Additional Name(s): فرید علوی
Gender: Unspecified
Perpetrator: Iran
Religion or Belief: Bahá`í
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Date of Detainment: August/2/2022
Current Status: Not Released
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment
Reason for Persecution: Religious Activity Religious Belief
Nature of Charges: Unknown
Farid Alavi is detained for his religious belief and activity.
On August 2, 2022, authorities arrested Alavi during a state-run operation to demolish Baha'i homes and confiscate Baha'i property in Roshan-Kouh village, Mazandaran province.
"Baha’is Houses Demolished, One Arrested" Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)
"بازداشت یک شهروند بهائی در جریان مصادره زمین و تخریب منازل در روشنکوه" Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)
Aug 4, 2022
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale and unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine, falsely claiming that it aimed to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the country. While many people are broadly aware of the terrible toll that Russia’s war has wrought on civilians, there is less awareness about the religious ramifications of the Russian invasion.
Ruslan Khalikov and Liliia Pidgorna, two scholars with the Workshop for the Academic Study of Religion in Ukraine, join us today to discuss the impact Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had on religious freedom.
Read USCIRF’s 2022 Annual Report Chapter on Russia
Read USCIRF’s Backgrounder: Russia
Additional Name(s): Lorang Konchok, བློ་བཟང་དཀོན་མཆོག་, 洛桑贡觉(音), 罗让贡求
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: China
Ethnic Group: Tibetan
Religion or Belief: Buddhist – Tibetan
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Sentence: Life Imprisonment
Date of Detainment: August//2012
Date of Sentencing: January/31/2013
Current Status: Not Released
Religious Leader: Yes
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Reason for Persecution: Reporting on Religious Freedom Conditions or Documenting Religious Freedom Violations
Nature of Charges: Murder & Attempted Murder
Lobsang Konchog is imprisoned for sending information about self-immolations.
In August 2012, Chinese authorities arrested Kirti Monastery monk Konchog and his nephew Lobsang Tsering after they were suspected of “passing on information to exiles in India” about Tibetans who had self-immolated. Police accused the two of “instigating” eight Tibetans to set themselves on fire that later reportedly resulted in three deaths.
On January 31, 2013, the Aba Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Konchog to death suspended for two years for “intentional homicide” in relation to the self-immolations. According the the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), the sentence should have been commuted to life imprisonment.
Related Cases: Lobsang Tsering
"Lobsang Konchog" Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)
2013 Human Rights Report: China (Includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau) U.S. Department of State