Azerbaijan: Two Shia teachers fined after holding mourning ceremonies in class
The (Forum 18) news website reported that two courts in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, imposed two fines on two Shia women, for holding mourning ceremonies inside school classes, which they had revived during the sacred month of Muharram, mourning Imam Hussein (peace be upon him), the third imam of Shia Muslims.
The site mentioned in a detailed report, translated by Shia Waves News Agency, that “a court in Baku imposed a fine on Shula Jafarova with an average wage of two months, for holding mourning ceremonies in the Islamic month of Muharram with her students at school and uploading them on social media.”
It added that “the Goicha court also imposed a similar fine on Samira Jafarova because of a video clip that was published on social media, which she performed with 15 students to lament Imam Hussein (peace be upon him),” noting that “Jafarova confirmed during the appeal session that holding religious ceremonies is a right that stems from the constitution, but the court refused that.”
The report notes that “these two women are among 19 people who were fined during the year 2022 for exercising freedom of religion or belief.”
It explained that “the Muslims in the city collected money to pay the fine of Shula Jafarova, but she was also forced to pay an additional fine of 105 manats, because of her surname (Al-Jafari).”
The report added that “Ms. Jafarova confirmed on her part that the parents of the fifteen children all agreed to their participation in religious rituals.”
The report also states that “the regional representative of the State Affairs Committee for religious organizations in Baku (Ilham Garibov) disavowed the entire case and did not defend the two women and their right to hold religious ceremonies.”
