Additional Name(s): 热依拉·达吾提, راھىلە داۋۇت

Gender: Female

Perpetrator: China

Ethnic Group: Uyghur

Religion or Belief: Unspecified

Reports of Torture: No

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Sentence: Life Imprisonment

Date of Detainment: December//2017

Current Status: Not Released

Religious Leader: No

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: Ethnoreligious Identity Religious Scholarship

Nature of Charges: Separatism

Rahile Dawut

Extra Bio Info:

Rahile Dawut is detained for her ethnoreligious identity and scholarship. 

In December 2017, authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) detained Dawut, Uyghur ethnographer and professor, and sent her to a detention facility. Dawut's detention came amid mass detentions of largely Muslim ethnic minorities in XUAR in 2017 and 2018.

In 2020, a court reportedly sentenced Dawut to life in prison for "splitting the state" in relation to her efforts to preserve Uyghur culture. 

Sources:

Additional Name(s): Aşyrbaý Bekiýew, Ашырбай Бекиев

Gender: Male

Perpetrator: Turkmenistan

Ethnic Group: Turkmen

Religion or Belief: Muslim – Sunni

Reports of Torture: No

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Sentence: 23 Years' Imprisonment

Date of Detainment: May/16/2023

Current Status: Not Released

Religious Leader: No

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: Religious Activity Religious Belief Transnational Repression

Nature of Charges: Unknown

Ashyrbay Bekiev

Extra Bio Info:

Ashyrbay Bekiev is imprisoned for his religious belief and activity. 

On May 16, 2023, Russian authorities in Volkhov, Leningrad region, detained Bekiev on illegal immigration charges after his passport had expired. Turkmen authorities, however, had sought Bekiev's extradition from Russia for alleged crimes related to his religious activity. In 2009, Bekiev had legally immigrated to Russia from Turkmenistan. Around that same time and the years following, Turkmen authorities had persecuted Bekiev's family in Turkmenistan for their peaceful religious activities. In December 2015, Turkmen authorities had placed Bekiev on the country's wanted list for allegedly promoting Islamic fundamentalism and seeking to spread extremist, "Wahhabi" ideas in Turkmenistan by conducting religious classes with Turkmen students in Russia. Human rights organizations argued the allegations were fabricated and that Bekiev engaged in peaceful religious activities outside of the Turkmen government's strict regime of control. In May 2016, Russian authorities subsequently arrested Bekiev and sought to deport him to Turkmenistan. However, in May 2017, the European Court of Human Rights suspended that extradition request, and Bekiev was released that same month.

On May 19, 2023, the Krasnoselsky District Court of St. Petersburg ordered Bekiev's deportation to Turkmenistan.

On August 30, 2023, Russian authorities deported Bekiev to Turkmenistan.

On October 7, 2023, it was reported that Bekiev had been located in a pretrial detention center in Dashoguz, Turkmenistan.

On October 12, 2023, it was reported that a court in Dashoguz sentenced Bekiev to 23 years in prison. Original reporting indicated that the court hearing had lasted 10 minutes but additional reports question that claim, proposing it was a closed trial instead. The charges brought against Bekiev are unknown, apart from accusations of "Islamic extremism." 

Oct 11, 2023

USCIRF Condemns Religious Incitement Over Israel-Gaza Conflict

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemned religious incitement related to the emerging conflict between Israel and terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. On October 7, at least 1,500 armed attackers linked to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad infiltrated Southern Israel, killing over 1,000  Israelis (including numerous foreign nationals) and taking scores of hostages back to Gaza. As Israel responds to the terrorist attack, at least 830 Palestinians have been killed, a number that includes members of terrorist groups as well.

USCIRF condemns, without reservation, Saturday’s brutal terrorist onslaught, that President Joseph R. Biden described as an ‘act of sheer evil.’  This attack represents the largest single-day mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust,” said USCIRF Chair Abraham Cooper. “Protestors in Sydney, Australia chanting ‘gas the Jews’ and similar antisemitic slogans destroy any credible doubt that religious incitement is contributing to violence against the Jewish people in Israel and around the world. The United States must lead international efforts to thoroughly condemn this abhorrent intolerance, including calling out Iran and other governments that stoke the flames of religious incitement.”

Invoking any religion, including Islam, to justify taking innocent lives has no place in any society,” said USCIRF Commissioner Mohamed Magid. “Claims that violent terrorists represent the whole of Islam—or the Palestinian people seeking their fundamental human rights—are ill-founded.”

USCIRF has expressed increasing concern over religious freedom restrictions in the region which escalated in recent days. Rockets fired from Gaza hit a synagogue in Ashkelon, Israel on October 7. In its response to Saturday’s attack, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) struck at least seven mosques in Gaza, including some it claimed Hamas was using for military purposes.

At a time of rising religious intolerance, the U.S. government should respond decisively to those invoking religion to justify killings, kidnappings, torture and all other human rights violations against people intending to live peacefully in the Holy Land and throughout the world,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Fredrick A. Davie. “Tolerating restrictions on religious freedom, including harassment of religious communities and restricted access to houses of worship, contravenes the protections guaranteed to all people under international law.”

USCIRF’s recommendations consistently urge foreign governments to implement policies protecting religious communities. While many governments have become more welcoming in their rhetoric, they have not made changes to the laws allowing for greater freedoms or toleration toward some religious communities that might be viewed as threatening. As noted in a recent USCIRF report, governments are accountable for ensuring freedom of religion or belief for all as outlined in international legal instruments like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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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].