Sep 11, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 11, 2018
USCIRF Highly Concerned by Latest Chinese Government Abuses Against Religious Communities
USCIRF is highly concerned by reports of Chinese authorities’ escalating religious freedom violations. On the same weekend as national media in the United States revealed the horrific detention of countless Uighur Muslims in extra-judicial “re-education camps,” the Chinese government also reportedly raided and shut down Zion Church in Beijing. These collective actions, coupled with abuses against other religious communities, such as Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners, signal an alarming escalation in persecution of citizens in China under Xi Jinping. USCIRF condemns the Chinese government’s ongoing brutal and systematic targeting of religious communities for their beliefs.
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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 Javier Peña at [email protected] or +1-202-674-2598.
Aug 27, 2018
This op-ed originally appeared in The Globe Post on September 18, 2018.
By former Commission Chair Daniel Mark
Hamed bin Haydara, a leader of the Baha’i faith in Yemen, has been imprisoned since 2013 over charges of apostasy and insulting the Islam. He has reportedly been tortured and denied both medical and legal assistance. Over the past five years, his trial date has repeatedly been postponed, raising and dashing the hopes of his community. When the Houthi courts of northern Yemen finally issued a ruling on January 2, 2018, their decision brought shock, not relief. Not only is bin Haydara sentenced to public execution, but the country’s Baha’i institutions are to be legally disbanded, leaving the community leaderless and in fear of further persecution.
Tragically, in the five months since this blatant act of religious persecution, conditions for Baha’is in Yemen have worsened, prompting the U.S. State Department to issue a statement in May condemning “actions and rhetoric by Houthi leaders [that] exemplify the vilification and oppression of the Baha’is in Yemen” and calling on the Houthis to “end their unacceptable treatment of Baha’is” and to “allow the Baha’i community to practice their religion without fear of intimidation or reprisals.”
This comes following a baseless claim by the leader of the oppressive Houthi regime that Christians, Baha’is, Ahmadi Muslims, and other religious minorities are waging a “Satanic war” against Muslim Yemenis. He urged his followers to engage in cultural and religious warfare against these religious minorities and since, Houthi authorities have organized official training on fighting this “soft war.” Houthi-affiliated media and clerics have also warned of the dangers posed by Baha’is, and a prominent Houthi activist has called for the slaughter of all Baha’is.
This escalation of hateful rhetoric conjures up frightening memories of what Baha’is in Iran faced immediately after the 1979 revolution: nearly 200 Baha’i leaders were executed, and thousands were imprisoned. A 1991 Iranian government memo called for the eradication of Baha’is, not only in Iran but beyond its borders. Nearly four decades later, the execution of this policy continues and has now spread to Yemen.
Houthi forces have been receiving training and political support from Iran since the early days of the Yemeni conflict. After taking control of northern Yemen, they arrested dozens of Baha’i youth at a 2016 meeting and issued arrest orders without cause for more than 20 Baha’i leaders and teachers in April 2017. Local sources have reported that Iranian authorities are directing the Houthis in this crackdown, and there can be no doubt of the similarity in rhetoric: both the Iranian government and the Houthi authorities deny that the Baha’i faith is a religion at all, rather, a heretical “sect” or “movement.”
At the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan government agency tasked with monitoring and advising the State Department, Congress, and Administration on violations of freedom of conscience, we strenuously denounce the death sentence issued to bin Haydara and the threats issued against Baha’is and other religious minorities in Yemen. We join the State Department and organizations worldwide in calling upon the Houthi authorities to immediately release bin Haydara and the other five Baha’is who are imprisoned in northern Yemen solely for their beliefs.
Many of the young Baha’is of Iran who are today denied education and employment have never known a world in which they were not demonized by the government ruling their country; we cannot let the same fate befall the Baha’is of Yemen.
Daniel Mark is a former U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom commissioner and is currently Assistant Professor of Political Science at Villanova University.
Aug 24, 2018
Comunicado de Prensa para Publicación Inmediata
24 de agosto de 2018
La Comisión de los Estados Unidos para la Libertad Religiosa Internacional Condena la Violencia y Represión de las Autoridades Nicaragüenses Contra Entidades Religiosas
El presidente de la Comisión, Tenzin Dorjee, dijo, “Condenamos enérgicamente la violencia en contra de organizaciones y líderes religiosos.”
WASHINGTON, DC – La Comisión de los Estados Unidos para la Libertad Religiosa Internacional (USCIRF) condena enérgicamente la violencia dirigida en contra de líderes y ministerios religiosos. Desde el mes de abril, durante protestas a favor de la democracia, más de 300 personas han sido asesinadas y muchos más heridos, incluyendo líderes de organizaciones religiosas.
“Condenamos enérgicamente la violencia contra los líderes religiosos,” dijo el presidente de USCIRF Tenzin Dorjee. “Las comunidades religiosas han denunciado los abusos del gobierno en contra de civiles inocentes. Debido a sus denuncias, líderes de organizaciones religiosas han sido las víctimas de un número de ataques violentos por parte de las autoridades nicaragüenses. El gobierno nicaragüense debe cesar cualquier acción de su parte, o de parte de sus seguidores, las cuales restringen los derechos de, o causan daño a las comunidades religiosas.”
Fuerzas del gobierno han comenzado a explícitamente dirigirse contra líderes y comunidades religiosas a través de intimidación, amenazas físicas, ataques en lugares de culto, y asesinatos. De acuerdo a organismos humanitarios locales, muchos grupos religiosos se han visto obligados a limitar su servicios y actividades debido a violencia por parte de fuerzas del gobierno y paramilitares.
La Vice Presidente de USCIRF, Kristina Arriaga, está disponible para otorgar entrevistas en español sobre este tema.
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La Comisión de Estados Unidos para la Libertad Religiosa Internacional (USCIRF) es una entidad independiente y bipartidista del gobierno federal de los Estados Unidos establecida por el Congreso de Estados Unidos para vigilar, analizar y reportar sobre las amenazas a la libertad religiosa en el exterior. USCIRF hace recomendaciones en materia de políticas al presidente, all secretario de Estado y al Congreso. Para entrevistar a un oficial del gobierno por favor envíe un correo electrónico a [email protected] o a Javier Peña a [email protected] o llame al +1-202-674-2598.