United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

February 12, 2025 | |

A ‘Country of Particular Concern’: Iran Rearrests Two Christians for Practicing Their Faith 

Iran’s Renewed Discrimination: The Islamic Republic once again incarcerated two Christians in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison for practicing their faith, the religious freedom...

September 27, 2024 | Tzvi Kahn |

U.S. Should Sanction Iran’s Brutal Judge Iman Afshari

The death sentences keep coming from Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. In July, the court’s presiding judge, Iman Afshari, pronounced the dreaded verdict for Pakhshan Azizi, a prominent...

May 3, 2024 | |

Executions Surge in Iran as Protests Persist

Executions in Iran are surging. The Islamic Republic executed 63 people in the last two weeks of April, bringing the total number in 2024 to 175, the Norway-based nonprofit Iran...

January 31, 2024 | |

Iran Executes Four Men Falsely Accused of Mossad Ties

Iran on January 29 hanged four prisoners accused of planning to sabotage a Defense Ministry factory and having links with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Iranian state media...

November 15, 2023 | |

Iran’s Repression of Baha’is Condemned by U.S. Agency

A key U.S. agency condemned Iran on November 15 for its resurgent persecution of the Baha’is, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. The U.S. Commission on International...

September 12, 2023 | |

Iran’s Uprising Nears First Anniversary as Protests Persist 

September 16 marks the first anniversary of the Iranian morality police’s murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly. Her death sparked...

December 28, 2022 | Clifford D. May |

Strategery 101

When an enemy attacks a friend, back the friend

December 15, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir, Tuğba Tanyeri-Erdemir

Bottom-Up Hope: Local Governments Bolster Religious Pluralism in Turkey

When powerful states and their proxies intensify religious persecution worldwide and democratic governments under a neo-isolationist spell look the other way, where can vulnerable religious minorities find...

November 26, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir, Paul Gadalla

Russia’s Power Games Extend to the Orthodox Church

Pushing back against Russia’s multipronged assault on the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which includes Putin and Erdogan’s coordinated pressure on an institution they see as posing a threat to their respective illiberal projects, requires devising and implementing a concerted transatlantic strategy.

August 9, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir, Sude Akgundogdu

Turkey’s Anti-Kurdish Measures Violate Religious Freedom

Turkey has a long history of discrimination against its Kurdish citizens as well as restrictions against using the Kurdish language. While this systematic exclusion has drawn international attention, its...

June 3, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir, Tuğba Tanyeri-Erdemir

State Department Should Deliver an Honest Message about Turkey’s Religious Freedom Record

The US Department of State’s annual report on international religious freedom, released on May 12, documents the ongoing erosion of freedom of religion or belief in Turkey. The report echoes the concerns...

April 29, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir, Nadine Maenza

Turkey Needs to Change its Policy and Rhetoric Toward Religious Minorities

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan stunned his country’s Christians and Jews by publicly using the slur “gavur” (infidel), a pejorative designation for non-Muslims, to criticize...

November 23, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir |

Washington Can Help Free Turkey’s Highest-Profile Prisoner of Conscience

Among advocates for Turkey’s minorities, Osman Kavala is a secular saint. As a philanthropist, he has been the benefactor of initiatives to document and restore heritage sites, support arts and...

August 21, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir, Philip Kowalski

China Buys Turkey’s Silence on Uyghur Oppression

Turkey has joined the list of majority Muslim countries that have opted for silence in dealing with the one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time.

July 1, 2020 | Dr. Brenda Shaffer, Svante Cornell

US International Religious Freedom Efforts Should Not Promote Islamic Extremism

The Trump Administration has elevated the promotion of international religious freedom to a major component of U.S. foreign policy. President Donald Trump issued an executive order devoting additional...

June 30, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

German intel says Iran ‘massively promotes antisemitism, Israel hatred’

Neo-Nazi politician met with Iran's chief proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.

June 19, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir |

Washington’s Muted Response Emboldens Erdogan’s Hostage Diplomacy

A Turkish court on June 11 convicted Metin Topuz, a Turkish national and liaison officer for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, to eight years and nine months...

May 17, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Holy Jewish site of Esther and Mordechai set ablaze in Iran

'Disturbing reports from Iran that the tomb of Esther & Mordechai, a holy Jewish site, was set afire overnight,' ADL National Director Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted.

May 12, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

US politicians blast Algeria for church closures

Algerian authorities shut one church because it ‘celebrates non-Muslim worship’

May 12, 2020 | Tuğba Tanyeri-Erdemir, Aykan Erdemir

Turkey the Only NATO Member Singled out in Annual Religious Freedom Report

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2020 Annual Report on April 28 and recommended the US government include Turkey on the State Department’s “Special...