Peace Church, a Protestant church in Sumgait north of Baku, lodged a registration application in April to the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. Five months on, the church complains that the State Committee is refusing to give a response to its registration application. State Committee officials have not pointed to any problems or shortcomings in the church's registration application. "They simply told us that you cannot hold any more meetings, that it is forbidden to hold any religious ceremony without registration. 'If you do not heed this warning and hold a religious ceremony, you will be punished,' he said."

Officials warned the pastor: "You are holding secret meetings and gathering people." The pastor rejected this. "Our meetings were always held openly and transparently," he told them (see below).

"We are being restricted from exercising our constitutional right to worship peacefully and to practise our faith," the church notes. "The lack of clarity and the indefinite waiting period put excessive pressure on our church and potentially violate our rights" (see below).

Officials at the branch of the State Committee in Sumgait did not answer the phone each time Forum 18 called (see below).

The Sumgait Church notes that the State Committee no longer registers any churches. "There are churches that have been waiting for registration in the State Committee for years. Most likely, what happened to us will happen to them too." The Church is among at least five Protestant churches known to have lodged registration applications to the State Committee, lawyer and human rights defender Murad Aliyev told Forum 18. "Some of them have been waiting for more than two years" (see below).

The State Committee usually leaves applications from communities it does not like with no formal response, neither accepting nor rejecting applications. "This makes it difficult for such communities to challenge this in court, as they have no response to challenge," lawyer Aliyev told Forum 18 (see below).

Forum 18 asked the State Committee in Baku:
- why it fails to accept or reject registration applications, particularly from non-Muslim organisations;
- and why, out of the many non-Muslim communities that have applied for state registration, only one has been accepted since 2020.
Forum 18 received no response (see below).

The State Committee also did not respond on why Jehovah's Witnesses cannot register a national organisation to be able to function legally throughout the whole country, and why the Georgian Orthodox community cannot regularly use its historical Church of St George in Kurmukhi in Qakh region (see below).

When the Muslim holy month of Muharram began on 26 June, the Interior Ministry and the State Committee issued a public instruction with a reminder that, under the Religion Law, "religious ceremonies are to be held only in mosques and shrines". It also banned parents from bringing children. Lawyer Khalid Bagirov believes that such general prohibitions create legal uncertainty and pose a risk of abuse. "If a Shia parent wants to bring their child to the Ashura ceremony, that is their right," he said (see below).

Arzu Abdullah Gul Zaman, a journalist, visited Ajdarbay mosque in Baku on 6 July, the day she believed Ashura should be commemorated. A female mosque attendant told her: "The government did Ashura yesterday, today Ashura is forbidden." The mosque attendant directed her to the "supervisors". Gul Zaman maintained that they were plain-clothed police officers, though they denied this (see below).

Mamed Abdullayev, a Russia-based blogger, complains about the lack of provision for Sunni Muslims to pray in his home city of Ganca. "I don't know why, but in the whole city we don't have a single mosque where we can pray." He said that "at least a thousand Sunnis" live in Ganca "and want to go to the mosque" (see below).

In his online video, Abdullayev showed the cramped rooms in the back of the city's Shia-dominated Juma Mosque. This is the only place where up to 30 Sunni Muslims can hold prayers. "They use literally every centimetre. Everyone is literally standing on top of each other, bowing, to put it mildly, to each other's backs," he complained (see below).

"The situation regarding religious freedom in Azerbaijan has deteriorated significantly in recent years," a leader of a non-Muslim community told Forum 18. "A country that officially promotes multicultural and tolerant values has recently taken actions that contradict these values."

Compulsory state permission to exist

Under the Religion Law, backed by Administrative Code Article 515 ("Violation of the procedure for creating or running religious organisations"), all exercise of freedom of religion and belief by a group of people is illegal unless it has obtained state registration, and so permission to exist.

To apply for permission to exist, a group must have at least 50 adult founding members. All the founders have to go to a Notary Office at the same time and the process of verifying each founder's identity can take several hours in total. Notary Offices can be very small.

The requirement to have 50 adult members bans all small religious communities. Many people are afraid to sign such registration applications, for fear of harassment and reprisals by the regime.

Muslim communities must belong to the state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board.

Without state registration religious communities – and even informal groups of people meeting together – cannot legally exist or exercise freedom of religion and belief. Police and the State Security Service (SSS) secret police have raided many religious communities that have chosen not to register, or have tried to register but have been refused. Requiring state permission to exercise freedom of religion and belief and other human rights is against Azerbaijan's legally binding international human rights obligations.

Forum 18 asked the State Committee in writing on 17 September:
- why religious communities must have state registration before they can meet for worship;
- and why mosques that are independent of the Caucasian Muslim Board cannot function and gain state registration.
Forum 18 had received no response by the afternoon of the working day in Baku of 19 September.

"Officials know where they meet"

Whenever a religious community starts meetings for worship, "the police always come", one Protestant told Forum 18. "Officials know where they meet. If people come together anywhere for any reason, people call the police – even if you have ten guests in your home."

On 19 June, Nakhichevan City Court fined three Protestants from Baku and two local people 1,500 Manats each under Administrative Code Article 515.0.2 ("Violating legislation on holding religious meetings, marches, and other religious ceremonies") for holding "illegal" religious meetings in a home. This represents about three months' average wage for residents of Nakhichevan and two months' average wage for residents of Baku.

Sumgait church's stalled registration application

Peace Church, a Protestant church in Sumgait north of Baku, lodged a registration application in April to the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. Five months on, the church complains that the State Committee is refusing to give a response to its registration application.

In April, "approximately 50 members of our church community came together to prepare and submit all the necessary documents required for official recognition and permission to assemble," the church's leader, Pastor Shahin, told Forum 18. "We ensured that all the paperwork was complete and submitted it to the State Committee without delay."

The State Committee's regional office in Sumgait invited Pastor Shahin to a meeting at its office on 7 July. During this meeting, officials told him that gathering as a religious community without official permission is not allowed.

"When officials asked him about the number of members of the church, and the pastor said that there were 70-80 members in the church, they became very angry with him," individuals familiar with the situation told Forum 18. Officials told the pastor: "You are holding secret meetings and gathering people." The pastor rejected this. "Our meetings were always held openly and transparently," he told them.

Pastor Shahin pointed out that the State Committee repeatedly invited him to various events. "When foreign guests came, you asked me to wear the medals I received for participating in the first Karabakh war and attend the event. You gathered us, that is, the Azerbaijani pastors, and took us to an event in Karabakh, in Shusha. And now you are telling me that I held secret meetings?!"

State Committee officials did not point to any problems or shortcomings in the church's registration application. "They simply told us that you cannot hold any more meetings, that it is forbidden to hold any religious ceremony without registration. 'If you do not heed this warning and hold a religious ceremony, you will be punished,' one official said."

The church does not know if the State Committee found any legal or procedural flaws in the application. "So we do not know whether our documents are in order. It seems that the State Committee has not even checked our documents."

"We are being restricted from exercising our constitutional right to worship peacefully and to practise our faith. The lack of clarity and the indefinite waiting period put excessive pressure on our church and potentially violate our rights."

Officials at the branch of the State Committee in Sumgait did not answer the phone each time Forum 18 called on 18 September 2025.

"Churches have been waiting for registration in the State Committee for years"

The Sumgait church notes that the State Committee no longer registers any churches. "There are churches that have been waiting for registration in the State Committee for years. Most likely, what happened to us will happen to them too."

Sumgait's Peace Church is among at least five Protestant churches known to have lodged registration applications to the State Committee, lawyer and human rights defender Murad Aliyev told Forum 18. "Some of them have been waiting for more than two years."

One of the churches applied for registration in 2023. State Committee officials made positive comments to it in 2024 and it therefore expected to get registration. But no registration followed and "they say nothing", a community member told Forum 18. "It is so sad." The community member insisted that getting registration is important for the church.

The State Committee usually leaves applications from communities it does not like with no formal response, neither accepting nor rejecting applications. "This makes it difficult for such communities to challenge this in court, as they have no response to challenge," lawyer Aliyev told Forum 18.

Forum 18 asked the State Committee in Baku in writing on 17 September:
- why it fails to accept or reject registration applications, particularly from non-Muslim organisations;
- and why, out of the many non-Muslim communities that have applied for state registration, only one has been accepted since 2020.
Forum 18 had received no response by the afternoon of the working day in Baku of 19 September.

Only one non-Muslim registration since 2020

The State Committee has registered only one non-Muslim community since December 2020. The last such community it granted registration to was the Baku community of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as Mormons) on 10 July 2024, according to the State Committee website.

A large Azerbaijani delegation visited the Church headquarters in Salt Lake City in the United States in March 2023. Among delegation members were Sahib Nagiyev, Deputy Chair of the State Committee, and Sheikh ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, the head of the state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board. Two elders of the Church from the United States met President Heydar Aliyev in Baku on 30 April 2024.

The Baku branch of the Church began the registration process "in the second half of 2023", a 26 July 2024 statement from the Church internationally noted. "The Church currently has a small group of members meeting regularly in the city [Baku]." The community's services are in English.

No registration for Jehovah's Witnesses outside Baku

The State Committee finally registered the Baku Jehovah's Witness community in 2018. However, it has consistently refused applications by local communities, including in Ganca and Qakh.

Jehovah's Witnesses then tried to register a national organisation. This would allow them to function anywhere in the country. The Religion Law currently allows a local community to operate only at its registered legal address. However, the State Committee has consistently rejected the Jehovah's Witness application to register a national organisation.

The State Committee told Jehovah's Witnesses that if they inform it of the location of religious meetings outside Baku, it would ensure that the meetings could take place without disturbance. "The State Committee has adhered to this commitment," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. "But we're still nervous about the lack of national registration."

For a quarter of a century, officials repeatedly rejected registration applications from the Baptist community in the northern town of Aliabad, which police repeatedly raided and two of whose pastors were jailed. The State Committee in Baku gave limited approval for the church to meet for worship from January 2020. It said it had "no objection" to the church holding worship meetings for two hours each Saturday morning.

Forum 18 asked the State Committee in Baku in writing on 17 September why Jehovah's Witnesses cannot register a national organisation to be able to function legally throughout the whole country. Forum 18 had received no response by the afternoon of the working day in Baku of 19 September.

Important for Georgian Orthodox churches and monasteries "to restore their original purpose"

Georgia's Orthodox Patriarchate in Tbilisi has repeatedly expressed concern over Azerbaijani officials' refusal to hand back confiscated places of worship. These are mostly in Qakh Region of north-western Azerbaijan near the border with Georgia.

The State Committee has registered only two Georgian Orthodox churches, St George's in Qakhingloy and St Nino's in Alibeyli, both in March 2010.

Orthodox Christians are allowed to hold services at the Church of St George in Kurmukhi only twice a year, on 6 May and 23 November (both St George's day, the church's patronal festival).

Another nearby parish – Holy Trinity Church in the village of Kotuklu – prepared a registration application in 2009 signed by 20 parishioners. But the State Committee has never registered the community.

A 1 August 2024 Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate statement spoke of how "important it is for Georgian churches and monasteries on the territory of Azerbaijan to restore their original purpose".

The Patriarchate in particular called on Azerbaijani officials "to make the Church of St George in Kurmukhi a functioning church and to grant the Georgian Patriarchate the right to regularly hold religious services there".

The official who answered the phone at the regional branch of the State Committee in Zaqatala refused to answer any of Forum 18's questions on 18 September 2025.

Forum 18 asked the State Committee in Baku in writing on 17 September why the Georgian Orthodox church cannot use St George's Church in Kurmukhi for worship whenever it wants to, rather than only twice a year. Forum 18 had received no response by the afternoon of the working day in Baku of 19 September.

On 27 January 2025, the Azerbaijani authorities allowed the arrival in the region of a delegation from the Georgian Orthodox Church from Georgia, led by Metropolitan Teodor (Chuadze). He ordained to the priesthood the 40-year-old Tariel Poladashvili in St Nino's Church in Alibeyli. This was the first ordination in that church for more than a century. Fr Tariel was born in Qakh Region and is an Azerbaijani citizen.

The regime prevented several Georgian Orthodox priests in succession from continuing their ministry, claiming that they had to have Azerbaijani citizenship to be able to serve the parishes in the country. Georgian citizen Fr Demetre Tetruashvili was barred from re-entry to Azerbaijan in June 2015. This was apparently to prevent the implementation of a Georgian Orthodox Synod decision of 2014 to create the Diocese of Qakh and Kurmukh to look after the parishes in Azerbaijan. Fr Demetre was the bishop-designate.

Muharram ceremonies only in mosques – and without children

The Muslim holy month of Muharram began this year on 26 June. The Interior Ministry and the State Committee issued a public instruction the following day with a reminder that, under the Religion Law, "religious ceremonies are to be held only in mosques and shrines".

Muharram often features street processions, especially around the commemoration of Ashura, the 10th day of the month (marked this year on 6 July, though the state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board set the date as 5 July). Shia Muslims (the largest religious community in Azerbaijan) observe Ashura as a day of mourning.

"We would like to especially note that there are cases of some parents taking minor children to religious ceremonies, including mourning meetings," the Interior Ministry and State Committee warned. "In this case, both the physical and psychological safety of children should be taken into account. We ask parents to consider that it is inappropriate for minor children to participate in such mass ceremonies and to be particularly sensitive to preventing situations that contradict legislation."

Lawyer Khalid Bagirov believes that such general prohibitions create legal uncertainty and pose a risk of abuse. "If a Shia parent wants to bring their child to the Ashura ceremony, that is their right," he told JAMnews for a 27 June article. "The state must clearly explain what exactly is prohibited: mourning rites, self-flagellation, beating the chest? Or simply attendance? Such ambiguity is legally unacceptable."

Bagirov also pointed to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, noting that raising children in accordance with their parents' religious beliefs is their fundamental right.

Bagirov describes the regime's approach as "part of a systemic policy of restricting the rights of the Shia community". He noted Ashura processions in the southern region of Lankaran, which have worried the authorities. However, he argues, these concerns stem from freedom of peaceful assembly. "The state is attempting to restrict freedom of assembly and processions under the pretext of religious rituals."

Bagirov warned that such vague and restrictive approaches are likely to lead to increased police surveillance at mosques and a ban on minors entering without parental supervision.

Ashura restrictions

As the state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board had set the date for the Ashura commemoration as 5 July, mosques – with the backing of police - practically banned Shia Muslims from commemorations on 6 July.

Arzu Abdullah Gul Zaman, a journalist, visited Ajdarbay mosque in Baku on 6 July. "For more than 30 years since I came to Baku, I have always been to the Ajdarbay mosque in Ashura, but I have never been shaken as today," she wrote on Facebook the same day. "In past years, it was not possible to enter the courtyard of Ajdarbay Mosque at Ashura. There used to be a really big crowd. And today, only police officers were roaming in and around the mosque."

Gul Zaman asked a female mosque attendant to read the commemoration prayers. "Shh! Go and sit down, they will come and take me too," she responded. "They will gather all of us and hand us over to the administration. They strongly instructed that there is to be no crying, no bleeding here. The government did Ashura yesterday, today Ashura is forbidden." She approached the prayer leader but he too refused to read the commemoration prayer and directed her to talk to the "supervisors".

Gul Zaman maintained that the "supervisors" were plain-clothed police officers, though they denied this.

"Go and cry, but cry slowly, cry so that the government does not hear," older people told her. "The government does not allow you to cry loudly." After again asking the female mosque attendant to read the prayer, she reported Gul Zaman to the police. The police officer refused to allow her to commemorate Ashura, insisting that this had been done the previous day. He accused her of following Iran, where Ashura was being commemorated that day.

Muslims who are not part of the state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board, particularly Sunnis, have long objected to the state-imposed calendar which dictates when they are allowed to pray and celebrate Muslim festivals. "This is a serious issue for us," one Sunni Muslim from the Baku area told Forum 18 in May 2016. "If we pray according to the calendar we believe is correct, they'll arrest us." The Muslim noted that the state does not impose compulsory calendars on Christians, Jews or members of other faiths.

Where can Sunni Muslims pray?

The regime has closed many specifically Sunni Muslim mosques in recent years. The ban on any mosques that function outside the state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board (which is Shia-dominated) leaves Sunni Muslims who want to practise their faith in line with their interpretation few places to worship.

Mamed Abdullayev, an Azerbaijani-born and Russia-based blogger, posted an online video on 13 October 2024 complaining of the lack of a Sunni mosque in his home city of Ganca. He called for new mosques to be opened, as well as public prayer rooms.

"I don't know why, but in the whole city we don't have a single mosque where we can pray." Abdullayev said that "at least a thousand Sunnis" live in Ganca "and want to go to the mosque". He also spoke of foreign visitors "who come to us from all sorts of countries to relax, work and get to know our culture, and they are actually amazed that stupidly there is nowhere to pray in the city".

Abdullayev showed the cramped conditions for Sunni Muslim worshippers in rooms at the back of Ganca's Juma Mosque, where the main prayer hall is used by Shia Muslims. He said the rooms at the back can hold at most 30 worshippers and each worshipper had only about 40 cm (16 inches). "They use literally every centimetre. Everyone is literally standing on top of each other, bowing, to put it mildly, to each other's backs," he complained. "If someone can't fit into this small room, they simply go home because you're not allowed to pray outside."

Abdullayev added: "And that's not even the worst of it. Even this small side room only opens on Fridays. The rest of the time, it's closed, so there's nowhere to pray at all."

Abdullayev concluded: "Unfortunately, this problem is long-standing and has not yet been resolved. I hope this video will reach the right people. And soon I will film a video review of the new, luxurious, large mosque where Sunni believers, both local and visiting our city, can come and worship Allah."

Comments under the video from people who say they are Sunnis from Ganca echo Abdullayev's remarks. "It's high time to build a mosque for Sunnis in Ganca," a respondent from the city wrote. "That there are no Sunni mosques there is greatly offensive for Muslims," another wrote. "May Allah help build there a beautiful Sunni mosque!!!"

State Committee manipulation?

Members of Baku's state-registered Hare Krishna community are divided over allegations that some of their leaders have engaged in corruption.

Among those leading the complaints is Rashid Huseynov (religious name Ramakanta das). He complains that the State Committee continues to allow the community to be headed by 12 official founders, as the community was registered before the 2009 Religion Law, which increased the minimum number of founders to 50.

The Hare Krishna community is among state-registered religious communities that receive an annual state subsidy.

"The State Committee can lean on the founders and gives them subsidies," Huseynov told Forum 18 from Baku on 18 September. "That's why they've left this number." He says when two of the 12 were removed at the community's request in 2024 after corruption allegations, the State Committee quietly approved two replacements to be added. "The Committee agreed to add the two new founders in February 2025 after six months, despite my complaints."

Huseynov said he and others would like to increase the number of founders to 50. "This would make it more difficult for the State Committee to pressure them." He says adding further founders should not require full re-registration of the Hare Krishna community.

Huseynov said that in spring 2025 he twice met the Chair of the State Committee, Ramin Mammadov. He gave Mammadov a list of 38 devotees who were prepared to be added to the list of founders. However, Mammadov refused to add them. He said the community should decide.

Huseynov and another community member appealed to President Ilham Aliyev on 8 September. They called for the State Committee's inaction over the demand to increase the number of founders from 12 to 50. They also called for the alleged corruption in the community leadership to be investigated. Huseynov has received no response to the appeal, he told Forum 18.

Another European Court finding against Azerbaijan

On 8 July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg found that Azerbaijan had violated the rights of Vuqar Rafiyev under three provisions of the Convention:
- Article 5, Paragraph 1 (unlawful arrest and detention);
- Article 6, Paragraph 1 (lack of reasoning in the domestic courts' decisions);
- and Article 9 (violation of the right to freedom of religion).

Rafiyev is a Muslim from Sumgait who reads the works of the late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi. In March 2017, police raided a home in Quba where Muslims who study Said Nursi's works were meeting and seized religious literature. Almost all of those present were fined in March 2017, including Vuqar Rafiyev. He lodged his case to the ECtHR in November 2017 (Application No. 81028/17).

In its 8 July 2025 decision, the ECtHR noted that "even assuming that the private residence where the applicant assembled with others was used as a place of religious worship as argued by the Government, the Court finds it necessary to reiterate that, while States can put in place a requirement that religious denominations be registered in a manner compatible with Articles 9 and 11 of the Convention, it does not follow that sanctioning an individual member of an unregistered religious organisation for praying or otherwise manifesting his or her religious belief is compatible with the Convention.."

The decision added: "To accept the contrary would amount to the exclusion of minority religious beliefs which are not formally registered with the State, and consequently would amount to admitting that a State can dictate what a person can or cannot believe.."

The ECtHR ordered that Azerbaijan pay Rafiyev the equivalent of 3,000 Euros in compensation, plus 1,000 Euros in costs.

"This is a positive decision," a fellow Muslim Nursi reader told Forum 18 on 19 August 2025.

The regime is due to pay compensation to Rafiyev within three months of the decision becoming final on 8 October 2025. However, it remains unclear if the regime will pay. President Aliyev was angered by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's decision in January 2024 to suspend the Azerbaijani delegation for 12 months for the country's persistent violations of Council of Europe standards. Azerbaijan did not contribute to nominating judges to the ECtHR.

Aliyev declared on 9 April 2025 that "none of the decisions of the European Court are valid for us because we were deprived of our voting rights. We did not vote for those judges. We don't know who these judges are."

Asabali Mustafayev, one of the lawyers for Rafiyev, told Forum 18 on 18 September that the regime has not paid compensation decreed by the ECtHR for more than a year.

The ECtHR has repeatedly found that Azerbaijan has violated human rights by its restrictions on the exercise of freedom of religion or belief.

Complaint to UN Human Rights Committee

In 2024, a religious community lodged a complaint against Azerbaijan to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (4706/2024) about "Restriction to the right to religious gathering". The complainants argue that the restrictions violated their rights under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Human Rights Committee has not yet made a decision in the case.

ICCPR Article 18 includes the right to manifest a religion "in worship, observance, practice and teaching" either individually "or in community with others and in public or private". (END)

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan

For background information, see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey

Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments

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