European human rights court upholds right to private religious meetings (Religion Clause)

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Azerbaijan (map) violated a human rights treaty when a member of the Nurist Islamic movement was arrested and convicted for “the administrative offense of holding an unauthorized religious meeting on private premises.”

The treaty, the European Convention on Human Rights, states that “freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others” (Article 9).