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
19 December 2018
TAJIKISTAN: Killed prisoners denied Muslim funerals
Around 50 prisoners killed in suppressing a Khujand Labour Camp riot were denied religious funerals. Officials banned washing of bodies or any Islamic prayers. Sugd Police Deputy Head claimed statements that families were not allowed to bury their dead according to Muslim rites were untrue. "Whoever says that is lying!"
18 December 2018
TAJIKISTAN: Arrest not pardon follows "repentance"
Secret police arrested Mukhtadi Abdulkodyrov for being a Salafi Muslim, two days after his return to Tajikistan from Saudi Arabia. He had written a letter of "repentance". Police opened a criminal case against Jehovah's Witness Mujibahon Isanova for complaining about a teacher's bullying of her eight-year-old son.
12 December 2018
BELARUS: Fined for singing, offering religious literature
Police stopped a Baptist husband and wife from singing and offering Christian literature outside Lepel's market. "We were detained like criminals and brought to the police station," Andrei Fokin stated. A court fined the couple one month's average wages each. Bailiffs are seeking to confiscate property and ban him from driving.
11 December 2018
BELARUS: Order not to register new religious communities?
"We want to comply with the law and gather for religious meetings without fear of raids, fines or detentions," says Pastor Vyacheslav Novakovsky of Your Will Be Done Church. A Minsk official involved in the four registration rejections since 2017 told him of "an order from superiors not to register any new communities". She refused to explain this to Forum 18.
7 December 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Second long jailing for online Islamic talks
A court jailed 28-year-old father of one Dadash Mazhenov for over seven years for posting Islamic talks online, the second jailing by the same court. The secret police claimed the talks promoted terrorism, which both men reject. The judge sought to have Mazhenov's lawyer punished for "correctly defending the interests of his client".
5 December 2018
UZBEKISTAN: "Illegal Christian Wahhabi activity"
Police raided Protestants enjoying a meal, searching the home without a warrant, confiscating a New Testament. Officials tried to pressure one guest to accuse the host and the pastor of holding "unauthorised religious meetings", threatening to take her two children and ordering her mother-in-law to beat her.
29 November 2018
UZBEKISTAN: Military raids Baptists, Church ordered closed
For the first time Uzbekistan's military has raided Tashkent Baptists meeting for worship. Asked why the military were involved, officials said "it is a special operation". Police threatened Baptists they "will come every Sunday and disrupt the Church service every time until we give up and stop our activity".
28 November 2018
CRIMEA: Up to 10 years' jail for Muslims, Jehovah's Witness?
In "extremism" criminal cases opened by Russia's FSB in occupied Crimea, four Muslims face imminent trial, while Jehovah's Witness Sergei Filatov is under investigation. They face up to 10 years' jail. The Muslims "simply gathered in the local mosque to discuss religious questions", a lawyer stated. "We simply ask the authorities to respect our rights to meet together and read the Bible," Filatov told Forum 18.
23 November 2018
UZBEKISTAN: Raids, large fines, torturers and thieves unpunished
After a 19 November raid, Protestants are threatened with prosecution for having legally-bought religious literature. Officials who in September tortured Protestants and thieves who stole property from them remain unpunished. And 16 male police officers together "humiliated and pressured" a 19-year-old female Jehovah's Witness.
12 November 2018
KYRGYZSTAN: "The attackers are in freedom"
After an attack on a young Protestant leaving him seriously hospitalised, members of many religious communities have anonymously expressed concern at attacks and the impunity the authorities appear to give attackers. "Eldos is in hospital, and the attackers are in freedom", his lawyer commented.
7 November 2018
AZERBAIJAN: Religious freedom survey, November 2018
Azerbaijan restricts freedom of religion and belief, with interlinked freedoms of expression, association, and assembly. Forum 18's survey analyses violations including prisoners of conscience jailed and tortured for exercising freedom of religion and belief, strict state literature censorship, and regime claims of its "tolerance".
2 November 2018
DONBAS: Donetsk: Jehovah's Witnesses banned
The Supreme Court of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic banned Jehovah's Witnesses on 26 September, a decision that cannot be challenged. Jehovah's Witness activity "in any form" would face criminal punishment, the General Prosecutor's Office announced. Convictions could lead to a maximum eight-year jail term.