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

13 February 2007

CHINA: “RELIGIOUS COMMUNISTS” AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=910

Numbers of religious believers in China are, recent surveys indicate, much greater than previously thought, and a growing percentage of these believers are also Communist Party members, Forum 18 News Service notes. Many Chinese citizens Forum 18 has spoken to – including “religious Communists” – see Party membership just as a matter of gaining material advantages, and religious belief as a “private” matter. This “privatisation” is encouraged by the state’s attempts to stop religious communities becoming a force that can challenge the party-state. Yet freedom to believe is only one part of religious freedom; the freedom to practice religion is also vital. “Privatised” religious belief, operating within state-prescribed legal and administrative boundaries, is highly unlikely to produce the two things the state ostensibly most wants from religious communities – contributions to social welfare reforms and social progress. If China had true religious freedom, religious communities would be able to organise themselves independently, and more able to help with social welfare – and China would definitely be on the path to democracy.

16 February 2007

TURKMENISTAN: FAMILY CONCERNED OVER IMPRISONED FORMER CHIEF MUFTI

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=914 Increasingly concerned about the fate of the imprisoned former Chief Mufti Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah is his extended family, who live in the northern region around Dashoguz [Dashhowuz], Forum 18 News Service has learnt. “We have never once been allowed a meeting, never once have they accepted parcels for him and we don’t even know where he is being held,” one relative complained. No verified information on the whereabouts or state of health of the 59-year-old Nasrullah has been received since he was sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment at a closed trial in Ashgabad in March 2004. Relatives say rumours he was freed at the time of last October’s prisoner amnesty are not true. No officials have been prepared to discuss Nasrullah’s case with Forum 18. Forum 18 knows of no other individuals currently imprisoned for their religious activity.

14 February 2007

UZBEKISTAN: WHERE IS KAZAKH VISITING PASTOR BEING HELD?

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=911

Concern is mounting about where Uzbekistan is holding a visiting Kazakh pastor, Rishat Garifulin, who has not been seen since his arrest by police in Samarkand on 8 February, after Christian literature was found on him. “Now it’s almost a week later and we haven’t heard anything about him or his whereabouts,” Greater Grace sources told Forum 18 News Service. Samarkand police, who arrested Pastor Garifulin, have refused to confirm the arrest to Forum 18. His arrest comes as Pentecostal Pastor Dmitry Shestakov, who is awaiting trial in solitary confinement, is facing increasing attacks in the state-run media. Uzbek authorities are taking greater steps to isolate local religious communities from foreign contacts and have refused visas to and deported foreigners suspected of contacts with local religious communities. Uzbekistan is also continuing to crackdown on foreign religious charities. Christian charity World Vision, which works on HIV/AIDS projects, is the latest target for potential closure. * See full article below. *

15 February 2007

UZBEKISTAN: GOVERNMENT CLOSES ANOTHER JEHOVAH’S WITNESS CONGREGATION

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=912

Jehovah’s Witnesses are deciding whether or not to appeal against a decision to strip legal status from their congregation in Fergana, eastern Uzbekistan, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. The government’s decision means that all Jehovah’s Witness activity in the city is now illegal and subject to harsh penalties. All but one of the more than 30 Jehovah’s Witness communities in Uzbekistan have been persistently refused legal status. An Uzbek-based lawyer told Forum 18 that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have virtually no chance of successfully appealing, as the regional Justice Department simply carries out instructions from the Uzbek government. An official in the Parliamentary Ombudsperson’s Office, Maruf Ushmanov, told Forum 18 that “It is your personal opinion that any registered or unregistered religious communities are being persecuted. We’ve had not one single complaint from religious believers.” But this claim is contradicted by a letter Forum 18 has seen from the Ombudsperson, Sayora Rashidova, in response to complaints about the criminal case launched in 2006 against Pentecostal pastor Dmitry Shestakov, who is now awaiting trial.

16 February 2007

UZBEKISTAN: HOW MANY FORCED CLOSURES OF RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES?

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=913

Uzbekistan tries hard to camouflage its religious freedom violations and one way it does this is through statistics. Comparing February 2007 figures from the state Religious Affairs Committee with October 2002 figures, Forum 18 News Service notes that a net total of six Christian churches are indicated to have lost registration, along with one Jehovah’s Witness, one Hare Krishna and one Baha’i community. The figures cannot be independently verified and conceal denominational differences, with an increase in Russian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic communities disguising loss of legal status of Protestant churches. Religious believers inside Uzbekistan indicate that the reality may be much worse. Some Protestant churches have recently calculated that 38 of their congregations were closed down by the state between 2000 and 2006. Over 100 religious communities of various faiths are thought to have tried unsuccessfully to gain registration. The Religious Affairs Committee asserts that “there there are no restrictions on or hindrances to registration.” Without state registration, all religious activity is illegal and religious believers are subjected to harsh state action.

14 February 2007

UZBEKISTAN: WHERE IS KAZAKH VISITING PASTOR BEING HELD?

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=911 By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>, and Igor Rotar, Central Asia Correspondent, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>

Concern is mounting among members of Uzbekistan’s Greater Grace Protestant Church over a visiting pastor from Kazakhstan who has not been seen since his arrest on the streets of Samarkand [Samarqand] on 8 February, after police found Christian literature on him. Pastor Rishat Garifulin was visiting the Greater Grace congregation near the city when he was arrested. His arrest comes as Pentecostal Pastor Dmitry Shestakov, who is awaiting trial in Andijan [Andijon] for his religious activities, is facing increasing attacks in the state-run media.

Garifulin, who is one of the pastors of the Greater Grace congregation in the Kazakh commercial capital Almaty, was stopped on the street in Samarkand on 8 February and checked by the police. They found a couple of Christian booklets in his bag and arrested him immediately. “We were expecting Rishat to be released after three days as they are accustomed to do,” Greater Grace sources told Forum 18 on 14 February. “Now it’s almost a week later and we haven’t heard anything about him or his whereabouts.”

Reached on 14 February, the Samarkand city police duty officer who answered the phone refused to confirm or deny to Forum 18 that Garifulin had been arrested.

The Samarkand Greater Grace church has permission from local officials to meet for worship in a registered Korean Protestant church in the city, but has repeatedly sought state registration in vain. “Officials have said it will never get registration,” Greater Grace sources told Forum 18. “But we definitely want registration – we have done everything we can, the paperwork is all correct, we have made all the many changes demanded by officials.” Several years ago a church delegation even travelled to the capital Tashkent to visit the Presidential Administration, but that failed to break the registration logjam.

Without such registration the church cannot use its own place of worship, which lies empty. Sources have told Forum 18 that the church does continue to function as, like many Protestant churches, it has “adapted to the situation”.

Meanwhile, as Pentecostal pastor Dmitry Shestakov (also known as David) remains in prison in Andijan awaiting criminal trial for his religious activities (see F18News 8 February 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=909>). Begzot Kadyrov, the chief specialist on non-Islamic faiths at the government’s Religious Affairs Committee in Tashkent, admitted to Forum 18 on 13 February that Shestakov is being held in solitary confinement, but refused to comment on his case. “The only person who can comment is Aziz Obidov, the Press Secretary of the Religious Affairs Committee,” Kadyrov insisted. However, reached on 14 February, Obidov also declined to comment to Forum 18.

In the run up to Shestakov’s trial, the Uzbek authorities have stepped up their attacks on him through the state-run media. On 12 February, the government agency Press-uz.info quoted unnamed officials at the Religious Affairs Committee’s press service describing international coverage of his case as “not objective and inaccurate”. They questioned Shestakov’s position as a pastor. “Earlier he abused alcohol and was dependent on drugs and now he presents himself as pastor David,” the officials claimed.

“The Full Gospel church, to which D. Shestakov belongs, is a registered religious organisation with its centre in Tashkent and branches in various regions of the republic, including Andijan,” the officials also stated. “However, Shestakov is not the leader of any group belonging to the Pentecostal religious organisations which are officially registered in Uzbekistan.”

The state-run media’s encouragement of intolerance against religious minorities has recently been stepped up (see F18News 19 December 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=890>), as has a propaganda offensive to deny that Uzbekistan violates religious freedom (see F18News 19 December 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=891>).

The Religious Affairs Committee insists that law enforcement agencies have discovered an illegal religious organisation of “charismatic Pentecostals” in Andijan, which for several years has been carrying out missionary and proselytising activity among the population and which has turned out to be run by Shestakov. An unnamed official of the Religious Affairs Committee claimed (wrongly) to the website that there are no obstacles to the registration of religious organisations in Uzbekistan (see forthcoming F18news article).

The officials admit that Shestakov was warned in 1997 and 2004 for his “illegal” religious activity. They characterise reports that pressure on Protestants is rising as “unfounded”.

Sergei Nechitailo, president of the Full Gospel church in Uzbekistan, offered his support to Shestakov. “It is true that Shestakov has not been a member of our community,” Nechitailo told Forum 18 on 13 February, “because he belongs to the charismatic tendency in Pentecostalism. But this doesn’t mean we don’t consider him to be a genuine believer. We are praying that Dmitry will be freed!”

Pavel Abramov, the pastor of the church in Andijan where Shestakov has been serving, also said his church is praying for Shestakov. “Dmitry’s only crime is believing in God,” he told Forum 18 on 13 February. “We are praying that our brother will be set free.” Abramov complained that Shestakov is being held in complete isolation. “The only person he’s been allowed to see is his lawyer. We’re glad that the authorities agreed that Shestakov’s case will be handled by a lawyer he chose himself.” He complained that the church still does not know the date of the trial.

Public prosecutors have repeatedly refused to give Forum 18 information about the case against Shestakov since his arrest on 21 January. On 8 February Forum 18 reached the chief public prosecutor of Andijan, Bekmukhadam Akhmedaliev, who initiated the case, but he said he would not provide any information by telephone. “Send your questions to us in writing on your organisation’s official letterhead,” he said, “and then we’ll reply to you.”

On 13 February the German-based independent website Uznews.net quoted unnamed Andijan imams as expressing concern at what they believe are rising numbers of converts to Christianity and welcoming moves against Pentecostal Christians. “These religious missionaries set out their traps and our young people fall into them,” one imam told the website. “We must punish in the harshest way those who poison the minds of our youth.”

The Uzbek authorities are taking greater steps to isolate local religious communities from foreign contacts. Forum 18 has learnt of several foreigners who have visited Uzbekistan in recent years who were refused visas in December 2006 and January 2007, probably because the government suspects them of contacts with local religious communities. This is an ongoing trend (see eg. F18News 21 August 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=833>).

In addition, Forum 18 has learnt that in December 2006 and January 2007, several citizens of other former Soviet republics – who do not need visas to enter Uzbekistan – who have visited the country in recent years, have been detained at Tashkent airport and eventually sent back to the country they came from. It is believed the Uzbek authorities likewise suspect them of links with local religious communities.

One of those deported asked the Uzbek authorities why he was being sent back. They responded: “You tell us the reason.” Some observers have speculated to Forum 18 that the authorities have added many more names to their entry blacklist, based on suspicion of contacts with local religious communities.

Uzbekistan is also continuing its campaign against foreign religious charities engaged in humanitarian relief (see F18News 10 October 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=852>). In the wake of a “planned check-up”, Christian charity World Vision, which works on HIV/AIDS projects in Uzbekistan, has been accused by the Justice Ministry of allegedly holding events without coordinating with the Ministry and of not providing information about charitable spending. Press-uz.info reported on 14 February that the Ministry had given World Vision International 30 days “to settle the issue.” (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=777>.

A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=806>, and of religious intolerance in Central Asia is at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=815>.

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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