U.S. Department of Sate issued International Religious Freedom Report 2009. NEWS.am posts the passages about religious freedom in Azerbaijan.

“The Constitution provides for freedom of religion. On March 18, 2009, however, a national referendum approved a series of amendments to the Constitution; two amendments limit the spreading of and propagandizing of religion. Additionally, on May 8, 2009, the Milli Majlis (Parliament) passed an amended Law on Freedom of Religion, signed by the President on May 29, 2009, which could result in additional restrictions to the system of registration for religious groups. In spite of these developments, the Government continued to respect the religious freedom of the majority of citizens, with some notable exceptions for members of religions considered nontraditional.

There was some deterioration in the status of respect for religious freedom by the Government during the reporting period. There were changes to the Constitution that undermined religious freedom. There were mosque closures, and state- and locally sponsored raids on evangelical Protestant religious groups. There were reports of monitoring by federal and local officials as well as harassment and detention of both Islamic and nontraditional Christian groups. There were reports of discrimination against worshippers based on their religious beliefs, largely conducted by local authorities who detained and questioned worshippers without any legal basis and confiscated religious material.

There were sporadic reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice. There was some prejudice against Muslims who converted to other faiths, and there was occasional hostility toward groups that proselytized, particularly evangelical Christians, and other missionary groups.

The U.S. government discusses religious freedom with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S. embassy officers conveyed concerns about the registration process and official attitudes toward &‘nontraditional’ religious groups and expressed objections to the censorship of religious literature.”

The report consists of 4 sections: religious demography, status of Government respect for religious freedom, status of societal respect for religious freedom, U.S. Government policy.

The report also contains the information on religious freedom in Nagorno-Karabakh:

“Forum 18, a Norwegian NGO that reports on religious freedom, reported on January 5, 2009 and May 4, 2009 about the new &‘Religion Law’ enacted by the de facto authorities in Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K), which has historically had a large Armenian majority. The Government of Azerbaijan has no ability to administer its authority in N-K. The &‘law’ came into effect on January 9, 2009. Apparent restrictions include the requirement of 100 members for registration, banning of unregistered religious activity, the requirement for the de facto authorities to approve all religious literature, and proselytizing open only to the Armenian Apostolic Church, which the de facto authorities claim as the &‘official’ church. On March 19, the Armenian Catholic Church became the first and only church registered thus far under the new &‘law.’ (The Armenian Apostolic Church does not have to register.) The U.S. embassy in Baku cannot confirm these reports, and neither can the Government.

Forum 18 reported on May 4, 2009 that Revival Fire Evangelical Church in the breakaway region of N-K was denied registration, the first denial under the N-K de facto authorities' new &‘Religion Law.’ According to the &‘law,’ citizens are not free to share their faith, and in practice proselytizing was often discouraged. The &‘law’ expressly prohibits religious proselytizing by foreigners, and the de facto authorities strictly enforced this. There was an allegation that foreigners were detained while participating in religious services of various denominations and accused of proselytizing. The detention did not result in prosecution. The de facto authorities were concerned about Islamic missionary groups (predominantly Iranian and Sunni Salafi) operating in the region and continued to restrict their activities.

Hostility between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, intensified by the N-K conflict, remained strong. In those areas of the country controlled by ethnic Armenian separatists, all ethnic Azeris have fled, and the mosques that were not destroyed remained inactive. Animosity toward ethnic Armenians elsewhere in the country forced most of them to depart between 1988 and 1990, and all Armenian churches, many of which were damaged in ethnic riots that took place more than a decade ago, remained closed. As a consequence, the estimated 10,000 to 30,000 ethnic Armenians who remained were unable to attend services in their traditional places of worship.”