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 January 2018
KYRGYZSTAN: Church arson follows long-standing government failures
On 2 January the Baptist Church in the north-eastern town of Kaji-Sai was burnt out in an arson attack. Baptists think this happened because nothing was done to punish the perpetrators of previous threats and attacks. Police claim to be trying to solve the crime, but are also investigating the victims.
12 January 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Six await trial; cancer sufferer not freed
Three of six Muslims arrested in October 2017 have had pre-trial detention extended for two more months. All six face up to two years' imprisonment if convicted of involvement in missionary movement Tabligh Jamaat. A second United Nations body has called for Jehovah's Witness prisoner of conscience, cancer-sufferer Teymur Akhmedov to be freed.
19 December 2017
RUSSIA: Property sell-offs, alternative service denials follow Jehovah's Witness ban
Following the Supreme Court ban on all Jehovah's Witness activity – in force since July - Regional Justice Ministry branches are preparing to sell off their confiscated property. Military call-up offices have denied several army conscripts the option of alternative civilian service. Jehovah's Witnesses experience increased state harassment, plus vandalism and violence.
18 December 2017
AZERBAIJAN: Four state agencies raid religious communities
Alongside police, secret police and State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, a growing role in raids on religious communities and prosecutions seems to be played by Religious Affairs Commissions attached to local administrations. Fines of three months' average wages often follow raids.
15 December 2017
AZERBAIJAN: Fines follow police raids on worship
Azerbaijan continues to raid religious communities meeting without state permission, and large fines are normally then imposed. After one such raid an Aliabad Baptist has been told he must pay a fine of over three months average salary by the end of 2017.
13 December 2017
UZBEKISTAN: No books allowed, Bible ordered destroyed
Uzbekistan still searches homes and fines people for meeting and having religious literature, claiming in one case to look for a gun. After one person admitted to reading Christian books at home, their home was raided and Bible confiscated. Elsewhere, a Bible was destroyed.
11 December 2017
RUSSIA: Falsified "evidence" helped convictions?
Apparently falsified testimonies may have helped jail two Russian Muslim prisoners of conscience, Forum 18 has been told. A representative of publishers who formerly published Russian translations of theologian Said Nursi's works has, without success, appealed to the General Prosecutor's Office to investigate.
8 December 2017
RUSSIA: Three more Muslim prisoners of conscience
Three Muslim prisoners of conscience have been jailed, one for four years for organising meetings to study Said Nursi's works, and the other two for three years each. A Danish Jehovah's Witness prisoner of conscience has had his Russian detention extended.
6 December 2017
BELARUS: Tortured, fined for offering religious literature
The court in Lepel has repeatedly fined local Baptists since mid-October for singing and offering Christian books to passers-by near the town market. After detaining two church members, police injured the face of one and put handcuffs so tightly on another that his hands went numb. Their complaint is with the Investigative Committee.
5 December 2017
TAJIKISTAN: "Mistakes", but prisoner of conscience remains jailed
Despite "mistakes" in the verdict jailing Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector Daniil Islamov for six months, the Supreme Court failed to overturn it. Jailed Protestant Pastor Bakhrom Kholmatov has chosen not to appeal further. Police and secret police raided a Protestant church's worship and fined a church member.
4 December 2017
TAJIKISTAN: Nine long jail terms – for what?
At least nine Muslim men – including an imam and a well-known heart surgeon - are known to have been jailed as prisoners of conscience since August in the northern Sugd Region in three separate cases. All received five years or more jail terms. Officials refused to explain what they had done wrong.
29 November 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Compulsory re-registration if restrictions become law
Amending Law imposing new restrictions on freedom of religion or belief is now with Prime Minister. If adopted, it will require re-registration of almost all religious communities, and impose new restrictions on and punishments for religious education, sharing beliefs, censorship of literature and (for state officials) participating in worship.