USCIRF Releases Report Measuring Blasphemy Laws’ Compliance with Human Rights

USCIRF chairman states that blasphemy laws “invite abuse and can lead to assaults, murders, and mob attacks”

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a report that shows how blasphemy laws around the world fall short of international human rights benchmarks.  “Respecting Rights? Measuring the World’s Blasphemy Laws” catalogs the offending laws found in a wide range of countries. In some countries, blasphemy laws are enforced weakly, if at all, yet such laws, “in both theory and practice, harm individuals and societies.” The report details laws spanning the globe from countries such as Canada and Switzerland to Iran and Indonesia with penalties ranging from fines to death. Surprisingly, more than one-third of the world’s nations have blasphemy laws today.

“Religious freedom includes the right to express a full range of thoughts and beliefs, including those that others might find blasphemous,” noted USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark. “Advocates for blasphemy laws may argue that they are needed in order to protect religious freedom, but these laws do no such thing. Blasphemy laws are wrong in principle, and they often invite abuse and lead to assaults, murders, and mob attacks. Wherever they exist, they should be repealed.”

The report compared the text of blasphemy laws against such indicators as freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief, vagueness of the law, severity of penalty, discrimination against groups, and state religion protections. Most laws in the study failed to protect freedom of expression, were vaguely worded, and carried unduly harsh penalties for violators.

In all five of the worst-scoring countries (Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Qatar), the blasphemy laws aim to protect the state religion of Islam in a way that impermissibly discriminates among different groups. When societies wish to defend people of faith from speech that offends them, private citizens must act, not the government, and they must act peacefully, never with violence. In such cases, solidarity across faiths can be a powerful tool for promoting tolerance and mutual respect.

“Though implementation varies, countries from Switzerland to Sudan persist in outlawing expression of views deemed ‘blasphemous’,” said Chairman Mark. “Some countries, including Canada, have such laws but do not actively enforce them.  We call upon those countries to set an example for the others and repeal their blasphemy laws. And we call upon all countries to repeal any such laws and to free those detained or convicted for blasphemy.”

The full report may be found at www.USCIRF.gov.  Follow USCIRF’s posting about this report on Twitter (@USCIRF) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/USCIRF/).

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or John D. Lawrence, Director of Communications ([email protected]/ +1-202-786-0611).

IRAN: Religious Prisoner of Conscience Maryam Naghash Zargaran Released

Case Exemplifies Iran’s “Flagrant Disregard for Religious Freedom”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomed the release of Iranian religious prisoner of conscience Maryam Naghash Zargaran. A Christian convert from Islam, Ms. Zargaran was sentenced in 2013 to four years’ imprisonment on charges of “propagating against the Islamic regime and collusion intended to harm national security.” Her sentence appeared to be in connection with her work at an orphanage alongside Iranian-American Christian pastor Saeed Abedini.

“Maryam Naghash Zargaran suffered unjustly in prison for more than four years simply due to her Christian faith.  And while detained, she did not receive the proper medical treatment for her serious health conditions,” said USCIRF Commissioner Clifford D. May, who has advocated in support of Ms. Zargaran. “Instead of imprisoning her, the Iranian government should have honored her for her contributions to society.  Maryam’s case exemplifies how the government criminalizes Iranian Christians’ expression of their faith and its flagrant disregard for religious freedom and human rights.”

Commissioner May took up Ms. Zargaran’s case as part of USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project. Through this project, Commissioners work for the release of individuals who have been imprisoned for their religious beliefs, practices, advocacy, or identity and highlight the laws and policies that led to their imprisonment.

Since 1999, USCIRF has recommended, and the State Department has designated, Iran as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for its systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations. Severe violations targeting religious minorities – especially Baha’is, Christian converts, and Sunni Muslims – continue unabated. Since President Hassan Rouhani was first elected in 2013 and re-elected in May 2017, the number of individuals from religious minority communities who are in prison because of their beliefs has increased.

"The Iranian government must stop targeting religious minorities and must release all religious prisoners of conscience," said USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark.  “The United States must continue to speak publicly and frequently at the highest levels about the severe religious freedom abuses taking place in Iran. The U.S. should hold accountable Iranian government agencies and officials who perpetrate severe religious freedom violations. Our government should use all available tools against such perpetrators, including freezing their assets and denying them visas."

For more information, please see the chapter on Iran in USCIRF’s 2017 Annual Report.  Read the chapter in Persian here.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or John D. Lawrence, Director of Communications ([email protected]/+1-202-786-0611).

USCIRF Condemns Egypt’s Deportation of Uighur Muslims to China

“These latest moves show a calculated indifference to the Uighur Muslim community”

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly condemns the irresponsible and hostile actions taken against Uighur Muslims in Egypt. The government of Egypt continues a campaign of rounding up and deporting these individuals back to China, a country with a record of harsh repression of the Uighur community. Egypt began this campaign of arrests and deportations in early July and they continue today.

USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark stated that, “In USCIRF’s 2017 Annual Report, we did not recommend Egypt be designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) – designating them, instead, as Tier 2 -- because we had seen some good faith efforts by the government toward religious minorities, particularly Coptic Christians. But these latest moves show a calculated indifference to the Uighur Muslim community. These forced deportations cast the government’s efforts in an unfavorable light.”

Amid a growing domestic crackdown on Uighur Muslims, as USCIRF outlined in its July 5 press release, China is reaching outside its territories for them as well.  These repressive moves continue now as far away as Egypt and Italy. Reports indicate that the Egyptian government’s actions were taken in response to Chinese government requests and that Chinese security personnel have been present at some arrests. Civil society reports indicate that as many as 200 Uighurs have been arrested in Egypt with some already forcibly deported to China. Similar arrests and forced repatriations of Uighurs have occurred in the past in other countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. In the past week, Reuters reported that Italian authorities detained a prominent Uighur, allegedly at the request of Chinese authorities.

USCIRF Vice Chair Sandra Jolley, who traveled to Egypt with USCIRF in early 2017, said, “The Egyptian government should be put on notice that the world is watching. I am an advocate for Gulmira Imin, a Uighur Muslim in China sentenced to life in prison because she was a peaceful Uighur activist. We have seen what China does to Uighurs. No one should have any illusions about the fate of those forcibly returned to China. They, and quite possibly their families and loved ones, will be subject to harassment, arbitrary arrest, and even torture or death.”

When asked what the next steps should be, USCIRF Chairman Mark said, “We call on the Egyptian government to cease detentions of Uighur Muslims and deportations to China, and we call on the Chinese government to end the persecution of Uighurs, including releasing all innocent Uighurs and allowing them to live in peace under their internationally protected rights.”
 

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or John D. Lawrence, Director of Communications ([email protected]/+1-202-786-0611).