Additional Name(s): ھەمدۇللا ئابدۇراھمان, 海木都拉·阿布都热合曼
Gender: Male
Current Location: Xinjiang
Perpetrator: China
Ethnic Group: Uyghur
Religion or Belief: Muslim – Unspecified/Other
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Date of Detainment: January//2019
Current Status: Not Released
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment
Reason for Persecution: Ethnoreligious Identity
Nature of Charges: Unknown
Hemdulla Abdurahman
Extra Bio Info:
Hemdulla Abdurahman is detained for his ethnoreligious identity.
In January 2019, authorities detained Abdurahman, a retired linguist who previously worked at the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) Ethnic Language Work Committee in Urumqi municipality, XUAR. Relatives living abroad lost contact with Abdurahman shortly after he told them that his brother had been detained for performing prayers.
Publicly Available Information:
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Photo attributed to Xinjiang Victims Database
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"Hemdulla Abdurahman" Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)
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"Hemdulla Abdurahman" Xinjiang Victims Database
Additional Name(s): Erbolat Qusman, 叶尔保拉提·胡斯曼
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: China
Ethnic Group: Kazakh
Religion or Belief: Muslim – Unspecified/Other
Reports of Torture: Yes
Reports of Medical Neglect: Yes
Date of Detainment: October/27/2017
Current Status: Not Released
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: House Arrest
Reason for Persecution: Religious Activity
Nature of Charges: Unknown
Erbolat Kusmanuly
Extra Bio Info:
Erbolat Kusmanuly is under house arrest in relation to his ethnoreligious identity.
On October 27, 2017, local authorities in Altay prefecture detained Kusmanuly, a restaurateur. Kusmanuly's wife proposed several reasons why she thinks he was arrested, including not drinking or smoking, being in contact with a religious group, and asking for his passport to be returned.
On December 29, 2018, Kusmanuly was released from detention and placed under house arrest.
Kusmanuly was reportedly denied adequate medical care for his pain in his kidneys that developed in March 2019.
There also allegations that Kusmanuly was tortured during a 2020 police interrogation.
Publicly Available Information:
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Photo attributed to Xinjiang Victims Database
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"Erbolat Qusman" Xinjiang Victims Database
Oct 9, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
USCIRF Releases New Report about Attacks against Houses of Worship and Religious Leaders in Burkina Faso
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report on attacks against houses of worship and religious leaders in Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso Factsheet– In the context of the upcoming presidential election in Burkina Faso scheduled for November 22, 2020, this factsheet details the drivers of and responses to attacks against religious institutions in Burkina Faso in recent years, including threats to houses of worship, religious ceremonies, and faith community leaders. Burkina Faso was long viewed as a bastion of religious tolerance and interfaith harmony in west Africa. Yet, in recent years religious freedom conditions in Burkina Faso have worsened, with the country facing interrelated security and humanitarian crises. Attacks on both Muslim and Christian houses of worship and religious leaders have spiked as jihadist and other militia groups have expanded their area of influence throughout the country. The government has struggled to rein in the violence and bring about accountability to perpetrators, and poor performance and misconduct by government affiliated forces are exacerbating the situation.
In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF raised concern regarding the global spike on attacks targeting places of worships and holy sites. In October 2019, USCIRF held a hearing on Protecting Houses of Worship and Holy Sites to consider how the international community can better work together to stem the global violent targeting of houses of worship. USCIRF continues to recommend that the U.S. government expand programs to train and equip local officials and communities to protect places of worship and other holy sites, especially in countries where such sites face a high risk of attacks, such as Burkina Faso.
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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].