. 

On an unspecified date, an appeals court reduced Iqani's sentence to six months in prison.

On January 14, 2024, authorities arrested Iqani and later took him to Adel Abad prison in Shiraz to begin serving his six-month sentence.