FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2019

WASHINGTON DC – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is alarmed over reports that a Houthi court in Yemen may deport and confiscate the assets of its Baha’i citizens. A Houthi judge has called for an appraisal of the Baha’i community’s assets ahead of an October 15 court hearing for its leader, Hamid bin Haydara, who was adopted in 2018 by USCIRF Commissioner Andy Khawaja as part of USCIRF’s Religious Prisoner of Conscience Project.

“I am deeply troubled over reports that the Houthis may deport members of the Baha’i community in Yemen,” said Commissioner Khawaja. “Congress and the administration must sound the alarm over the ruthless targeting of this peaceful religious community.”

Houthi forces arrested 60 Baha’is at a festival in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a in 2016. In 2017, they issued arrest warrants for 25 Baha’is on the basis of their religious beliefs. Six Baha’is continue to be detained in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. Among the detainees is Baha’i community leader Hamid bin Haydara, whose death sentence an appeals court affirmed on September 17, 2019. According to UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Ahmed Shaheed, these trials demonstrate the Houthis’ systematic targeting of members of the Baha’i community, a pattern linked to Iranian influence.

“Iran is not content to contain its cowardly persecution of religious minorities within its own borders,” said USCIRF Chair Tony Perkins. “Iran must immediately cease its exportation of religious intolerance to Yemen and the Houthis must end their persecution of Baha’is, immediately drop all charges against members of that community, and set free Baha’is who have been unjustly imprisoned.”

Houthi authorities arrested Hamid bin Haydara in 2013 and charged him with spying for Israel, trying to create a Baha’i homeland in Yemen, teaching ideas that are incompatible with Islam, and attempting to convert Muslims. Houthis have also targeted the Baha’i community in Yemen as a whole. For example, in September 2019, a Houthi prosecutor asked an appeals court to affirm a lower court’s decision to “immediately deport” Baha’is from Yemen, ban their re-entry, and restrict them from expressing their religious beliefs. USCIRF recommended the Houthis as an entity of particular concern (EPC) in its 2019 Annual Report.

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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 threats to 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] or Dwight Bashir at [email protected] or (202) 523-3240.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2019

USCIRF Urges Congress to Pass Tibetan Policy and Support Act,

Welcomes Recent Measures to Protect Religious Freedom in China

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today welcomed the recent introduction of the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2019 (H.R.4331 / S.2539) and urges Congress to swiftly pass it. If enacted, the bill would impose sanctions and a visa ban on any Chinese official who interferes in the selection of a successor to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In addition, the bill would require the Secretary of State to seek to establish a consulate in Lhasa.

“Without the right to choose their leaders, religious communities in China essentially have no freedom,” said USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer. “This bill sends a strong signal that the United States supports the role of Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders in selecting the next Dalai Lama and views any interference by the Chinese government as a religious freedom violation.”

“USCIRF thanks Senator Rubio and Representative McGovern, as well as the bipartisan group of members of Congress who have already cosponsored the bill, for their leadership in protecting religious freedom in Tibet," added Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee. “I also welcome the recent passage of a resolution by Tibetan representatives at the Third Special General Meeting in India on His Holiness the Dalai Lama's next reincarnation. We have watched with alarm as the Chinese government increases its stranglehold not only over Tibetan Buddhists, but also over Uighur Muslims, Christians, Falun Gong practitioners and other religious communities throughout the country.”

USCIRF also welcomed the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision this week to ban the export of certain technological components to 28 Chinese companies and organizations implicated in the mass interment of Uighur Muslims, as well as the U.S. Department of State’s announcement of visa restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for those abuses. In September 2019, USCIRF released a report documenting how the Chinese government uses surveillance cameras, biometric technology and artificial intelligence to monitor and harass Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims.

In its 2019 Annual Report, USCIRF called upon the administration to use its authority under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and International Religious Freedom Act to enact targeted sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for severe religious freedom violations, especially Chen Quanguo, the current Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang and former Secretary for Tibet until 2016.

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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 threats to 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] or Dwight Bashir at [email protected] or +1-703-898-6554.