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2016 ANNUAL REPORT Catholics Hold a Vigil for Activist Nguyen Van Dai, Who Was Badly Beaten by Unknown Attackers and Was Arrested for Anti-State “Propaganda.”

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2016 ANNUAL REPORT Catholics Hold a Vigil for Activist Nguyen Van Dai, Who Was Badly Beaten by Unknown Attackers and Was Arrested for Anti-State “Propaganda.” UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 2016 ANNUAL REPORT Catholics hold a vigil for activist Nguyen Van Dai, who was badly beaten by unknown attackers and was arrested for anti-state “propaganda.” Hanoi, Vietnam. Reuters/Kham Migrants protest outside a train that they are refusing to leave for fear of being taken to a refugee camp. Budapest, Hungary. Matt Cardy/Getty Images People attend a mass funeral A woman poses for a Girls rescued from Boko for Rajib Haider, an architect photograph at a memorial to Haram at Sambisa Forest line and blogger who was killed by An ethnic Uighur man passes pay tribute to the victims of up to collect donated clothes an extremist group. by security forces. the Paris attacks. at the Malkohi refugee camp. Dhaka, Bangladesh. Xinjiang, China. Yangon, Burma. Yola, Nigeria. Reuters/Andrew Biraj EPA Reuters/Olivia Harris Emmanuel Arewa/AFP/Getty A boat with Rohingya Muslim A Ahmadiyya Pakistani cries Police arrest a protesting People pay tribute to the migrants in waters near as she leaves a detention monk near the Chinese victims of the Hyper Cacher Koh Lipe Island. center with her family on Embassy visa section office. kosher supermarket attack. a bus. Thailand. Kathmandu, Nepal. Paris, France. Bangkok, Thailand. Christophe Archambault/ Reuters/Gopal Chitrakar Reuters/Yves Herman AFP/Getty Reuters/Damir Sagolj A girl waits to receive food provided by the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) during a visit by a European Union A man stands near a car on Sunni Muslims who fled the delegation, at an IDP camp fire as Muslim families prepare A Crimean Tatar sits in the Islamic State’s strongholds of in Azaza. to be evacuated by road. Khan Chair mosque after Hawija and Shirqat rest in a Friday prayers. refugee center. Blue Nile State, Sudan. Bangui, Central African Republic. Simferopol, Crimea. Mosul, Iraq. Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah Reuters/Siegfried Modola Reuters/Thomas Peter Reuters/Azad Lashkari ANNUAL REPORT OF THE U.S. COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Commissioners Dr. Robert P. George Chairman Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser Hon. Eric P. Schwartz Vice Chairs Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon Dr. Daniel I. Mark Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J. Hon. Hannah Rosenthal Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett Dr. James J. Zogby Ambassador David N. Saperstein, ex officio, non-voting member APRIL 2016 Professional Staff Dwight Bashir, Acting Co-Director for Policy and Research Elizabeth K. Cassidy, Acting Co-Director for Policy and Research Judith E. Golub, Director of Government and Media Relations Paul Liben, Executive Writer Sahar Chaudhry, Senior Policy Analyst Catherine Cosman, Senior Policy Analyst Tiffany Lynch, Senior Policy Analyst Tina L. Mufford, Policy Analyst Jomana Qaddour, Policy Analyst Roy Haskins, Manager of Finance and Administration Travis Horne, Government and Media Relations Assistant Eric Snee, Travel and Administration Specialist U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 732 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite A714 Washington, DC 20401 202–523–3240 (phone) 202–523–5020 (fax) www.uscirf.gov TIER 2 COUNTRIES ....................................................................... 139 Afghanistan ........................................................................... 141 Azerbaijan ............................................................................ 145 Cuba ................................................................................. 153 India ................................................................................. 159 Indonesia ............................................................................. 167 Kazakhstan ........................................................................... 173 Laos ................................................................................. 179 Malaysia .............................................................................. 185 Russia ................................................................................ 191 Turkey ............................................................................... 201 OTHER COUNTRIES/REGIONS MONITORED ................................................ 206 Bahrain .............................................................................. 207 Bangladesh............................................................................ 209 Belarus ............................................................................... 211 Horn of Africa .......................................................................... 215 Kyrgyzstan ............................................................................ 219 Western Europe ........................................................................ 221 APPENDICES ............................................................................ 225 Appendix 1 Commissioner Biographies...................................................... 227 Appendix 2 Eritrean Prisoner List .......................................................... 233 Appendix 3 Boko Haram Attacks ........................................................... 235 Appendix 4 Muslim Leaders Imprisoned in Ethiopia. 239 Appendix 5 Azerbaijan Prisioner List........................................................ 241 Appendix 6 Kazakhstan Prisoner List ....................................................... 249 Appendix 7 Tajikistan Prisoner List ......................................................... 253 Appendix 8 Russian Federation Prisoner List ................................................. 259 iv USCIRF | ANNUAL REPORT 2016 In North Korea, thousands of religious believers laws emboldens the Pakistani Taliban and individual and their families are imprisoned in labor camps, vigilantes, triggering horrific violence against religious including those forcibly repatriated from China. communities and individuals perceived as transgres­ Because North Korea is such a closed society, it is hard sors, most recently Christians and Muslim bystanders even to know the names of religious prisoners. The gov­ on Easter Sunday 2016 in Lahore. ernment controls all political and religious expression In Saudi Arabia, Ashraf Fayadh, a Saudi poet and and activities and punishes those who question the artist, was sentenced to death in November 2015 for regime. Religious freedom is non-existent. Individuals apostasy, allegedly for spreading atheism. His sentence secretly engaging in religious activities are subject to was changed in February 2016 to eight years in prison arrest, torture, imprisonment, and execution. North and 800 lashes. Raif Badawi, founder and editor of the Koreans suspected of contacts with South Koreans “Free Saudi Liberals” web site, has been imprisoned or foreign missionaries or who are caught possessing since 2012 on charges that include “insulting Islam.” In Bibles have been executed. 2014, an appeals court increased his original sentence More people are on death row or serving life sentences for blasphemy in Pakistan than in any other country in the world. In Pakistan, Abul Shakoor was sentenced on Janu­ of seven years in prison and 600 lashes to 10 years in jail ary 2, 2016 to five years in prison on blasphemy charges and 1,000 lashes. and three years on terrorism charges for propagating Imposing its own interpretation of Sunni Islam on the the Ahmadiyya Muslim faith. Another Pakistani, Aasia country, Saudi Arabia bans all non-Muslim public worship Bibi, a Catholic mother of five, has been imprisoned and continues to prosecute and imprison individuals for since her arrest in 2009 on blasphemy charges. She dissent, apostasy, blasphemy, and sorcery. During the past remains on death row. year, the Saudi government continued to repress dissident clerics and members of the Shi’a community. In Sudan, the government prosecuted 25 Quranists for apostasy and stiffened penalties for both apostasy and blasphemy. The regime prosecutes Christian pas­ tors on trumped-up charges and represses and margin­ alizes the country’s minority Christian community. It imposes a restrictive interpretation of Shari’ah law and applies corresponding hudood punishments on Mus­ lims and non-Muslims alike. In Uzbekistan, Gaybullo Jalilov, a member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, remains impris­ oned for his work on behalf of persecuted indepen­ “Family members mourn the death of a relative, who was dent Muslims. Jalilov is serving an 11-year sentence killed in a blast that happened outside a public park, in handed down in 2010. Uzbekistan enforces a highly Lahore, Pakistan” –Reuters restrictive religion law and imposes severe limits on all independent religious activity in this overwhelmingly More people are on death row or serving life Muslim-majority nation. The government imprisons as sentences for blasphemy in Pakistan than in any other many as 12,800 Muslims. In addition, the Uzbek state country in the world. Aggressive enforcement of these often brands Evangelical Protestants and Jehovah’s 2 USCIRF | ANNUAL REPORT 2016 “Migrants are escorted through fields by police and the army as “A Rohingya child who recently arrived by boat has his picture they are walked from the village of Rigonce to Brezice refugee taken for identification purposes at a shelter in Kuala Langsa, in camp in Rigonce, Slovenia” –Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Indonesia’s Aceh Province” –Reuters Witnesses “extremists” for practicing religion outside Among the displaced were thousands of Rohingya of state-sanctioned structures. Peaceful independent Muslims forced to flee their homes in Burma, joining
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