Freedom of religion in Azerbaijan

The Constitution provides that persons of all faiths may choose and practice their religion without restriction. Under the Constitution each person has the right to choose and change his or her own religious affiliation and belief (including atheism), to join or establish the religious group of his or her choice, and to practice his or her religion.[15] The law on religious freedom expressly prohibits the Government from interfering in the religious activities of any individual or group; however, there are exceptions, including cases where the activity of a religious group "threatens public order and stability".[15][16]

A number of legal provisions enable the Government to regulate religious groups, The requirement for religious organizations in Azerbaijan to register through SCWRA is according to the law accepted on June 21, 2001.[17] After Amendments to the Law on Freedom of Religion was adopted (8 May 2009), registration process was modified and already registered organizations had to register again through SCWRA this time.[18] This process enables SCWRA to monitor the registration process; and if necessary, appeal to the courts to discontinue activities of religions groups. Registration is processed based on the location as mentioned in the application. When there is any change in the location of the organization, it should be reported to SCWRA and appropriate modifications should be made in registration process. After registering through SCWRA, religious groups obtain rights to function as a legal entity, have a bank account and rent a possession. The organizations, which were unsuccessful to register may be proclaimed as illegal and prohibited to function.[8]

Since 2001 religious groups must register with the SCWRA. The SCWRA has broad powers over registration and the publication, import, and distribution of religious literature, and it may suspend the activities of religious groups who violate the law.

Some religious groups experienced difficulties with disapproval of registration according to the International Religious Freedom Report 2015,[19] applications are denied according to the legislation. When all necessary documents organized appropriately are presented to the responsible entity, registration is accomplished. If the actions, objects or instructions of the religious groups oppose the legislation of Azerbaijan, or its charter and other documents are in contrast with the laws, or they contain false information, then registration of those groups can be refused by responsible authorities. Religious groups have rights to appeal the disapproval of registration to the courts.[8]

According to the SCWRA, it registered 48 new groups from May 2006 through June 2007 and did not reject any applications. All of the newly registered groups were Muslim communities. The SCWRA reported 392 total registered religious communities in the country.

Under the law on religious freedom, political parties cannot engage in religious activity, and religious leaders are forbidden from seeking public office. Religious facilities may not be used for political purposes.

The law on religious freedom, which the Government enforces, prohibits foreigners from proselytizing.

Registered Muslim organizations are subordinate to the Caucasian Muslim Board (CMB), a Soviet-era muftiate that appoints Muslim clerics to mosques, periodically monitors sermons, and organizes annual pilgrimages to Mecca. Muslim religious groups must receive a letter of approval from the CMB before they can be registered by the SCWRA. Some Muslim religious leaders objected to interference from both the CMB and the SCWRA.

Religious instruction is not mandatory, and there is no religious curriculum for public elementary and high schools; however, there is no restriction on teaching religion in public schools.

Of the five main Baptist churches, three have successfully registered; however, during the reporting period the SCWRA again rejected the applications of the Baptist churches in Aliabad (which has sought registration for 15 years) and Neftçala. Baptists stated the Aliabad notary refused to review the community's registration documents.

In December 2006 SCWRA officials reportedly told the Assembly of God community in Baku that it would have to give the SCWRA advance notice of meetings in order to be registered. The Assemblies of God reported that they tried to register their churches in Baku and Sumgayit several times - most recently in January 2007 - but did not receive a response from the SCWRA. An Assembly of God representative met with SCWRA officials in May and June 2007 to advance the registration process, but the SCWRA said that it was still examining the application. In June police also interfered in one of the church's gatherings in Baku.

The Juma Mosque has remained closed since June 2004; the mosque's imam was still not allowed to travel abroad at the end of the reporting period.

In May 2007 SCWRA head Hidayat Orujov stated that only 9 of 49 mosques in Guba were registered. Local commentators reported that Salafists were particularly active in the country's northern regions of Guba and Kachmaz.

The law on religious freedom expressly prohibits religious proselytizing by foreigners, and the Government strictly enforced this. The Government was concerned about Islamic missionary groups (predominantly Iranian and Wahhabi) operating in the country and, as in previous years, restricted their activities.

Some Muslims complained about the SCWRA's allegedly indiscriminate use of the term "Wahhabi" to cast a shadow on devout Muslims. Local Protestant Christians also claimed that SCWRA Chairman Orujov derogatorily referred to their organizations as "sects."

In May 2007 a Baku court sentenced a journalist and the editor of the Sanat newspaper on charges of "inciting religious hatred." The journalist was given a 3-year prison term, and the editor was given a 4-year term. The journalist had written an article, published in November 2006, arguing Islamic values retarded the country's development.

The law permits the production and dissemination of religious literature with the approval of the SCWRA; only religious literature, which promote religious intolerance, discrimination and radical religious ideas are restricted to import to the country by SCWRA.[8]

The Government regulates travel for the purpose of religious training. Prospective travelers must obtain permission from, or register with, the SCWRA or the Ministry of Education to go abroad for religious studies.

No religious identification is required in passports or other identity documents. However, the Center for the Protection of Conscience and Religious Freedom reported that authorities prohibited Muslim women from wearing headscarves in passport photos and other official identity documents.

Some local officials continued to discourage Muslim women from wearing headscarves in schools.

The official website of Jehovah's Witnesses reported on March 23, 2015 that "religious intolerance is escalating in Azerbaijan as law-enforcement authorities impose heavy fines on Jehovah's Witnesses and imprison them." It added: "Authorities are criminally prosecuting the Witnesses for meeting together for worship and for talking to others about their beliefs."[20]

Press reports indicated that the Armenian Apostolic Church enjoyed a special status in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The largely Muslim, ethnic Azerbaijani population in Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven occupied territories had fled the region during the conflict with Armenia in the 1990s and remained unable to return to these areas.

During the reporting period, there were several incidents of police arresting Wahhabis and sometimes confiscating weapons and literature, particularly in the northern regions of Guba, Khachmaz, Gax, and Zaqatala, according to local contacts and the press. In April 2007, for example, police detained 16 alleged radical Salafists in Khachmaz.

In 2019, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reported the arrest of 77 individuals labelled as "Shia extremists", of which 48 were considered political prisoners by human rights defenders, they also reported that in court hearings throughout the year, these individuals testified that police and other officials tortured them to coerce false confessions. Local human rights groups and others stated the government continued to physically abuse, arrest, and imprison religious activists. Authorities briefly detained, fined, or warned individuals for holding unauthorized religious meetings; as the government’s requirements for legal registration were unachievable for communities with less than 50 members. The government controls the importation, distribution, and sale of religious materials. The courts fined individuals for the unauthorized sale or distribution of religious materials.[21]

Civil society representatives stated citizens continued to tolerate “traditional” minority religious groups (i.e., those historically present in the country), including Jews, Russian Orthodox, and Catholics; however, groups viewed as “nontraditional” were often viewed with suspicion and mistrust.[21]

Antisemitism is one form of national intolerance, expressed as a hostile attitude towards Jews as an ethnic or religious group. Antisemitism is not observed in Azerbaijan. Over the centuries, different ethnic and linguistic groups of Jews lived on the territory of Azerbaijan: Mountain Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, Krymchaks, Kurdish Jews, and Georgian Jews. In the 19th century majority of the Jewish population of Azerbaijan were mountain Jews, in the 20th century the majority were Ashkenazi.

The main Jewish center was the city of Guba, where in 1835 were 5492 Jews (of whom 2718 people concentrated in the Jewish quarter); In 1866 in the city lived 6282 Jews. Comparatively large communities of Mountain Jews were also present in the villages of Vartashen and Mudji. In 1864, in the village of Vartashen (since 1990 - Oguz), the majority of the population were Jews. In 1886 there lived 1400 Jews, there were three prayer houses, two Talmud-Huns with 40 pupils. It is known that the total number of literate who can read the Torah, was 70 people, among them there were five Jews who were called rabbis. In 1917 the weekly "Kavkazer Vochenblat" (in Yiddish) was published in Baku, in 1917-1918 - the weekly "Caucasian Jewish Herald" with the application "Palestine". In 1919 the newspaper "Tobushi sabhi" (in the Hebrew-Tatar language) was issued for some time. With the final establishment of Soviet power (April 1920), the independent Jewish press ceased to exist. Since 1922, the newspaper Korsokh was published in the capital of Azerbaijan in the Hebrew-Tatar language - the organ of the Caucasian Committee of the Jewish Communist Party and its youth organization. In the 1990s, there were two synagogues in Baku (mountain Jews and Ashkenazi), as well as synagogues of mountain Jews in Guba and Oguz and a synagogue of gays in Privolnoye. In September 1993, a seminar of rabbis of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Dagestan was held in Baku. In 1994, a yeshiva was opened there. In 1997, a synagogue of Georgian Jews was opened in Baku. In the early 2000s. In the suburbs of Guba, the Red Sloboda, there were three synagogues of Mountain Jews, and the yeshiva operated. Since 1999, a religious Jewish high school has been working in Baku. According to 1994 data, Hebrew was taught at the university and in two high schools in the capital. Hebrew courses were conducted in Baku, Guba and Oguz. Representatives of the Jewish Agency and teachers from Israel provided great assistance in organizing classes; Among the students of the courses there were also non-Jews. In front of the audience were a Jewish ensemble of chamber music, a children's choir, a dance ensemble. Local radio and television regularly broadcast records of Israeli pop music.

The leadership of Azerbaijan seeks to establish political and economic ties with Israel. Diplomatic relations were established in 1993. On 11 May 1994, the Chargé d'affaires of the State of Israel in Azerbaijan, Eliezer Yotvat, presented his credentials to President Heydar Aliyev. In August 1999, the Israeli parliamentary delegation paid an official visit to Azerbaijan. The volume of exports from Israel to Azerbaijan in 1993 amounted to 545 thousand dollars, imports - twelve thousand; In 1994, exports and imports increased significantly.[22][23]

Some religious groups in the country reported improvements in their ability to function freely. Several churches indicated that they received or expected to receive their registration, were able to import religious literature, and met without government interference.

The Government promotes interfaith understanding. The SCWRA convened leaders of various religious communities on several occasions to resolve disputes in private and provided forums for visiting officials to discuss religious issues with religious figures. The SCWRA organizes several seminars, conferences, and regional meetings on religious freedom and tolerance regularly.[8] On 26–27 April 2007 Azerbaijan hosted the international conference on the “Role of Media in Development of Tolerance and Mutual Understanding" as a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference.[24]

In May 2007 construction began on a new Jewish educational complex. Authorities also reserved one wing of a Baku school for secular and religious classes for 200 Jewish students.

Azerbaijani Government allocates financial support to different religious groups continuously. The latest allocation was determined among Caucasian Muslims Office, Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan of the Russian Orthodox Church, Community of Mountain Jews in Baku, Community of European Jews in Baku, Apostolic prefecture of the Roman Catholic Church in Azerbaijan and Alban-Udi Christian community from the 2018 Presidential Reserve Fund according to Presidential Decree dated 11 June 2018.[25][26]

Despite being Shia majority country, the ruling regime of Ilham Aliyev regularly and aggressively enforces secularism. Azeri officials regularly blame Iran of spreading its Khomeinist ideology amongst Azeri Shi'ites, through its network of supporters in Azerbaijan.[32][33] Azerbaijanis are forbidden to study in Iran-funded hawzas , Azeri women are discouraged and forbidden from mandatory Islamic veiling, alcohol such as beer and wine are domestically produced and regularly consumed, yearly Ashura commemorations are scrutinised and often banned.