Additional Name(s): الهام چوبدار

Gender: Female

Perpetrator: Iran

Religion or Belief: Unspecified

Sentence: Death

Current Status: Not Released

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: LGBTI+ Rights

Nature of Charges: Miscellaneous Religious Crimes

Elham Choubdar

Extra Bio Info:

Elham Choubdar is imprisoned for her LGBTI+ identity through religious motivated grounds.

On an unspecified date around late 2021, authorities arrested Choubdar in relation to her real or perceived LGBTI+ identity and social media activities in support of LGBTI+ rights.

In September 2022, it was reported that the Urmia Revolutionary Court sentenced Choubdar to death for "committing corruption on Earth" (Art. 286 IPC) by "trafficking women to the Kurdistan region of Iraq."

In March 2023, it was reported that Choubdar had been released on bail.

In February 2024, it was reported that Choubdar had been arrested to serve out the rest of her sentence.

Related Cases: Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani

Publicly Available Information:

Sep 19

WHEN:

Sep 19th 10:30am - Sep 19th 11:30am

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

USCIRF Conversation: Assessing Religious Freedom in Egyptian Curriculum Reform

Monday, September 19, 2022
10:30 – 11:30 AM ET
Virtual Event

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) hosted a virtual discussion of USCIRF’s recent report on the progress the Egyptian government has made in its stated intention to reform religious material throughout its education system.

Since 2018, Egypt’s Ministry of Education has considered ways to update public school textbooks to educate pupils on religion, religious communities, and religious diversity in Egypt. USCIRF’s report evaluates progress made through the most recent academic year by the Egyptian government to reform the curricula of its primary and secondary education systems to promote religious freedom and remove intolerant material.

The report found that the 2021-2022 Egyptian Mandated Educational Curriculum (EMEC) shows slight improvement in reducing the prevalence of religious sectarian language and rhetoric. However, religionization of the EMEC remains endemic, with multiple subjects advancing government-endorsed versions of Sunni Islam while underrepresenting, excluding, or negatively characterizing religious minorities such as non-Sunni Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

USCIRF Commissioners Sharon Kleinbaum and Frank Wolf led the discussion with Ramy Yaacoub and Candace Hetchler of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), who oversaw the report’s team of researchers. USCIRF Director of Outreach and Policy Dwight Bashir moderated the Conversation followed by questions and answers from attendees.

Panelists

  • Sharon Kleinbaum, Commissioner, USCIRF
  • Frank Wolf, Commissioner, USCIRF
  • Ramy Yaacoub, Executive Director, TIMEP
  • Candace Hetchler, Development Manager, TIMEP

Moderator

  • Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

This virtual event is open to the public and media. The video recording will be posted on the Commission website. For any additional questions, please contact [email protected].

Sep 6, 2022

USCIRF Releases New Report on Violence Impacting Religious Freedom in Nigeria

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report:

Violence and Religious Freedom in Nigeria – This policy update identifies the ways in which widespread violence by nonstate actors in Nigeria threaten freedom of religion or belief. Examples detailed in the report include militant Islamist group violence, some forms of identity-based violence, mob violence, and violence impacting worship. It also explores the role that poor governance plays in driving much of this violence, as well as the impact on religious freedom of several aggravating factors exacerbating insecurity, including localized religious discrimination, the politicization of religion, and wider demographic and economic trends. The report concludes by highlighting the U.S. government’s responsibility to respond to religious freedom violations and rising atrocity risk in Nigeria, as mandated by U.S. law, and laying out policy response options.

In its 2022 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. State Department designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations. In June 2022, a USCIRF delegation visited Nigeria and published a USCIRF Spotlight Podcast episode detailing the visit’s findings and takeaways.

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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 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].

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