FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2018

USCIRF Calls on Yemen to Release Persecuted Baha’is

The accused include eight women and a teenage girl and the penalty for many is death

WASHINGTON, DC — Tenzin Dorjee, Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), today expressed increasing concern over the mounting persecution of Baha’is in Yemen by the Houthi-controlled government.

“I am gravely concerned for the safety of members of Yemen’s Baha’i community,” said Chair Dorjee. “This persecution on the basis of religious identity is unconscionable and must stop immediately. USCIRF calls for the unconditional release and dropping of all charges against members of Yemen’s peaceful Baha’i community.”

On September 15, 2018, the Houthi-controlled Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a, Yemen issued an indictment against 22 Baha’is alleging apostasy and espionage. The accused include eight women and a teenage girl. The penalty for many of these charges is death. Five Baha’is remain in detention. On October 11, Abdullah al-Olfi, spokesman for the Baha’i in Yemen, was also detained and released three days later.

In January 2018, USCIRF noted with deep concern that since 2017, the larger Baha’i community in Yemen had faced a proliferation of mass arrests, raids on homes and offices, forced closure of community organizations, and hostility from officials. USCIRF also reiterates its strong condemnation of a death sentence against prominent Yemeni Baha’i leader Hamid bin Haydara. Mr. bin Haydara was arrested in December 2013 by Yemen’s National Security Bureau, which beat him and tortured him using electric shock. On January 2, 2018, the judge sentenced Mr. bin Haydara to public execution. The verdict also ordered the confiscation of Mr. bin Haydara’s assets and the dissolution of local Baha’i institutions. Mr. bin Haydara remains on death row.

“USCIRF calls on Houthi authorities to annul the death sentence against Hamid bin Haydara, drop all charges against and cease targeting members of Yemen’s Baha’i community,” added Chair Dorjee.

In addition, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback last month called on the Houthis to drop all charges against Yemeni Baha’is and allow Yemenis of all beliefs to live in peace. And earlier this month, five United Nations experts called for the release of all those arrested and cessation of the persecution of Yemen’s Baha’i community.

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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 Kellie Boyle at [email protected] or +1-703-898-6554.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2018

USCIRF Hopes Ireland and Other Nations Will Abolish Dangerous Blasphemy Laws

WASHINGTON, DC – On October 26^th, Ireland will hold a referendum to decide whether to remove an antiquated provision from their constitution that requires blasphemy to be made a crime. Ireland is among 69 countries that currently have blasphemy laws, which range from obsolete to actively used with penalties that include death. Dr. Tenzin Dorjee, chair of the United States Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF), cites a recent charge of blasphemy in Spain​ as showing that even European democracies sometimes enforce these flawed laws.

“Blasphemy laws are a way for governments to deny their citizens – and particularly those of minority religions – the basic human rights to freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression,” said Dr. Dorjee. “These are very dangerous laws and we hope that Ireland and other countries will eliminate them entirely.”

In its report measuring the world’s blasphemy laws against international human rights principles, USCIRF found that most of these laws are vaguely worded and do not require a showing of intent as an element of the crime. The five worst laws were in countries with an official state religion and protected that religion (Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Qatar). Eighty-six percent of the laws prescribe imprisonment as the punishment. The most severe punishments are the death penalty (in Iran and Pakistan), corporal punishment (in Sudan), and compulsory or correctional labor (in Russia and Kazakhstan).

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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 or 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
October 24, 2018

Vice Chair Manchin Adopts Two Religious Prisoners of Conscience

“…concrete examples of the Iranian regime’s abysmal treatment of those who seek to exercise their fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.”


Washington, D.C.—Gayle Manchin, Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), today announced that she is adopting two prisoners in Iran, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Mohammad Ali Taheri, as part of USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project.

“The cases of Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Mohammad Ali Taheri demonstrate Iran’s complete disregard for human rights and its targeting of anyone who doesn’t share the state’s narrow interpretation of Islam,” said Vice Chair Manchin. “I am personally committed to highlighting their plight whenever I can, as concrete examples of the Iranian regime’s abysmal treatment of those who seek to exercise their fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.”

Two years ago, on October 24, 2016, Iranian security forces broke into Ms. Iraee’s home to take her to the notorious Evin Prison, where she is currently incarcerated. She was convicted of insulting religion and spreading propaganda and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, based on an unpublished story she wrote that was deemed critical of the official policy of stoning women to death for adultery.

Seven years ago this month, on October 30, 2011, Mr. Taheri was sentenced to 74 lashes, a fine, and imprisonment for, among other charges, insulting religion. A university professor and the founder of a spiritual movement, Mr. Taheri has been convicted repeatedly on various charges for his religious views and has been sentenced to death several times. He is currently serving a five-year prison term imposed in March 2018.

USCIRF has recommended that Iran be designated as a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act for engaging in systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom every year since 2000. The State Department has designated Iran as such repeatedly since 1999. For more information, see USCIRF’s 2018 Annual Report chapter on Iran.   

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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 or belief.  To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or Kellie Boyle at [email protected] or +1-703-898-6554.