Oct 15, 2021

Cemeteries are sacred sites that are of great spiritual, cultural, and historical significance to many religious and ethnic groups. These holy sites are governed by religious laws and customs that dictate the location of, the appearance of, and the activities and behaviors allowed on the burial grounds. Despite laws aimed to protect these sites, cemeteries around the world catering to a variety of religious groups are targets for defilement, which includes vandalism such as spray paint, theft, or smashed headstones. In other cases, whole graveyards are exhumed or razed in preplanned operations.

Last month USCIRF published a new factsheet on this topic that outlines international human rights law that defines the obligations of countries to protect these sites.

USCIRF Vice Chair Nury Turkel joins us on today’s episode to discuss the targeted destruction by non-state actors and state-sponsored entities of religious communities’ cemeteries in several countries around the world, including his native China.

Click here to read USCIRF’s Factsheet on the Destruction of Cemeteries

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Gender: Male

Perpetrator: Uzbekistan

Religion or Belief: Muslim – Sunni

Reports of Torture: Yes

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Sentence: 12 Years' Imprisonment

Date of Detainment: May/9/2015

Date of Sentencing: September//2015

Current Status: Released

Religious Leader: No

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: Religious Activity

Nature of Charges: Unknown

Sardorbek Irgashev

Extra Bio Info:

Sardorbek Irgashev was imprisoned for his religious belief and activity.

For several years prior to their arrest, Irgashev, his father, Mukhitdin Irgashev, and his brother, Otabek Irgashev, were under Russian and Uzbek surveillance both in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, and Yekaterinburg, Russia.

On May 9, 2015, Yekaterinburg police officers detained Irgashev. They deported him to Tashkent 11 days later.

In September 2015, a Tashkent Court sentenced Irgashev to 12 years, his father to 15 years, and his brother to 11 years in prison on unspecified charges. According to his mother, Zumrat Irgashev, all three were subjected to torture during pre-trial detention.

In September 2022, it was reported that Irgashev had been released. 

Related Cases: Mukhitdin Irgashev, Otabek Irgashev

Publicly Available Information:

Additional Name(s): Abdulazeez Dauda, Abdul Inyass

Gender: Male

Perpetrator: Nigeria

Religion or Belief: Muslim – Sufi

Reports of Torture: No

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Sentence: Death

Date of Detainment: May//2015

Date of Sentencing: January//2016

Current Status: Not Released

Religious Leader: Yes

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: Blasphemy (General) Blasphemy (Religious Figures) Religious Belief Religious Expression Religious Figure & Religious Leadership Role

Nature of Charges: Blasphemy

Abdulazeez Inyass

Extra Bio Info:

Abdulazeez Inyass is imprisoned for blasphemy.

In May 2015, Nigerian authorities arrested Inyass for allegedly saying that Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse, the founder of the Tijaniya order to which Inyass belongs, was "bigger than the Prophet Muhammad." 

In January 2016, authorities sentenced Inyass to death for "insulting the Prophet Muhammad."

Publicly Available Information:
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