FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2019
 

USCIRF Responds to Travel Ban on Burmese Military Officials
 

WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, the State Department designated four Burmese military leaders as responsible for gross human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims, including extrajudicial killings within Burma’s Rakhine State, banning their and their immediate families’ travel to the United States. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued the following statement: 

“This is a welcome step toward holding these individuals accountable,” said USCIRF Chair Tony Perkins.  “However, given the level of government-tolerated abuse, we urge the Departments of State and Treasury to consider using additional targeted tools on the military and other responsible parties, such as economic sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.”

Said Commissioner Anurima Bhargava, “We urge the Administration and Congress to make a definitive and public declaration that the military’s atrocities towards Rohingya Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities meet the legal definition of crimes against humanity and/or genocide.  This horrific chapter in Burma’s history must end with justice and the safe and dignified return of Rohingya Muslims and other displaced families to their homeland.” 

The four military officials banned by the State Department are Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Soe Win, Brigadier General Than Oo and Brigadier General Aung Aung. USCIRF has repeatedly called for targeted sanctions against military units in Burma following its disproportionate and indiscriminate crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in October 2016, and the mass displacement and violence towards Rohingya Muslims in the years since.  USCIRF has recommended that Burma be designated a “country of particular concern” in every year since 2000, including in its most recent annual report.

Commissioner Bhargava, Commissioner Nadine Maenza and Deputy Director for Research and Policy Tina Mufford visited Burma last month and met with government and military officials, civil society and members of the Rohingya community.
 

###

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 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 Kellie Boyle at [email protected] or +1-703-898-6554.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2019
 

USCIRF Vice Chair Gayle Manchin Calls on Iran to Cease Harassment and Threats Against Prisoner of Conscience Mohammad Ali Taheri
 

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today called on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran (IRGC) to stop harassing and threatening Religious Prisoner of Conscience Mohammad Ali Taheri and his family. Despite his release from prison in April, the IRGC has prevented Mr. Taheri from leaving his house, has monitored him constantly, has forbidden Mr. Taheri and his lawyer from discussing his religious beliefs, and has issued statements critical of his ideas. They also have threatened him with re-imprisonment, physical harm to both him and his family, and even death.

“Iran must stop terrorizing Mr. Taheri, his followers, and his family, and respect their rights under international law,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Gayle Manchin, who advocates for Mr. Taheri through USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project. “Threats against Mr. Taheri and his family and followers, despite Mr. Taheri’s release from prison, are deeply concerning. Iran’s government must guarantee freedom of religion and belief for all its citizens.”

Mohammad Ali Taheri is the founder of the Erfan Halgheh spiritual movement. In 2011, he was arrested and tried for “touching the wrists of female patients” and “blasphemy,” among other charges. On October 30, 2011, he was sentenced to 74 lashes, a fine and imprisonment. In 2015 and 2017, Mr. Taheri was sentenced to death for “corruption on earth.” After Iran’s Supreme Court overturned his death sentences in March 2018, a lower court sentenced him to a five-year sentence on the same charges. He was released from prison on April 23, 2019, but remains confined to his house and under surveillance.

###

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 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 Kellie Boyle at [email protected] or +1-703-898-6554.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2019
 

USCIRF Statement on Cuba Preventing Religious Leaders from Attending International Religious Freedom Meeting
 

WASHINGTON, DC – In response to the prohibition of travel imposed by the Cuban government on Apostle Alayn Toledano Valiente, a leader in the Apostolic Movement, Reverend Alida Leon Baiz, President of the Evangelical League of Cuba, Reverend Dariel Llanes, President of the Western Baptist Convention of Cuba, and Reverend Moises de Prada,  Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, who were all seeking to attend the U.S. State Department’s second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) commissioner Kristina Arriaga issued the following statement:

“If the denial of religious freedom in Cuba was ever in question, the Cuban government laid to rest all doubt this weekend by blatantly prohibiting four pastors, leaders of the country’s major religious organizations, from leaving the country to attend the State Department’s Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington, D. C. This is exactly the type of human rights violation that we and Ministerial attendees from all over the world are working to expose and to prevent. We urge the Cuban government to allow these religious leaders to participate in this important conversation - in person - and to return to Cuba to work together with officials to improve religious freedom conditions for all of its citizens.”

In its 2019 Annual Report, USCIRF listed Cuba as a Tier 2 country for engaging in or tolerating violations of religious freedom that meet at least one of the elements of the “systematic, ongoing, egregious” standard for designation as “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act.

 

###

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 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 Kellie Boyle at [email protected] or +1-703-898-6554.