A/56/253 Annex Late responses and additional information* A. Late responses Azerbaijan 1. In response to a communication from the Special Rapporteur (para. 17), Azerbaijan, apart from a reminder of its role in the field of human rights and a brief description of the situation of religious organizations, stated: “It should be recalled that, in accordance with the law, in 1999, the Passports Department of the Ministry of the Interior refused to issue a domestic passport to a group of women wishing to wear the hijab on the identification card photo to be affixed to these documents. “By a decision of 23 June 1999, the Nassimi district court in the town of Baku declared that the complaint filed by this group, composed of eight women, was admissible. It ordered the Passports Department to issue them passports with photographs in which the parties concerned were wearing the hijab. “By a decision of 10 August 1999, the Civil Chamber of the Court of the town of Baku rejected the appeal filed by the procurator who participated in the investigation of the case. “Since the Vice-President of the Supreme Court of the Azerbaijani Republic filed an appeal, the civil chamber of the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the Nassimi district court and the decision of the civil chamber of the Court of Baku and dismissed the complaint by the group of women against the Passports Department of the Ministry of the Interior. “Thus, by decision of the Supreme Court on 22 September 1999, the above court decisions were invalidated and the petition was dismissed on the grounds that, pursuant to the decree applying the law of the Azerbaijani Republic concerning departure from and entry into the country as well as passports, citizens must present standard-format identification photographs to the relevant organs of the Ministry of the Interior of their place of residence, printed from a single negative, in which they are shown face forward, head uncovered and with the same physiognomy and the same accessories as those of their daily life (such as glasses, beard or moustache). “This decision was confirmed by the legislative and legal affairs service of the Executive Office of the President of the Azerbaijani Republic in its letter of 16 August 1999. “The Supreme Court so informed the President of the National Committee of the Assembly of the Citizens of Helsinki, Ms. Arzou Abdoullaïeva, in a letter of 30 June 2000. * The information provided in the present annex follows on from that included in the report of the Special Rapporteur of 13 February 2001 to the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2001/63). The paragraph numbers in parentheses refer to that report. 47