A five-year "suspended sentence" handed down to Muslim Imam Ilgar Ibragimoglu, secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association's (IRLA) affiliate organization in Azerbaijan, is "very surprising," said Dr. John Graz, secretary-general
A five-year “suspended sentence” handed down to Muslim Imam Ilgar Ibragimoglu, secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association’s (IRLA) affiliate organization in Azerbaijan, is “very surprising,” said Dr. John Graz, secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association.
“We are very surprised to see Imam Ibragimoglu receive such a heavy sentence for defending human rights and religious freedom,” Graz said. “We hope that the court will reconsider this sentence during the appeal.”
Ibragimoglu was charged with “supporting Protestants and the West, and preaching radicalism,” among other offenses, according to a report from the Oslo-based Forum 18 News Service. He was given a five-year suspended sentence under which he cannot leave Baku without special permission, the report stated.
“If I violate the law even slightly I could be sent back to prison,” Ibragimoglu told Forum 18 from Baku. “Plus I have a criminal conviction hanging over me.” The imam told the news agency he would appeal the sentence.
Ibragimoglu, who visited IRLA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, in June 2003, may have drawn the government’s ire for reasons other than those alleged against him. He supported an opposition political candidate during the 2003 presidential elections in Azerbaijan, a central Asian republic that was formerly part of the Soviet Union. During an Oct. 17 police raid on the Juma mosque where Ibragimoglu worked, he took refuge in the Norwegian embassy. On Dec. 1, the imam was ordered in for questioning by police, after which he was detained.
The Juma mosque has refused to affiliate with the state-connected Caucasian Muslim Board, claiming that Azerbaijan’s religious freedom laws do not require this step. The board said it approved of Ibragimoglu’s sentence.
During his imprisonment, the imam was allowed to receive religious literature, but did not have permission to use the mosque in the prison. His sentence has been denounced by Azerbaijan’s Baptist Union as well as by Andreas Gross, a Swiss parliamentarian who is co-rapporteur of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly monitoring group on Azerbaijan, Forum 18 reported.
Graz added, “We also hope that religious minorities in Azerbaijan will not suffer more because of this conflict.”
Bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Russia, Azerbaijan’s population of more than 7 million has only 3 percent claiming affiliation with a Christian church. Azerbaijan’s constitution upholds the right of all people to choose and practice their religion.
Members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church first organized the IRLA, chartered in 1893, in the United States. Today, the association is non-sectarian and promotes principles of religious freedom for all people everywhere.
