Azerbaijan, Baku, December 11 / Trend , K.Zarbaliyeva /
State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations considers groundless the statements that Azerbaijan will impose restrictions on sale of religious literature.
A number of necessary and progressive decisions have been made in order to regulate this sphere, resolve existing problems and eliminate undesirable moments, the department head of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations Jeyhun Mammadov told Trend on Dec. 11. Last year 1,507 books were inspected in Azerbaijan and a ban was imposed on the importation and distribution of 59 books.
Recently, information spread that the religious literature will be sold only in the specialized stores, and restrictions will be imposed on it.
According to the recent amendments and additions to the Law on Freedom of Religion, the religious literature, religious items and other information materials on the religious theme will be sold only in specialized stores created with the permission of relevant executive authority. For this purpose, a Guideline on the rules of authorization for the establishment of specialized religious stores was prepared," said the head of department.
According to Mammadov, there are several objective reasons for making such additions to the law. Observations show that in some cases, the sale of religious literature is carried out in shops selling alcohol, tobacco, food, clothing, building materials and in underground passages.
"Sometimes there are also cases of sale of religious literature in dirty places, but it is perceived as disrespect for religious values, is a fair public disagreement. Comparing the sale of religious literature with the sale of other goods would be incorrect. Together with the government, to prevent such cases is a duty of each Azerbaijani citizen," said Mammadov.
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