Pastor Flees After Police Refuse Protection

Nakhichevan is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan, surrounded by Armenia.

Pastor Khalid Babaev had received three separate phone calls within a week, threatening his life if he continued to hold services for the small Adventist church meeting in his home in Nakhichevan. Then, on February 25, five men came to his home and told him that, as Muslims, they were prepared to "sacrifice him as a holy duty." The threats are likely in reference to the coming holy day of Ashura, during which Shiite Muslims remember the martyrdom of Muhammad's grandson Husayn in 680.

According to reports from Forum 18, when Pastor Babaev contacted police, they refused to help, saying, "We can't stand guard by every front door and can't listen in to every phone call."

Receiving no help from the authorities, Pastor Babaev and his family fled on February 27 after the five men returned. When Forum 18 contacted Idris Abbasov, head of the Nakhichevan branch of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, he said his office was investigating the claim, but denied that there were people in Nakhichevan who did not want Adventists in the community, saying, "I don't know that there are people here who hate others for religious reasons."

Pray for protection for Pastor Babaev and his family, as well as the seventeen members of the small church who are now unable to meet for worship. Pray that the church will find a way to continue meeting together.

For more information on persecution in Azerbaijan, click here.