Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan's state body in charge of religious organizations has criticized the U.S. State Department's 2011 Human Rights Report, saying it does not reflect the real situation with the rights of believers in the country and is "superficial".

"The report of the U.S. State Department shows poor analytical work and the use of template schemes in addition to a number of gaps and inaccuracies," the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations said in a statement. "For example, the report states that the religious community Church of Praise has not been registered by the State Committee, although it was officially registered, but under a different name - Word of Life. It was also incorrectly stated that the Committee had put forward a claim to the religious community Jehovah's Witnesses, though, on the contrary, the community itself filed lawsuits to courts against the committee."

The Committee said there was also a bias with regard to religious literature. The report said there are restrictions on publication and distribution of religious literature in Azerbaijan, but this opinion is not shared not only by the State Committee, but by the vast majority of religious communities in Azerbaijan.

"The committee has not received any complaints so far in connection with religious literature, except complaints from the Jehovah's Witnesses community," the statement said.