Official Baku disagrees with US criticism of violating religious rights in Azerbaijan

The annual report of the US Department of State on the situation with religious freedom in the world, published in the end to the last week, says in the section on Azerbaijan that the Constitution and the laws of the country guarantee the freedom of religion, however, there are certain "restrictions" in registration and "selective prosecution".

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that the document presents cases of prosecution and detention of members of Islamic and "non-traditional" religious groups. There are certain prejudices and enmity in relation to the persons professing other religions, as, for example, evangelists and members of other missionary groups. In Azerbaijan, the Islam is perceived more like cultural and ethnic identity, rather than religious one, the report marks.

In his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, Gyunduz Ismailov, official spokesman of the State Committee of Azerbaijan for Religious Organizations, has stated that he denies the existence of any problems with registration of religious communities. According to Mr Ismailov, "there are no barrier in this issue", and the State Committee is interested to register religious groups, since in this case it is easier to control them.

In his turn, Ilgar Ibragimoglu, head of the Centre in Defence of the Freedom of Conscience and Religion, emphasized, in his talk with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, "high professional level" of the section on Azerbaijan in the Department of State's report. At the same time, in Mr Ibragimoglu's opinion, such documents have lost "their influence mechanisms".

"After the operations of the USA in Afghanistan, Iraq, disclosure of facts of violation of human rights in Guantanamo and secret prisons in Europe, the Bush's administration has exhausted their moral right to criticize the situation with human rights in the world," said Ilgar Ibragimoglu.