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

12 August 2004 AZERBAIJAN: AS ARRESTS CONTINUE, MUSLIMS FAIL TO REGAIN THEIR MOSQUE http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=393 On 11 August, the same day that the Supreme Court rejected the appeal by Baku's Juma Mosque community to overturn last March's eviction order, a court sentenced community member Azad Narimanoglu Isayev to seven days' detention for "resisting the police". The community's imam Ilgar Ibrahimoglu Allahverdiev told Forum 18 News Service that 83 mosque members have now been summoned to the police under various pretexts since the community was forcibly evicted from the mosque on 30 June. Human rights activist Saadat Bananyarli condemned the Supreme Court verdict. "The verdict is not legitimate because the judges are not independent," she told Forum 18.

9 August 2004 RUSSIA: URALS PROTESTANTS KEPT OUT OF SIGHT? http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=389 Urals region Protestants sometimes encounter local state obstruction of evangelism, along with local state support of the Orthodox, but one local pastor told Forum 18 News Service that local authorities are, in the cases of Protestants who own their own buildings, "happy for us to do what we like in our own buildings." Local personal relationships have a key influence on the religious freedom situation, pastors in two areas telling Forum 18 that building and keeping church property was helped by their having good personal relationships with the authorities. Although local Orthodox opposition to local Protestants is strong, leading to media attacks, and in some cases physical attacks, one local commentator told Forum 18 that, "when people started to see the so-called 'sects' being helpful, their [negative] media image began to break down." Local Protestants have also found that negative campaigning by Orthodox has backfired, leading to the Orthodox gaining a negative public image.

9 August 2004 TURKMENISTAN: WHY REGISTER WHEN PERSECUTION CONTINUES? http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=390 Despite gaining state registration under the much-trumpeted "liberalisation" of the religion law, secret police raids and threats against a Baptist congregation in Turkmenistan have not stopped, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Last Wednesday (4 August), NSM secret police raided a meeting for prayer and bible study, arrested participants for three hours, confiscated bibles and hymn books, and threatened a "big problem" if meetings continued. Another state registered community, the Hare Krishnas, have been told by state officials that they do not know whether the community should be allowed to operate. A wide range of religious communities have either been unsuccessful with registration applications, or do not want to apply because of the harsh controls they would be subjected to. Asked about making a registration application, one Jehovah's Witness said to Forum 18 "Why should we when persecution continues?"

11 August 2004 TURKMENISTAN: FINDING NEMO, HUNTING ADVENTISTS http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=392 Just three days after a Baptist service in a private home was raided in Abadan, across the country in Turkmenabad [Chärjew] police raided an Adventist home on 7 August. The family's children and guests were watching a video of Finding Nemo, but police confiscated all the literature they could find, confiscated the owners' identity documents and pressured the husband to sign a statement that an "illegal" religious service was underway. The Adventist pastor in the capital Ashgabad has complained that his congregation cannot hold public worship as it cannot rent premises for worship, despite having state registration. "All hall managers turn us down as soon as they learn that we are looking for premises for a Church," Pastor Pavel Fedotov told Forum 18 News Service. "Even though we have registration we can't do anything." * See full article below. *

10 August 2004 UZBEKISTAN: POLICE KNEW SEARCH RESULTS BEFORE THEY SEARCHED http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=391 In the latest series of trials of Muslims, apparently simply because they are devout Muslims, ten men have been sentenced to jail terms of between 10 and 12 years, a local human rights activist has told Forum 18 News Service. All ten have denied the criminal charges made and claim that evidence was planted on them. Forum 18 has been told that that the wife of one of those arrested, Mukudas Yusupova, was mistakenly given by police a document showing the results of the search before the search had been conducted. Neither lawyers for the accused, nor human rights activists, nor journalists, were allowed into the court to hear the sentence, and police officers beat up protestors calling for journalists, human rights activists and lawyers to be allowed into the court.

11 August 2004 TURKMENISTAN: FINDING NEMO, HUNTING ADVENTISTS

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=392 By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service

Nine children were watching a video of the animated film Finding Nemo when police raided the home of an Adventist family in the eastern city of Turkmenabad [Chärjew] on 7 August. "Without showing any warrant they immediately began confiscating all the literature they could find," a Protestant who preferred not to be identified told Forum 18 News Service. Police then put pressure on the owners to admit an "illegal" religious service was underway. Meanwhile in the capital Ashgabad, the Adventists - who once again have state registration as a religious community - cannot rent premises for services to replace their church, demolished by the authorities in November 1999. "Although we have official registration, we see no real change so far," the church's pastor Pavel Fedotov told Forum 18 from Ashgabad on 10 August. "We cannot hold public worship as we cannot find anywhere to hold it."

The raid in Turmenabad came three days after a raid on a Baptist home in Abadan (formerly Bezmein) near Ashgabad, where a prayer and Bible reading service was underway (see F18News 9 August 2004 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=390 ). Like the Adventists, the Baptists also once again have state registration, but this did not protect them from the raid and a warning never to meet again.

Yet the Adventist family in Turkmenabad were simply relaxing at home when the police raided their home. "The family's five children were there together with children of the neighbours, and the mother was in the kitchen preparing supper," the Protestant told Forum 18. "No service was underway at that time." As well as all books, compact discs were also seized. The police took the owners of the flat to the police station, where they forced them to write statements and confiscated their identity documents (internal passports). Neither the identity documents nor the confiscated books and compact discs have yet been returned.

Police pressured the husband to sign a statement that an "illegal" religious service was in progress when the police arrived. He showed them a copy of the Adventists' registration documents, which show that the Church has registered status in the whole of the country.

Since the Church received registration again on 1 June for the first time since 1997, the Ashgabad congregation has sought somewhere to meet in vain. "All hall managers turn us down as soon as they learn that we are looking for premises for a Church," Pastor Fedotov told Forum 18. "We appealed to the authorities to help us find premises to rent but they refused. The hyakimlik [local administration] refused to talk to us, declaring that all communication should be through the government's Gengeshi [Council] for religious affairs."

Forum 18 tried to contact officials at the Gengeshi on 11 August to find out why religious communities - even those with registration - cannot rent public buildings for religious services, but all the telephones went unanswered. No official of the registration department of the Justice Ministry was prepared to talk to Forum 18 on 11 August.

"Even though we have registration we can't do anything," Pastor Fedotov told Forum 18. "We have got the impression that no officials consider us to be an independent legal entity."

For more background, see Forum 18's Turkmenistan religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=296

A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at

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

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