FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2019

USCIRF Releases New Reports on Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Iran

Washington, DC  – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released new reports on the state of religious freedom in three of the countries it monitors.  The reports are as follows:

Malaysia Factsheet – An overview of the enforced disappearances of several prominent religious figures in Malaysia. Evidence suggests that some of these high-profile abductions were well-coordinated in advance. USCIRF’s report references the findings of Malaysia’s independent human rights commission, SUHAKAM, which earlier this year implicated Malaysian law enforcement officials in some of the cases.

Kazakhstan Country Update – A report on religious freedom conditions in Kazakhstan, where USCIRF staff recently travelled to meet with civil society, religious leaders and government officials about the country’s restrictive religious registration laws and the legal prosecution of individuals for peaceful religious expression and practice. The report examines the country’s contemporary religious landscape, noting both positive developments and obstacles to success as the government struggles to align its actual approach to religious freedom with its much-touted commitment to it.

Iran Policy Brief – An analysis of the ways in which Iran, amidst domestic and international pressure, has increased its persecution of minority religious communities, targeting the Baha’i community with particular fervor. This brief includes USCIRF’s recommendations to Congress and the Administration to use a wide array of advocacy, diplomacy, and targeted sanctions to pressure Iran to end its persecution of the Baha’is.

In its 2019 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate Iran as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) due to its systemic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom. The State Department has designated Iran a CPC every year since 1999. In 2019, USCIRF again placed Malaysia and Kazakhstan on its Tier 2 list. 

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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 call (202) 523-3240.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2019

WASHINGTON DC – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is alarmed over reports that a Houthi court in Yemen may deport and confiscate the assets of its Baha’i citizens. A Houthi judge has called for an appraisal of the Baha’i community’s assets ahead of an October 15 court hearing for its leader, Hamid bin Haydara, who was adopted in 2018 by USCIRF Commissioner Andy Khawaja as part of USCIRF’s Religious Prisoner of Conscience Project.

“I am deeply troubled over reports that the Houthis may deport members of the Baha’i community in Yemen,” said Commissioner Khawaja. “Congress and the administration must sound the alarm over the ruthless targeting of this peaceful religious community.”

Houthi forces arrested 60 Baha’is at a festival in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a in 2016. In 2017, they issued arrest warrants for 25 Baha’is on the basis of their religious beliefs. Six Baha’is continue to be detained in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. Among the detainees is Baha’i community leader Hamid bin Haydara, whose death sentence an appeals court affirmed on September 17, 2019. According to UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Ahmed Shaheed, these trials demonstrate the Houthis’ systematic targeting of members of the Baha’i community, a pattern linked to Iranian influence.

“Iran is not content to contain its cowardly persecution of religious minorities within its own borders,” said USCIRF Chair Tony Perkins. “Iran must immediately cease its exportation of religious intolerance to Yemen and the Houthis must end their persecution of Baha’is, immediately drop all charges against members of that community, and set free Baha’is who have been unjustly imprisoned.”

Houthi authorities arrested Hamid bin Haydara in 2013 and charged him with spying for Israel, trying to create a Baha’i homeland in Yemen, teaching ideas that are incompatible with Islam, and attempting to convert Muslims. Houthis have also targeted the Baha’i community in Yemen as a whole. For example, in September 2019, a Houthi prosecutor asked an appeals court to affirm a lower court’s decision to “immediately deport” Baha’is from Yemen, ban their re-entry, and restrict them from expressing their religious beliefs. USCIRF recommended the Houthis as an entity of particular concern (EPC) in its 2019 Annual Report.

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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 Dwight Bashir at [email protected] or (202) 523-3240.