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

24 August 2005 CHINA: WHY CAN'T ALL CHRISTIAN BOOKSHOPS SELL BIBLES? http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=636 The anachronistic official system of publishing, censorship and printing controls fails to meet Chinese Christian publishing needs, Forum 18 News Service has been told. One example of this, amongst others noted by Forum 18, is the severe restrictions on Bible publishing, which right is restricted to the state-controlled Catholic and Protestant religious associations. Despite the considerable achievement of the China Christian Council (CCC) in Bible publishing, continuing rapid church growth has resulted in an ongoing considerable shortage of Bibles and other Christian literature. This is exacerbated by CCC refusal to allow other Chinese publishers to publish Bibles, to the extent of threatening to sue rival publishers, and the astonishing ban on legal Christian bookshops outside the CCC legally selling the Bible. This situation causes both Christian and non-Christian Chinese people to use imaginative ways of bypassing the official system to distribute Christian literature, including Bibles.

23 August 2005 KAZAKHSTAN: ATTEMPTS TO SUPPRESS INDEPENDENT MUSLIMS CONTINUE http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=635 Murat Telibekov, head of the non-state controlled Union of Muslims of Kazakhstan (UMK), is facing a further court case, Forum 18 News Service has learnt, as part of what Telibekov believes are attempts to close down non-state controlled Muslim organisations. Telibekov has made accusations of corruption at the Nur-Mubarak Islamic Cultural University, which is controlled by the Egyptian and Kazakh governments, and the university has launched a legal case against both Telibekov and a Kazakh TV station which interviewed him about his claims. Shamsudin Kerim, vice-rector of the Nur Mubarak University, told Forum 18 that "the UMK is an illegal organisation. It's just a bogus outfit. The only organisation that can represent the interests of Muslims is the [state-controlled] Spiritual Administration of Muslims in Kazakhstan."

24 August 2005 RUSSIA: GROWING OBSTRUCTION TO PROTESTANT CHURCH PROPERTY OWNERSHIP http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=637 Protestant communities wanting to build a place of worship face increasing obstruction from state authorities, they have told Forum 18 News Service. Other religious confessions also encounter such problems. For example, a protracted series of discussions and protests have still not enabled Moscow's Emmanuel Pentecostal Church to either obtain a new construction site or official rights to the land beneath a building it owns. Similar problems have been encountered by Protestant churches elsewhere in Russia. Protestants have often told Forum 18 of their suspicions that local Orthodox clergy are instrumental in blocking Protestant construction plans, through private discussions between state officials and local Orthodox clergy. Unusually, in a letter seen by Forum 18, the Volga city of Saratov refused Word of Life Pentecostal Church permission to put an advertisement on its own outside wall, "on the basis of letter No. 490 dated 19 April 2005 from the Saratov diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church." Protestant communities also often speak of lengthy and energy-consuming battles to retain worship premises they acquire.

25 August 2005 UZBEKISTAN: REPRESSION CONTINUES IN ANDIJAN UPRISING'S AFTERMATH http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=638 Following the Andijan uprising, the unjustified deportation of Forum 18 News Service's Central Asia Correspondent suggests that Tashkent may have, along with an ongoing crackdown on the independent media, tightened its repressive religion policy. One human rights activist told Forum 18 that "the authorities are persecuting Muslims just as much as they did before the events in Andijan." This is denied by the state Religious Affairs Committee. After the uprising, Muslims from throughout the country told Forum 18 that the situation was worsening. Protestants from a number of churches and Jehovah's Witnesses agree with this assessment. Catholic, Orthodox and Hare Krishna representatives have told Forum 18 that they had not noticed any change since the Andijan events. Protestants in north-west Uzbekistan - whose activities in the region are banned - are under great pressure, as are Hare Krishna devotees in that region. * See full article below. *

25 August 2005 UZBEKISTAN: REPRESSION CONTINUES IN ANDIJAN UPRISING'S AFTERMATH

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=638 By Igor Rotar, Central Asia Correspondent, Forum 18 News Service

Following the Andijan uprising, the unjustified deportation of Forum 18 News Service's Central Asia Correspondent from Uzbekistan suggests that Tashkent may have, along with its ongoing crackdown on the independent media, also continued to tighten its repressive religion policy (see F18News 16 August 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=631>). Forum 18 has therefore investigated the current situation of religious believers in Uzbekistan.

In the aftermath of the Andijan uprising, Forum 18 learnt of worsening repression across the country against devout peaceful Muslims, the majority religious community (see F18News 15 June 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=585>). However, Suret Ikramov, an independent human rights activist, told Forum 18 from Tashkent on 23 August that "in general, the authorities are persecuting Muslims just as much as they did before the events in Andijan." Ikramov noted though that "we have recorded some harsher treatment of believers in prison."

Begzot Kadyrov, chief specialist of the Uzbek government's Religious Affairs Committee, categorically denied that religious policy had been tightened since the events in Andijan. "On the contrary, we have been even more considerate towards the needs of Muslims," he told Forum 18 on 23 August. "Today, for example, the number of mosques being allowed to open has risen significantly compared to the period before the events in Andijan," he said.

Protestants from a number of churches have told Forum 18 that they have noticed a tightening up of policy since Andijan. "The authorities have started to keep a more careful eye on our meetings since the events in Andijan. They are tracking our activities more intently than before," Pavel Peichev, head of the Baptist Union of Uzbekistan, told Forum 18 on 23 August.

Members of the Full Gospel Church in the capital Tashkent have frequently faced questions about their church's activities. One member of the congregation was even held for over a month in jail by police. In this instance, the police made that person write a statement saying that they were only detained for three days, the longest length of time someone can legally be detained without being accused of a crime.

Tatyana Nazhafova, assistant to the lawyer for the Full Gospel Church, told Forum 18 on 23 August from Tashkent that "just a few days ago, the police telephoned the pastor of our Uzbek church and warned him that he and other members of the congregation would soon be called in for questioning about the murdered American. Pressure on us has intensified since the Andijan events. The authorities have used the tragic death of an American Protestant woman in Tashkent as a pretext for questioning believers" (see F18News 14 July 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=606>). "That's just the way the authorities are putting pressure on us."

Members of another church in the capital, Bethany Protestant Church, have recently been imprisoned and fined, in an ongoing campaign that the authorities have coducted against the church, which has repeatedly tried to rgister with the autorities (see F18News 17 June 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=588>). Protestants involved in charitable work have also attracted hostile attention from the authorities, the main reason for the harassment seeming to be that they are Protestant (see F18News 19 July 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=610>).

Representatives of the Catholic, Orthodox and Hare Krishna communities, who spoke to Forum 18 on 23 August, said that they had not noticed any change in religious policy since the Andijan events.

The situation of Jehovah's Witnesses continues to be bad. Andrei Shirobokov, a spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses, told Forum 18 on 24 August that "after the Andijan events a number of criminal cases were brought against our believers almost simultaneously. That clearly demonstrates that the authorities have tightened up their policy," Andrei Shirobokov told Forum 18.

On 10 August 2005 a Jehovah's Witness from the town of Prigovor, in the central region of Navoi [Navoli], was found guilty at the Navbokhor district court of committing a crime under Article 229 (2) (breaking the law on teaching religious beliefs) of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to a fine of 50,000 Som (286 Norwegian Kroner, 36 Euros, or 44 US Dollars), Shirobokov told Forum 18.

A criminal case is also currently under way, in the southern town of Karshi [Qarshi], against Feruza Mamatova and Bakhrom Pulatov, who are accused of operating an unregistered religious organisation under Article 216 (2) of the Criminal Code. It is unusual for this article to be used against religious minorities, but previous victims have included both Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostal Christians (see F18News 10 August 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=626>). Mamatova and Pulatov are specifically accused, as members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, of attending a religious meeting on 26 January 2005 and of talking to Uzbek citizens - with their agreement - about religious matters in May and June 2005. Attempting to convert someone to another faith is illegal in Uzbekistan.

Under article 216 (2), repeat offences for illegal religious activity are punishable by a fine of between fifty and hundred times the minimum monthly wage, detention for up to six months or imprisonment for up to three years. Both Pulatov and Mamatova have already been fined for their religious activity, the fines being imposed two days after widespread raids on Jehovah's Witness meetings across Uzbekistan (see F18News 1 April 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=536>).

Unreasonable conditions for the registration of congregations and hence the legal right to meet for worship continue to be imposed on Jehovah's Witnesses. "Both in Navoi and Karshi, the Jehovah's Witnesses are being accused of operating an unregistered religious organisation. But it's effectively impossible to register the Navoi and Karshi Jehovah's Witness communities because each organisation has fewer than the 100 members required for registration," Shirobokov lamented to Forum 18 (see F18News 10 August 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=626>).

Shirobokov also reported that, on 5 August 2005, seven law enforcement officials made an unauthorised search of an apartment belonging to a Tashkent Jehovah's Witness, Nadezhda Miryaeva. The officials seized all of Miryaeva's Jehovah's Witness literature, which is the usual official practice (see F18News 12 July 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=604>).

In the aftermath of the uprising, the authorities have also continued their normal harsh repression of Protestants in Karakalpakstan [Qoraqalpoghiston] in north-west Uzbekistan, where all Protestant activities have been banned. Hare Krishna devotees are also under pressure in this region (see F18News 11 July 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=602>), as well as the usual intensive attempts to hunt down and destroy religious literature (see F18News 12 July 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=604>).

(END)

For a personal commentary by a Muslim scholar, advocating religious freedom for all faiths as the best antidote to Islamic religious extremism in Uzbekistan, see <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=338>

For more background, see Forum 18's Uzbekistan religious freedom survey at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=546>

For an outline of the repression immediately following the Andijan uprising, see F18News 23 May <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=567> and for an outline of what is known about Akramia and the uprising see 16 June <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=586>

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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