European Court of Human Rights Finds Turkey Interfered with Freedom of Religion

Country: Turkey

Date of incident: May 24, 2016


The case concerned the inability of Mersin and Izmir Jehovah's Witnesses in Turkey to obtain an appropriate place to engage in worship due to restrictive laws. The ECtHR held that such restrictions amounted to a direct interference with their freedom of religion.

The Court held that there had been a violation of Article 9 (right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Source: Association for Solidarity with Jehovah Witnesses and Others v. Turkey