FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway http://www.forum18.org/

The right to believe, to worship and witness The right to change one's belief or religion The right to join together and express one's belief

5 July 2004 AZERBAIJAN: POLICE SEIZE IMAM AND THREE OTHERS DURING MOSQUE PRAYERS http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=355 Police forcibly interrupted the prayers of imam Adil Huseinov - a colleague of Juma mosque imam and religious freedom activist Ilgar Ibrahimoglu - and three other Muslims, and detained all four overnight. Muslims consider it to be sacrilegious to interrupt prayers, but the start of prayers was the signal for the police to move in. The police also acted offensively in failing to remove their boots and weapons before entering the mosque, as Islam requires. Imam Ibrahimoglu told Forum 18 News Service that all four were were beaten, threatened and insulted before being released this morning. However police then seized five other community members arriving for prayers this morning (5 July) and are still holding them.

7 July 2004 AZERBAIJAN: TWENTY SEVEN JUMA MOSQUE MEMBERS DETAINED, MANY FINED, FOUR BEATEN http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=357 In the wake of the police swoop on the Juma mosque in Baku's Old City on 30 June, 27 community members were detained and most were fined before being freed, mosque imam Ilgar Ibrahimoglu Allahverdiev told Forum 18 News Service on 7 July. He said four had been beaten in detention. He was particularly offended by the detention and interrogation on 5 July of eleven women, who were then fined. "It is an insult to arrest Muslim women," he complained. The community is still being denied access to the mosque. "We have been deprived of the right to meet collectively in God's house." Baptist pastor Ilya Zenchenko and Adventist pastor Yahya Zavrichko offered their support to the community. "The seizure of the mosque was unjust and a violation of their rights," Zenchenko told Forum 18.

7 July 2004 UZBEKISTAN: "ILLEGAL" BAPTISTS UNDER MORE PRESSURE AS AUTHORITIES TRY TO STOP CHRISTIANITY http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=356 In the latest twist to Uzbek authorities' campaign against Christianity in north-west Uzbekistan, the NSS secret police have interrogated two Baptists, beating one up, and threatening both with imprisonment saying that "we will put you away for years". One secret police officer claimed to Forum 18 News Service that "The Baptists' activity is illegal, and so we simply had a chat with them," and that the Urgench Baptist church is a banned organisation "because its registered status was removed". Another NSS officer, Alisher Khasanov, jeered at Baptist Sharovat Allamova for being a Christian and claimed that "you Protestants rely on Western money, the humanitarian western missions who support you are basically espionage organisations. So you yourselves are agents for foreign intelligence services." Also, the local Khorezm branch of the NSS has questioned Forum 18 about why a Norwegian organisation is interested in a "banned organisation". * See full article below. *

8 July 2004 UZBEKISTAN: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ARRESTED FOR BEING ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISTS http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=358 Six Jehovah's Witnesses have been arrested, having been denounced as "Wahhabis". They were interrogated by several policemen, the most senior of whom was apparently drunk. Of the six Jehovah's Witnesses, who included a 16 year old girl who should not have been held, the men were beaten up and the women and young girl had heavy psychological pressure applied against them, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Begzot Kadyrov, of the government's committee for religious affairs, has told Forum 18 that "The Jehovah's Witnesses are not registered in Bukhara region, and they remain active there despite all our warnings. As long as the Jehovah's Witnesses are not registered at the justice administration for Bukhara region, their conflicts with the police will continue." Jehovah's Witnesses have been denied registration in Uzbekistan. The state, in defiance of the human rights commitments it has freely entered into, routinely punishes unregistered religious activity.

9 July 2004 UZBEKISTAN: STUDENTS TO BE EXPELLED FOR BELONGING TO "BANNED PROTESTANT SECT"? http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=359 Following similar threats in April and May to other Protestant students in Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan in north-western Uzbekistan, three students of Karakalpak University were threatened with expulsion in June. The dean of their faculty, Dina Mamyrbayeva, said the secret police had written to her identifying them as members of a "banned Protestant sect". She warned the three that if they do not stop meeting their fellow Protestants they will be expelled. University rector Kuanyshbai Niyazov refused to confirm or deny the threats, though he told Forum 18 News Service that no students have yet been expelled. On 5 June police and secret police raided the home of another Nukus Protestant, Miyrasa Uralbayeva, warning that if she did not stop preaching Christianity she would have drugs planted on her and be put in prison for years.

7 July 2004 UZBEKISTAN: "ILLEGAL" BAPTISTS UNDER MORE PRESSURE AS AUTHORITIES TRY TO STOP CHRISTIANITY

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=356 By Igor Rotar, Central Asia Correspondent, Forum 18 News Service

Half a year after their church was stripped of its registered status and became "illegal", Baptists are facing renewed pressure in Urgench [Urganch], the central city in Khorezm region of north-western Uzbekistan. A Baptist who preferred not to be named told Forum 18 News Service on 6 July that the secret police, the National Security Service (NSS), interrogated two church members in late June, beating one and threatening both with imprisonment. One secret police officer - who gave his name only as Alisher - admitted to Forum 18 from Urgench on 5 July that Baptists had been summoned to the NSS, but categorically denied that they were beaten or had psychological pressure put on them. "The Baptists' activity is illegal, and so we simply had a chat with them," he claimed. He added that the Urgench Baptist church is a banned organisation "because its registered status was removed".

On 25 June, local Baptist Sharovat Allamova was called in to the Khorezm region NSS headquarters, where the officer who interviewed her, Alisher Khasanov, jeered at her for maintaining her Christian faith. "You Protestants rely on Western money," he told her. "The humanitarian western missions who support you are basically espionage organisations. So you yourselves are agents for foreign intelligence services." He ordered Allamova to say which foreign organisations were in contact with local Baptists, threatening that if she refused he would imprison her under the article of the criminal code that forbids knowingly giving false evidence.

On 26 June, the same Khasanov called in another Baptist, Dilshod Dilbaev, for questioning. Dilbaev was also asked about the Baptists' links with foreigners and about the humanitarian aid they received from abroad. However, Forum 18 has learned that this time Khasanov was more brutal, hitting Dilbaev several times and threatening that if he did not give the required information straightaway they would plant drugs on him. "We will put you away for years," he threatened.

Forum 18's attempt to establish from the Khorezm NSS what had happened yielded an unexpected response. In its telephone call on 5 July, even before Forum 18's correspondent had time to introduce himself an NSS officer asked if he was the journalist Igor Rotar. He said that Khasanov was on leave, but that he was also called Alisher. "There's no need for you to know my surname, but I can answer your questions," he told Forum 18. He questioned why a Norwegian organisation was so interested in a "banned organisation". "We keep track of your visits to Urgench. When do you intend to visit us next?" the NSS officer asked Forum 18's correspondent. "We also know that they intended to complain about us. Please call us next time you come to Urgench."

Forum 18 has learned that a local journalist who helped Forum 18 News Service in Urgench in February was summoned to the NSS in March to be questioned in detail about why a correspondent for a Norwegian organisation was visiting Khorezm region.

Baptists in Urgench began to experience difficulties in February this year, when the justice administration for Khorezm region removed their church's registered status for "the enticement of underage children into religious organisations, and also their religious instruction against their or their parents' will" (see F18News 4 March 2004 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=267 ). Uzbekistan's religion law bans the activity of unregistered religious communities. Moreover, the authorities even judge a discussion between several people about religion to constitute "activity" of a religious community.

Article 3 of Uzbekistan's religion law does indeed forbid "the enticement of underage children into religious organisations, and also their religious instruction against their or their parents' will". However, as Oleg Bader, pastor of the Urgench Baptist church, told Forum 18 in February, work with children was included in the church's statute, which had been registered with the same regional justice administration on 30 December 1999.

Baptists in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, who preferred not to be named, believe that the real reason for the closure of the Urgench church was that the authorities simply do not want Christianity to become widespread in Khorezm region. Currently, there is only one registered Christian community left in Khorezm region - the Korean Protestant church.

For more background, see Forum 18's latest religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=105

A printer-friendly map of Uzbekistan is available at

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=uzbeki (END)

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