Search
Displaying results 71 - 80 of 93
December 07, 2020
Dec 7, 2020
There are 84 countries across the globe with criminal blasphemy laws on the books as of 2020. While only a handful of countries enforce these laws, there are still 84 countries in which a person could face criminal charges for insulting or offending religious doctrines in regions that include Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and others.
There are a plethora of ways that governments’ enforcement of blasphemy laws undermines human rights, including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression.
Featuring:
Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
Elizabeth Cassidy, Director of Research and Policy, USCIRF
November 20, 2020
Nov 20, 2020
The State Department has designated Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern since 2018, but it has not taken any action as a consequence of that designation and has continued to violate freedom of religious belief. USCIRF recently issued a press release concerning the uptick in blasphemy cases against Shia Muslims which in some cases led to mob violence. There have also been a number of targeted killings of Ahmadi’s in Pakistan over the past four months. Why are religious minorities particularly vulnerable to blasphemy laws and violence in Pakistan? Find out in this week's episode!
Featuring:
Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
Niala Mohammad, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRF
December 09, 2020
Dec 9, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
USCIRF Releases Groundbreaking Report on the Enforcement of Blasphemy Laws Globally
WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released a new report entitled Violating Rights: Enforcing the World’s Blasphemy Laws. Eighty-four countries around the globe maintain laws that criminalize expression which insults or offends religious doctrines. This report examines and compares the implementation of blasphemy laws between 2014 and 2018, identifying 732 total cases in 41 countries.
“This report provides extensive data and illustrative examples to demonstrate the plethora of ways that governments’ enforcement of blasphemy laws undermines human rights, including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression,” said USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin. “It is no coincidence that the top six countries with the highest number of blasphemy cases—Pakistan, Iran, Russia, India, Egypt, and Indonesia—are all countries that USCIRF identifies as among the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.”
The report also examines how blasphemy laws can mobilize non-state violence. Of the 732 cases found, 674 of those cases involved state enforcement of criminal blasphemy laws. Seventy-eight of the 674 cases with state enforcement included mob activity, threats, and/or violence around blasphemy. There were 58 additional incidents where mob activity, threats, and/or violence occurred around rumors or allegations of blasphemy without state enforcement of the criminal blasphemy law.
“USCIRF has consistently called on countries to abolish blasphemy laws, and this report provides further evidence of why global repeal is urgently needed,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Tony Perkins. “The existence of blasphemy laws empowers extremists to take the law in their own hands and employ violence extrajudicially. In just one example, we have recently seen a devastating uptick in mob violence related to blasphemy allegations in Pakistan.”
This report is a follow up to USCIRF’s 2017 report Respecting Rights? Measuring the World’s Blasphemy Laws, which compiled many of the world’s blasphemy laws and analyzed the laws’ texts against international human rights principles. In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF noted its concern that several countries implemented new or increased penalties for blasphemy in 2019. USCIRF also has issued reports on the enforcement of blasphemy laws in Indonesia and Pakistan, along with a report on apostasy, blasphemy and hate speech laws in Africa.
USCIRF will be holding a hearing on Blasphemy Laws and the Violation of International Religious Freedom this morning at 10:30 AM EST. Please register for this event here.
###
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 Media@USCIRF.gov.
January 22, 2021
Jan 22, 2021
Targeting of religious minorities in Russia, mass atrocities in China, Nigeria as a country of particular concern, and Antisemitism on the rise worldwide. The events of 2020 cast a long shadow over religious freedom conditions as we enter into a new year. There are, however, some areas of progress such as Sudan and Uzbekistan. USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin joins us to discuss the state of religious freedom worldwide.
Featuring:
Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
Gayle Manchin, Chair, USCIRF
March 02, 2021
Mar 2, 2021
USCIRF Marks 10th Anniversary of Shahbaz Bhatti Assassination
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today marks the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s former Federal Minister of Minorities Affairs and the first Christian parliamentarian in Pakistan’s government. USCIRF renews its call for the Pakistani government to bring to justice his killers and end the culture of violence and impunity that the blasphemy law fuels.
“Ten years after his assassination, we continue to gain strength from Shahbaz Bhatti’s legacy,” said USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin. “He defended a vision of a diverse, multicultural, and multireligious society. He opposed Pakistan’s blasphemy laws as a stark betrayal of that vision. And he paid the ultimate price for his courage. Mr. Bhatti’s death was not in vain and his legacy will continue to inspire and encourage us to keep pressing on until his vision in realized.”
Click here to watch Chair Manchin’s video remarks
In September 2009, USCIRF facilitated a visit to Washington, DC to introduce him to policymakers at the White House, the State Department, and Congress. During that visit, the Commission presented Mr. Bhatti with an award for his courageous work defending the rights of all Pakistanis, especially religious minorities.
Bhatti was assassinated by Tehrik-i-Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban, on March 2, 2011 outside his mother’s home in Islamabad. His murder followed the assassination of Salman Taseer, the Muslim governor of Punjab province, who was also killed for his opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy law. Together, they championed the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who spent nearly a decade in prison after being sentenced to death for blasphemy. Bibi is free today in Canada, in part, because of their shared legacies.
In the years since Bhatti’s death, violent extremism has increased in Pakistan, and religious minorities remain a target, particularly Shi’a and Ahmadi Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs.
“Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are among the worst in the world, and they are vigorously enforced. Today, many innocent people are on death row for their faith alone,” said USCIRF Commissioner Johnnie Moore. “Prime Minister Imran Khan and other Pakistani officials should stand up to the extremists in the country, now. If something doesn’t change, USCIRF believes targeted sanctions could very well be on the horizon.”
In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State continue to designate Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern, a recommendation USCIRF has made since 2002 due to Pakistan’s systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief.
In December 2020, USCIRF published a report on Violating Rights: Enforcing the World's Blasphemy Laws, which examines the enforcement of blasphemy laws worldwide. This report found that the country with the most cases of state enforced blasphemy laws was Pakistan, with 184 cases identified between 2014-2018. In June, USCIRF released a Policy Update on Pakistan that outlines the path for reforming and eventually repealing its blasphemy law.
###
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 media@USCIRF.gov.
March 02, 2021
Full Article
Mar 2, 2021
August 29, 2020
Mar 04
WHEN:
Mar 4th 2:30pm
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Hearing
Citizenship Laws and Religious Freedom
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
2:30 – 4:00 PM
325 Russell Senate Office Building
Hearing Summary
Hearing Transcript
Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a hearing about how citizenship laws are leveraged to deny religious minorities the legal protections of citizenship, making them vulnerable to exploitation, discrimination, and mass atrocities.
The recognition of an individual’s citizenship is the bedrock for all accompanying political and civil rights, “the right to have rights.” In recognition of the importance of citizenship, the 1961 United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness argues that an individual may not be deprived of one’s nationality on “racial, ethnic, religious, or political grounds” or if this “would render him stateless.”
With widespread protests in recent months in India in response to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and a proposed National Register of Citizens, however, citizenship laws as a tool to target religious minorities is receiving much needed international attention. This phenomenon has a long-standing precedent with such measures as the 1982 Citizenship Law in Burma stripping the Rohingya of their rights as citizens. Without citizenship rights, minority communities are left to face further persecution and violence by both governments and non-state actors. In particular, government efforts to strip religious minorities of their citizenship can be a key predictor of mass atrocities.
Witnesses will discuss how citizenship laws are used to target religious minorities, particularly in Burma and India, and will highlight the importance of the atrocity prevention framework for understanding the potential consequences of these laws.
Opening Remarks
- Tony Perkins, Chair, USCIRF Written Remarks
- Gayle Manchin, Vice Chair, USCIRF Written Remarks
- Anurima Bhargava, Commissioner, USCIRF Written Remarks
- Naomi Kikoler, Director, Simon Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Written Testimony
- Dr. Azeem Ibrahim, Director, Displacement and Migration, Center for Global Policy Written Testimony
- Aman Wadud, Human Rights Lawyer, Assam, India Written Testimony
- Dr. Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences and Director of the Center for Contemporary Asia, Brown University Written Testimony
- Elizabeth Seshadri Statement
- Collective of Indian Scholars Statement
- Hindu American Foundation
- Hindus for Human Rights Statement
- Justice for All Statement
- Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar America Statement
- Sindhi Foundation Statement
- South Asian American Civil and Human Rights Lawyers Statement
- South Asian Organizations' Joint Statement
- South Asian Scholar's Statement
January 07, 2021
USCIRF ADVOCATE: James W. Carr
Country:
Pakistan
Key Fact:
55-year-old Ahmadi Muslim woman from Cheleki village, Punjab province, Pakistan
Charges:
Committing blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad
Detained Since:
Apr 30, 2020
Biography:
Ramzan Bibi is a 55-year-old Ahmadi Muslim woman from Cheleki village, Punjab province, Pakistan. She is married to Rana Munir Ahmad and has four sons and two daughters.
On April 30, Bibi donated money for a ceremony being held in a non-Ahmadi mosque in her village, but the mosque returned the money. She asked a non-Ahmadi relative why the money was returned, but the conversation turned into a dispute resulting in a verbal and physical altercation. Non-Ahmadi clerics of the village informed the District Police Officer that Bibi had committed blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. Police arrested and detained her at the police station. She was charged under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, an offence that carries the death penalty. She currently is in a jail at Central Jail Lahore.
A village committee formed in Cheleki to investigate the case concluded that there was no evidence to prove the accusations of blasphemy against Bibi. However, hardline Islamic clerics managed to have a non-Ahmadi resident of the village, who was not present during the dispute, falsely testify against Bibi resulting in her incarceration.
Despite the findings of the village investigative committee Judge Tariq Saleem rejected Bibi’s bail application on 11/18/2020. An appeal has been filed.
August 12, 2020
USCIRF ADVOCATE: Johnnie Moore
Advocacy:
Article: Catholic News Agency -- US leaders tell persecuted believers: 'You are not alone'(Opens in a new window) (April 6, 2017)
Related Reports and Briefs:
2018 Annual Report Chapter on Pakistan
Testimony: USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J., testifies at a Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on "Blasphemy Laws and Censorship by States and Non-State Actors: Examining Global Threats to Freedom of Expression." (July 15, 2016)
Newsroom:
Press Release: USCIRF Welcomes Release of Religious Prisoner of Conscience Abdul Shakoor (March 19, 2019)
Press Release: USCIRF Commissioner Johnnie Moore Calls on Pakistan to Release Prisoner of Conscience Abdul Shakoor (February 26, 2019)
Press Release: At Gathering of 37,000 Ahmadi Muslims, USCIRF Commissioner Johnnie Moore Vows to Make Religious Freedom in Pakistan a Priority (August 7, 2018)
Press Release: PAKISTAN: USCIRF Condemns Egregious Treatment of Ahmadis (December 9, 2016)
Op-ed: Philadelphia Inquirer -- Commentary: Release every religious prisoner of conscience (October 27, 2016)
Op-ed: Berkley Cornerstone -- Religious Freedom Abroad: A Road Map of Deterioration (May 2, 2016)
Press Release: Pakistan: USCIRF Calls for the Immediate Release of Abdul Shakoor and the Dropping of all Charges (February 1, 2016)
Press Release: Pakistan: USCIRF Condemns Attack on Ahmadis (November 30, 2015)
Other Resources:
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
State Department International Religious Freedom Report
Country:
Pakistan
Key Fact:
82-year-old Ahmadi manager of a bookshop and optician store
Charges:
Propagating the Ahmadiyya faith and stirring up “religious hatred” and “sectarianism”
Sentence:
After three years in prison under the Penal Code for blasphemy and five years under the Anti-Terrorism Act, Abdul Shakoor was released on March 18, 2019.
Detained Since:
Dec 2, 2015
Release Date:
Mar 18, 2019
Biography:
Abdul Shakoor was born February 2, 1937 in Qadian, India. He is married and the father of five daughters and two sons.
Before his arrest, Mr. Shakoor was the manager of an optician’s store and bookshop in the main bazaar of Rabwah (also known as Chenab Nagar), Punjab province, Pakistan. The population of the Ahmadiyya community in Rabwah is about 70,000 about 95 percent of the city’s total population. Many view the city as the de facto headquarters of Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya community.
On December 2, 2015, officials from the Counter Terrorism Department of the Punjab Police and Pakistan’s Elite Force raided the bookshop Mr. Shakoor managed. He was arrested along with the shop’s assistant, Mazhar Abbas – a Shia Muslim – accused of selling an Ahmadiyya commentary on the Qur’an, among other publications. The officials confiscated Ahmadiyya publications during that raid and a later raid that took place on December 9. After their arrest, the two men were held in unknown locations and were not permitted to contact their families.
Mr. Shakoor’s trial was held in the Anti-Terrorism Court in Faisalabad, Punjab province, with the officers who raided the bookstore as the only witnesses. The prosecution entered into evidence a letter that was ostensibly recovered during the December 9 raid from the Ahmadiyya Director of Public Affairs to Mr. Shakoor notifying him that the Punjab province government had banned some Ahmadiyya literature and that he should neither display nor sell the banned literature. Ahmadiyya leaders assert that the prosecution fabricated the letter to support their story, noting that none of the literature cited in the letter was banned until January 20, 2016, after the trial’s conclusion. Mr. Shakoor contended during the trial and maintains the position that he did not distribute any of the literature listed, although he admits to being in possession of some of them. However, possession of Ahmadiyya literature is not a crime in Pakistan.
On January 2, 2016, Mr. Shakoor was given a five-year prison sentence for violating article 11-W of the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) which involves “printing, publishing, or disseminating any material to incite hatred.” He also was given a three-year sentence for violating article 298-C of the Pakistani Penal Code, for a total of eight years. (Section 298 of Pakistan’s Penal Code criminalizes acts and speech that insult a religion or religious beliefs or defile the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad, a place of worship, or religious symbols.) Mazhar Abbas, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for violating article 11-W of the ATA. Mr. Shakoor filed a writ petition for bail and appeal against the verdict with the Lahore High Court. On multiple occasions, the Lahore High Court listed Mr. Shakoor’s appeal on the daily docket, but each time the case was postponed. The last postponed hearing date was believed to be June 22, 2017.
Mr. Shakoor was released on March 18, 2019.
March 16, 2021
Mar 16, 2021
USCIRF Releases New Report about Shari’a and LGBTI Persons
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following factsheet on governments’ use of Shari’a law as religious justification for capital punishment against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex (LGBTI) persons.
Factsheet on Shari’a and LGBTI Persons – In some countries around the world, criminal laws provide for the death penalty based on religious interpretations. This factsheet highlights countries with death penalty laws that target the LGBTI community. All of the 10 countries where consensual same-sex relationships are formally punishable by death justify denial of rights and personhood based on official interpretations of Shari’a. This factsheet provides an overview of the international human rights standards relevant to the official enforcement of religion-based laws imposing capital punishment on LGBTI persons. It also explains how laws that make same-sex relationships subject to the death penalty violate the human dignity and rights of LGBTI persons and embolden societal hostility, discrimination, and violence against them.
In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate four countries that impose the death penalty for consensual same-sex relations based on religious interpretations—Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia—as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) for engaging in or tolerating particularly severe violations of religious freedom, which the State Department did in December 2020. USCIRF also recommended that the State Department place Afghanistan, which also penalizes same-sex relations with the death penalty, on its Special Watch List (SWL) for engaging in or tolerating severe religious freedom violations. In December 2020, USCIRF released a factsheet on Brunei and the Syariah Penal Code Order 2013, which came into effect in 2019 and includes death by stoning as a penalty for LGBTI activity.
###
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 media@uscirf.gov or Danielle Ashbahian at dashbahian@uscirf.gov.