UZBEKISTAN: Massive fine for having a film of Jesus' life

Uzbekistan has imposed a massive fine on a Protestant for owning a Christian film, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Murat Jalalov was fined - apparently on the instructions of the NSS secret police – after police raided his home. The film and other confiscated materials for analysis by the state Religious Affairs Committee, which said that the film "could be used among local ethnicities for missionary purposes" and was therefore banned. All the confiscated material was ordered to be destroyed. An official of the Committee, asked by Forum 18 what happened to confiscated religious literature ordered to be sent to the Religious Affairs Committee, claimed that "I haven't seen any". Asked whether the Committee itself destroys such literature, as court verdicts often order it to be destroyed, he responded: "We don't destroy religious literature". Such confiscations and destructions – even of texts such as the Bible and Koran - and fines are common. Separately, a man – not a religious believer – has been fined for refusing to reveal his son's whereabouts. The son is being hunted by police for his religious activity. Also, Jehovah's Witnesses have told Forum 18 that more than 100 fines have been levied on their members in 2010.

21 October 2010

TURKMENISTAN: "They didn't even allow him to kiss me"

Turkmenistan has jailed two more prisoners of conscience, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Protestant Pastor Ilmurad Nurliev was today (21 October) jailed for four years and is likely to be sent to the Seydi labour camp where there have been claims of the use of psychotropic [mind-altering] drugs against prisoners. In mid-September a Jehovah's Witness, Ahmet Hudaybergenov, who conscientiously objects to compulsory military service, was sentenced to one and a half years. Pastor Nurliev's wife and fellow-church members strongly deny the authorities' allegations, and are seriously concerned for his health as the court ordered forced treatment for alleged drug addiction. A diabetic, they told Forum 18 he looked "very, very pale and thin" at the trial. Among "witnesses" produced by the authorities was a woman who was in jail on criminal charges when the authorities claimed she gave Pastor Nurliev money. Friends of Nurliev present at the trial told Forum 18 that "it was clear the whole thing was set up". Nurliev was surrounded at the trial by MSS secret police officers, who prevented his wife from coming close to her husband. "They didn't even allow him to kiss me," Maya Nurlieva complained to Forum 18.

19 October 2010

TURKMENISTAN: Why can't all Muslims make haj pilgrimage?

Unlike in 2009, when no pilgrims were allowed to travel, Turkmenistan is allowing a group of pilgrims to take part in the Muslim haj pilgrimage to Mecca in November – but only 188 people. In the past this figure has included members of the MSS secret police, to monitor pilgrims, and it also seems that – as usual - would-be pilgrims will not be allowed to travel separately from the government-approved group. Forum 18 News Service has learnt that at least one would-be independent pilgrim has been denied a Saudi Arabian haj visa, because the individual was not on the Turkmen government list. "In practice the Saudi Arabian Embassy won't give them a visa unless they are on the list approved by the Turkmen authorities. They refuse them on various pretexts," one Ashgabad resident complained to Forum 18. Turkmen officials have often claimed that Turkmen residents are allowed to go on the haj independently of the small government-sponsored group. However, Forum 18 has not found any independent confirmation that this has been allowed by either Turkmenistan or Saudi Arabia.

18 October 2010

TURKMENISTAN: Protestant pastor's trial set for 21 October

Protestant pastor Ilmurad Nurliev is due to begin trial in Turkmenistan on the morning of Thursday 21 October, nearly two months after his arrest, Forum 18 News Service has learned. The criminal trial in Mary is on charges of large-scale swindling, with a penalty of up to five years' jail. His wife and church members vigorously deny the charges, and insist that the five people named as making accusations are not as the indictment claims church members. Three of them only attended the church a few times, and the remaining two are unknown. Other accusations vigorously denied are that Pastor Nurliev is a drug addict in need of treatment; he is a diabetic and – as she has not been allowed to see him – his wife is very concerned about his health. They also refute an allegation that he is unemployed and lives off the earnings of others, as he worked – until his arrest – as a barber. "Up to 20 church members will try to attend – all are ready to speak up to defend my husband," Maya Nurlieva told Forum 18. She has asked the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Centre in Ashgabad to send independent monitors to the trial. The Church has stopped meeting for worship after the arrest.

14 October 2010

KAZAKHSTAN: "Mosques cannot be independent"

Kazakhstan is pressuring independent Muslim communities to join the state-controlled Muslim Board, Forum 18 News Service has found. Asylkhan Nurmagambetov of the state Religious Affairs Committee stated that "mosques cannot be independent. Just like any other religious organisation, because it belongs to a certain confession, it must be subordinated to a religious centre. Mosques also must do this". An official of the Muslim Board claimed that independent mosques "will breed terrorists". However officials were unable to explain what law demanded that mosques join the Board, or what proof there is for their assertions. In one example of pressure, five mosques in Karaganda Region have been for over two years under pressure from – among other state agencies – law- enforcement agencies, the regional Tax Authority, Emergency Service, Sanitary-Epidemiological Service, Architecture Department, Prosecutor's Office, and Land Committee to join the Muslim Board. Among conditions imposed on mosques which join the Board is that they must hand over one third of their income, one imam from a mosque under the Board observing that "mosques which want to remain independent in rural areas across Kazakhstan will not be able to do this". The imams of the five mosques insist that they do not want to join the Muslim Board, despite the state pressure.

4 October 2010

TURKMENISTAN: Amid new sentences, new law fails to introduce alternative civilian service

Two Jehovah's Witness young men were given 18-month prison terms in August for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of religious conscience, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. When the parents of one of them, Dovleyet Byashimov, were able to have a brief meeting with him in prison, they "saw that he had been beaten black and blue," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. The sentences bring to seven the number of imprisoned conscientious objectors, with a further three serving non-custodial sentences. Pirnazar Hudainazarov, Chair of the Mejlis (Parliament) Committee on the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms, confirmed to Forum 18 that the new Law on Military Obligation and Military Service approved by the Mejlis in late September includes no provision for alternative service. But he refused to explain why Turkmenistan fails to offer an alternative in line with its international human rights commitments. Meanwhile, the wife of imprisoned Protestant pastor Ilmurad Nurliev has expressed concern that his case is "at a standstill".

1 October 2010

KAZAKHSTAN: Government "trying to force all foreign religious believers out of the country"?

New visa regulations that came into force in March have caused growing problems for some religious communities to invite foreign citizens for religious work, Forum 18 News Service has found. The new "missionary visa" is valid for a maximum 180 days and is not renewable. "No one wants to spend so much money to move, only to be able to stay in the country for a maximum of six months," Rabbi Elkhonon Cohen of Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Centre of Kazakhstan told Forum 18. "It will be difficult for us to open new synagogues, since it will be very difficult to invite rabbis to lead them." He insists that he and his colleagues are not "missionaries" and are in Kazakhstan "first of all to serve the Jews". After one Catholic priest failed to get a visa for two months, the nuncio spent a week going to the Foreign Ministry before a business visa was granted. Two Ahmadi Muslim imams have been forced to leave after visas were denied. Kazakhstan is "trying to force all foreign religious believers out of the country," one Ahmadi commented to Forum 18. The government's Religious Affairs Committee told Forum 18: "There are no problems with giving missionary visas, you do not need to invent these cases."

30 September 2010

KAZAKHSTAN: Ruling party's "ideological preparation" for harsh new Religion Law?

Human rights defender Ninel Fokina told Forum 18 News Service she believes an internal document from the ruling Nur Otan party attacking "non-traditional" faiths and calling for laws on religion to be harshened is "ideological preparation" for senior officials in the run-up to a new attempt to change the Religion Law. The section of the July document on religion – seen by Forum 18 – attacks groups including the Tabligh Jamaat Islamic movement, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Protestant New Life Church and Grace Protestant Church. It adds that such groups are financed by "the special services of Western countries". The report claims that tens of thousands of people in Kazakhstan are members of such groups "and need help". However, an official of Nur Otan's Institute of Parliamentarianism – which produced the report - insisted to Forum 18 that it was halted before being issued and the section on religion represented only the views of one party researcher who has since been sacked. Forum 18 has been unable to verify his claims.

24 September 2010

TURKMENISTAN: "Women can't study there"

Women are banned from studying theology in Turkmenistan - including Islamic theology, the only permitted religious university subject – an official has told Forum 18 News Service. "Only men are accepted for this course," the State University official – who did not give her name or role – told Forum 18. "Women can't study there." She declined to say why this discrimination against women has been imposed. This is the only university-level institution in Turkmenistan where the government allows any religious faith to be studied, and only Islam is permitted to be studied. It is also the only institution where the government allows young men who want to become imams to be trained. Potential imams are not allowed to study abroad, and only a small number of men (some of whom do not wish to become imams) are allowed to academically study any religious topic. Only the Russian Orthodox Church is permitted to send male and female students abroad for their studies, and the possibilities for all other formal and informal (such as Sunday School) religious education and instruction are extremely severely restricted.

23 September 2010

UZBEKISTAN: Three years in labour camp "not a severe punishment"

Uzbekistan continues to imprison devout Muslims for long terms and devout Christians for short terms, Forum 18 News Service has found. Three-year labour camp terms have been imposed on seven Muslim men, with four others receiving suspended jail terms, for holding unauthorised private religion lessons. The judge in the case, Rahimzhon Aliyev, told Forum 18 that three years in a labour camp is "not a severe punishment". Conditions in labour camps can be particularly harsh, with unsanitary and dangerous living and working conditions, beatings by guards, and criminal gangs having a ruthless hold over other prisoners. Pressed on why courts, including his court, have given severe punishments for unregistered religious activity, Judge Aliyev said that it is "because of Uzbek law". In another case, two Protestants have been given five-day administrative detentions for unregistered religious activity, with two others being fined. The judge in this case, Gulsara Buranova, in 2009 had previously fined one of the defendants. Two South Koreans have also been deported, for alleged "unauthorised missionary activity".

22 September 2010

RUSSIA: Will Russia extradite reader of Muslim theologian to Uzbekistan?

Bobirjon Tukhtamurodov, an Uzbek reader of the works of Muslim theologian Said Nursi, has been arrested in Russia after a request from Uzbekistan, Forum 18 News Service has learned. He fled Uzbekistan after being warned his arrest was likely, after his brother, another reader of Nursi's works, was given a six year jail sentence. A prosecution official told Forum 18 that the extradition decision will be taken by the General Prosecutor's Office in Moscow. Yelena Ryabinina of the Moscow-based Human Rights Institute told Forum 18 that "people are being sought and prosecuted not because of any extremist actions, but because of what they read. The Uzbek authorities regard any religious or political dissidence or independent activity as a threat that must be crushed", she told Forum 18. "There is an international ban on extraditing individuals to countries where torture is practised – and Russia should abide by this. We are ready to take this case as far as the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if we have to," she added.

16 September 2010

UZBEKISTAN: "I was only obeying orders"

Uzbekistan continues to punish unregistered religious activity, as well as imposing controls on notionally permitted Muslim religious activity, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Courts have fined one Baptist and warned a second Baptist, who was a Soviet-era prisoner of conscience, for religious activity. The judge in the case refused to talk about it to Forum 18, but the police officer who led the raid that led to the prosecution told Forum 18 that "I was only obeying orders" from his superiors. Long-term Baptist prisoner of conscience Tohar Haydarov has had an appeal registered at the Supreme Court, but officials will not say when – or if - a hearing will take place. Uzbekistan has also imposed greater restrictions on Muslim religious activity during the month of Ramadan (which this year ended on 9 September) by banning iftar meals in restaurants, greater surveillance of mosques, banning night prayers away from mosques, and cutting water and electricity at prayer times in different places across the country.