MIA denies prosecution of believers in Azerbaijan

A spokesman of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan has refuted the information that believers are prosecuted in this country for their faith.

"Azerbaijani MIA is not at war on religious convictions or beliefs. We just stop attempts to administer rites in the places unfit for the purpose," said Orudzh Zalov, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, making his comments to journalists on the decision to ban holding namaz (Moslem prayer) in the mosque yards. This information was reported by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The Shahid Alley (the avenue of heroes who fell in fight for independence of Azerbaijan, - note of the "Caucasian Knot") is visited by hundreds of people, and it's inadmissible that Moslems make namaz in the adjacent street near the mosque located there," he said.

Mr Zalov also emphasized that "the registered mosques and religious communities have no problems and restrictions in their work; the country is predominated with tolerance."

As to the Wahhabites, they are free in their activities, once they are members of "properly registered" communities, Deputy Minister has added.

Making his comments on the complaints that Wahhabites' beards are shaved off at police stations, Orudzh Zalov said that it was not true. "Nobody is shaving anybody in police stations," he said.

Earlier, on September 2, Gyunduz Ismaylov, an official from the State Committee for Work with Religious Entities (SCWRE) of Azerbaijan, stated that "the ban to administer namaz in mosque yards and in other open spaces was introduced within the scope of a complex of measures aimed to take care of believers' safety."