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).

VIETNAM: Religious Prisoner of Conscience Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh Released

USCIRF Urges the United States to Continue Raising Religious Freedom with Vietnam

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) expressed relief that the Vietnamese government has released religious prisoner of conscience Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh and allowed him, his wife Tran Thi Hong, and their five children to leave the country. Pastor Chinh was sentenced in 2012 to 11 years’ imprisonment and endured solitary confinement and torture in prison. The family has arrived in the United States after the U.S. government granted Pastor Chinh humanitarian parole.

“The Vietnamese government finally has done the right thing by releasing Pastor Chinh from prison.  We welcome his admission, along with his family, to the United States.  The reality is that he should not have been imprisoned in the first place for simply practicing his faith,” said USCIRF Commissioner Jackie Wolcott, who has advocated on behalf of the pastor. “Pastor Chinh was falsely charged and imprisoned and treated cruelly, as are countless other religious believers and human rights activists who continue to be harassed, detained, and tortured in Vietnam.”  

Commissioner Wolcott took up the case of Pastor Chinh and his wife 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 the laws and practices that led to their imprisonment.

USCIRF commends the brave efforts of Pastor Chinh’s wife, Tran Thi Hong, who worked tirelessly on behalf of her husband. Vietnamese authorities frequently harassed and surveilled Mrs. Hong, including beating her for meeting with then U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein about her husband’s case.

USCIRF has recommended since 2002 that the State Department designate Vietnam as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for its systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. Through law, policy, and practice, the Vietnamese government perpetrates or tolerates serious religious freedom abuses, particularly against unregistered religious organizations and in rural areas of some provinces.

“Although USCIRF recommends Vietnam be designated a CPC, we also recognize that the government has demonstrated a willingness to engage on freedom of religion or belief,” said USCIRF Chairman Dr. Daniel Mark, who has traveled to Vietnam on behalf of USCIRF. “The United States must continue to ensure that religious freedom is pursued both privately and publicly at every level of the bilateral relationship so that Vietnam takes positive and lasting steps toward freedom of religion or belief, including releasing religious prisoners of conscience.”

For more information, please see USCIRF’s chapter on Vietnam from its 2017 Annual Report (in English and Vietnamese) or USCIRF’s report, Religious Freedom in Vietnam: Assessing the Country of Particular Concern Designation 10 Years After its Removal (in English and Vietnamese).

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).