Azerbaijan Government Fails to Stop Cleric's Message of Religious Freedom at UNApr 5, 2005 Illegal Travel Ban Thwarted When Becket Fund Attorney Presents Imam Ilgar Allahverdiev's Speech Before Human Rights Commission The government of Azerbaijan was able to stop Imam Ilgar Allahverdiev from traveling to Geneva to speak at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, but it could not stop his message of religious freedom.
On April 2, Imam Allahverdiev was not allowed to board his Turkish Airlines flight from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Geneva, Switzerland. Despite repeated requests, the border police gave no reason for not allowing Imam Allahverdiev to travel. In Imam Allahverdiev's stead, Emilie Kao, Director of International Advocacy at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, delivered the speech focused principally on religious liberty.
More specifically, Imam Allahverdiev's speech described the repeated abuse suffered by the Juma Mosque he leads, including closure of the Mosque, imprisonment, and torture of Mosque members. He stated that the Mosque perseveres because it yearns for religious freedom: "If a person cannot choose to believe what he or she wants, how can that person be called truly free, even if he or she can talk about many other things? Freedom of religious belief - and the ability to manifest those beliefs in public - allows us to be honest and truthful with one another, to be truly human with one another." Imam Allahverdiev also expressed hope that religious freedom would eventually come to Azerbaijan: "I am confident that in the end, the Azerbaijan Government will embrace religious freedom, though the road may be difficult and we may meet many more struggles. Freedom will triumph because the people of Azerbaijan - like the people of every other nation on earth - are human beings created by God to be free. May He bless all of us."
This is the fourth time Imam Allahverdiev has been prevented from traveling to international human rights meetings outside Azerbaijan. When U.S. government officials raised the issue of the de facto travel ban with Ali Hasanov, Chief of Public Policy for President Ilham Aliyev, they were promised that Imam Allahverdiev would be able to travel. That promise went unfulfilled last Saturday.
"The question everyone has to be asking the government of Azerbaijan is, "What are you afraid of?" said Becket Fund attorney Eric Rassbach. "Imam Allahverdiev is standing up for religious freedom, and that apparently makes the government so nervous they can't let him speak to the outside world." Relevant Cases
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