Tag: Central Asia

Uzbekistan should ‘protect religious freedom, not see religion as a threat’ – UN Special Rapporteur

October 25, 2017 Uzbekistan Ahmed Shaheed, Bukhara, Censorship, Central Asia, Fergana Valley, Human rights, Khorezm, Soviet Union, Tashkent, USA, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan should invest more time in protecting religious freedom in its ongoing reforms rather than see religion as a threat, a UN expert has concluded after an official visit to the country. “Resilience against religious extremism can be built on strengthening diversity as well as freedom of religion or belief,” . . . Read More

Kazakhstan proposes further restrictions on religion

October 11, 2017 Kazakhstan Censorship, Central Asia, Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Religion Law

The Presidential Palace, the official work place of Kazakhstan's president, in the capital Astana. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Kazakhstan has drafted amendments to its religion laws that will further tighten restrictions on religious freedoms, reports regional news agency Forum 18. The changes focus on the religious freedom of children and parents and could reach parliament for ratification as early as December. The latest October draft states that one . . . Read More

More than 80 countries ‘favour’ one religion over others – Pew Research Center

October 5, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Apostasy, Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Central Asia, China, Comoros, Converts, Cuba, India, Iran, Islamic extremism, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Maldives, Mauritania, Middle East, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Africa, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Over 80 countries favour a specific religion, either officially as a state religion or tacitly through special treatment, according to a new report by the US-based Pew Research Center. Islam is the most common state religion – 27 countries have it as their official religion, including 16 of the 20 . . . Read More

Turkmenistan repressing religious freedom through ‘fines, raids and torture’

October 4, 2017 Turkmenistan Central Asia, Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestants, Religious freedom, Turkmenabad, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Hero statues at Ashgabat Independence Monument. City of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

Fines, raids and police brutality are some of the trademarks of Turkmenistan’s repeated violations of religious freedom, according to the latest report by regional news agency Forum 18. Protestant Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims have all been repeatedly repressed, according to the report, despite the UN reiterating its concerns. “Turkmen . . . Read More

Silence on human rights ‘deafening’ as Turkmenistan hosts Asian Games

September 15, 2017 Turkmenistan Ashgabat, Azerbaijan, Baku, Caucasus, Central Asia, Human rights, Turkmenistan

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) – and by virtue so too the International Olympic Committee – has come under fierce criticism for allowing Turkmenistan to stage the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, beginning this Sunday (17 September) in Ashgabat, while making “no visible efforts to urge the . . . Read More

Kazakhstan church banned for singing songs at summer camp

September 11, 2017 Kazakhstan Almaty, Central Asia, Constitution, Kazakhstan

A policeman is filmed during the Good Friday raid on New Life church in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Photo: Maxim Maximov / YouTube

A church in Kazakhstan has been banned from meeting because its members sang religious songs at a summer camp, reports regional news service Forum 18. The three-month ban – yet to come into force because of an appeal – was imposed on the New Life Protestant Church in Oskemen, eastern . . . Read More

Central Asian mother beaten while pregnant, afraid to lose her child – for being a Christian

September 6, 2017 Central Asia, Divorce, Islamic extremism, Sharia, Women

The narrow room in the old hostel in this Central Asian city is too small for the four women who live there: 23-year-old Sameda*, her mother, sister, and little daughter. Although they are in the capital, their room has no access to water or gas, and the authorities refuse to . . . Read More

Kazakhstan deports missionary for conducting baptisms

August 14, 2017 Kazakhstan Almaty, Baptism, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev

Kazakhstan has ordered the expulsion of a Canadian citizen for conducting “illegal missionary activity” by holding baptisms in hot springs near the country’s commercial capital, Almaty. Hae Taik Kim, a Canadian citizen who leads a church in New York, was also fined 226,900 Tenge (US$680) – about two months’ average . . . Read More

Kyrgyzstan: ‘We will kill you’ sprayed on church wall

August 2, 2017 Kyrgyzstan Central Asia, Converts, Islamic extremism, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Orthodox Church, Soviet Union, Tokmok

A church in the northern Kyrgyzstan city of Tokmok had a death threat sprayed across one of its walls following a night-time robbery last week. Sources told World Watch Monitor that the graffiti was by local Islamic radicals who broke into the church building, damaged furniture and wrote: “We will kill . . . Read More

Trial ‘imminent’ for Tajikistan pastor, on unspecified charges

July 4, 2017 Tajikistan Bakhrom Kholmatov, Baptists, Central Asia, Dushanbe, Khujand, Tajikistan

The trial of Tajik protestant pastor Bakhrom Kholmatov, whose charges have not been revealed by the authorities, “is expected to begin imminently”, according to regional news agency Forum 18. Kholmatov was arrested during a raid on the Good News of Grace Protestant church in the northern city of Khujand on . . . Read More

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