This Op-Ed appeared originally in Religion News Service on January 11, 2018.

By former USCIRF Commissioners Sandra Jolley and Kristina Arriaga

(RNS) — For most pastors, the beginning of a new year is filled with the promise of youth programs, baptisms, and marriages. Instead, Pastor Andrew Brunson — Presbyterian cleric in Turkey, American citizen, and pawn in an international game of hostage diplomacy — is spending it in a Turkish jail. Since he was detained in October 2016, his life has been arbitrarily suspended.

Representing the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, we met with Brunson in Kiriklar Prison on Oct. 5, near the city of Izmir. Only relatives or embassy officials are allowed to visit. We are the only other Americans to have seen him.

We were in Istanbul when we were granted permission to visit. Within 24 hours we flew to Izmir, spent a restless night at a local hotel and, before the sun came up the next day, we headed to Kiriklar. Dressed plainly, as instructed, we walked into the prison, placed our shoes in plastic baskets and walked through a metal detector. The painted cinderblock walls of the unexpectedly clean entrance featured bizarrely cheery art motifs.

In the visitors’ area, plastic beaded necklaces made by inmates were for sale. Nearby, a prison guard sat at a desk, inspecting grocery bags filled with clothes he received from inmates’ relatives. During the winter, it gets cold in Kiriklar, and prisoners depend on their relatives for clothing.

After inspection, we were escorted into a room padded with black foam and divided by a rectangular Formica table at the center of which, attached by a beaded metal chain, was the only pen available. Before we came into the room, we had been allowed to rip out three sheets of lined paper from a notebook. We waited in silence on narrow cheap plastic chairs that creaked as we shuffled.

Several minutes later, we heard the loud, metallic, heavy clang of a gate that opened and closed. The door to the visiting room flung open and in walked a pale, slender version of the Andrew Brunson we had only seen in photos. Since his imprisonment he has lost over 50 pounds.

What happened then was an almost surreal hour of discussion with a man still in shock at what had happened to him. How could a NATO ally do this to an American citizen? How could this happen in a country where he had spent more than two decades of his life helping people? What were the charges against him? When might he get a trial? If convicted, will he be in jail for the rest of his life?

Brunson asked us these questions because the only thing certain about his life is the four walls that surround him and define the limits of his world. He eats, sleeps and lives in that cell, and is allowed only to leave it once a week for a scheduled visit with his wife or a consular officer. Most of these visits are conducted in a room divided by a Plexiglas wall.

He has had no due process. In fact, the Turkish government, for almost a year at the point of our meeting, has given him no information about the charges against him and no court date. The case against him seems to be based on secret evidence and a secret witness that allege his involvement in trying to overthrow the Turkish government — a charge which he flatly denies.

Brunson initially was held with more than 20 other men in a cell built to accommodate 8 people. He now is in a cell with two others, but he is the only American, the only English speaker, and the only Christian in the prison. He lives in a world of physical isolation and psychological dislocation.

Since the attempted coup in 2016, much has changed in Turkey. Overall human rights, including the freedoms of expression and association, have worsened notably. Arbitrary arrests, explained by “involvement” in the attempted coup, are in the tens of thousands.

In the chapter on Turkey in USCIRF’s 2017 Annual Report, we state that “no religious community — including the majority Sunni Muslim community — has full legal status, and all are subject to state controls limiting their rights to maintain places of worship, train clergy, and offer religious education.”

It is reprehensible that Turkey chose to arrest an American Christian cleric who for more than two decades was fulfilling his religious duties by serving his congregants and others in need. In today’s Turkey, however, it seems your rights disappear when secret allegations are whispered.

Post-coup Turkey faces a number of serious problems with which it must deal, both domestically and internationally. Pastor Brunson need not be one of them. Turkey already has stolen more than a year of his life. We cannot let it steal all his tomorrows.

(Sandra Jolley and Kristina Arriaga are the Vice Chairwomen of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The views expressed in this opinion piece do not necessarily represent those of Religion News Service.)

Photo credit: World Witness

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 8, 2018

USCIRF Mourns the Passing of Thomas S. Monson, Leader of the LDS Church

Chairman Mark calls Monson “the embodiment of a lifelong commitment to the church’s mission.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) was greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Thomas S. Monson, prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before his passing on January 2, President Monson served the LDS Church as an Apostle for more than 54 years, spending his final decade as its 16^th president.

Speaking to a church conference in 2013, Monson emphasized the importance of respecting the religious freedom of all people. He said, “I admonish you to be good citizens of the nations in which you live and good neighbors in your communities, reaching out to those of other faiths as well as to our own. May we be tolerant of, as well as kind and loving to, those who do not share our beliefs and our standards.”

USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark described Monson as “the embodiment of a lifelong commitment to the church’s mission. He strongly believed in religious freedom and actively traveled the world, addressing tens of thousands of people in countless countries over his half-century of service.  His passing is a great loss for the LDS Church and all people of good will.”

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or John D. Lawrence, Director of Communications ([email protected]/ +1-202-786-0611).  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2018

State Department Names the World’s Worst Violators of Religious Freedom

Chairman Mark praises State’s designation of some countries but claims the “list falls short of what is needed”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomed the State Department’s naming of “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPCs) for severe religious freedom violations.  This group comprises nations that violate religious freedom in a “systematic, ongoing, egregious” manner and includes Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The State Department announcement may be found here.

USCIRF’s Chairman Daniel Mark said that “The designation of these countries is a key step in ensuring continued U.S. engagement in support of international religious freedom.  Although USCIRF agrees with the 10 countries on the State Department’s list, it does not go far enough.  Secretary Tillerson should have also designated the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam.”

The State Department also, for the first time, announced its “Special Watch List” -- a new category created by the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016.  The Special Watch List is for countries that engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom but may not rise to the level of CPC.  The department placed only Pakistan on this list. 

Chairman Mark said that “Pakistan continues to harass its religious minorities, has state-sanctioned discrimination against groups such as the Ahmadis, and tolerates extra-judicial violence in the guise of opposing blasphemy.  As USCIRF has said for many years, Pakistan should be designated by the State Department as a CPC. Given the strong stance that President Trump has taken on Pakistan recently, the failure to designate Pakistan as a CPC this year comes as a surprise and disappointment.”

USCIRF commends Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for the excellent statement he made accompanying the August release of the State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report. There, he stated that religious freedom is a “core American value…and universal human right,” commenting further that it is a “human rights priority” for the Trump Administration.  USCIRF was highly encouraged by his words and urges the Secretary of State to make additional CPC designations consistent with that bold and forceful statement.

The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) mandated that the State Department make CPC designations and that USCIRF provide the department recommendations on which countries should be on the list.  In April 2017, USCIRF recommended that 16 countries be designated CPCs: Burma, Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

The Frank Wolf Act also required designations for non-state actors engaged in particularly severe religious freedom violations as “entities of particular concern” (EPCs).  In April 2017, USCIRF recommended that the Administration designate the following entities as EPCs: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria; the Taliban in Afghanistan; and al-Shabaab in Somalia. The Administration did not make its EPC designations at this time, but USCIRF looks forward to working with the White House and the State Department on expeditiously identifying EPCs and the tools to use against them.

Read USCIRF’s 2017 Annual Report here.

[1/8/18:  Read the Administration's transmittal materials to Congress here.]

[1/11/18:  Read the official designations in the Federal Register here.]

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or John D. Lawrence, Director of Communications ([email protected]/ +1-202-786-0611).