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
28 August 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Given punishment cell "so he will stay in prison longer"
The prison administration in Akhangaran sent 26-year-old Faryozbek Kobilov to the punishment cell for two days in early August. He was hoping for early release in September. Prison authorities told his parents he now has no chance for early release because he violated the prison regime. "The authorities imprisoned him for no crimes and now they are trying to keep him there for longer." Prisoner of conscience Alimardon Sultonov was sent to a punishment cell for five days in July. The prison Governors refused to explain the punishments.
15 August 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Why can't places of worship reopen?
A secret police officer and religious affairs official visited Abu Zar Mosque in Yangiyul District, saying it would be handed over for business use. "They just came, brazenly told us this and said that no one from the mahalla should get angry," said a Muslim. Officials refuse Bukhara's Baptist Church permission to rebuild its church, which they sealed after water damage in 2021. "Last year at least they were listening to us," Baptists say. "Now some officials tell us directly to our face: Leave my office and get lost!"
13 August 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Who instigated Church demolition?
On 25 April, Judge Nurlubay Akimniyazov ordered the destruction of two buildings under construction belonging to Urgench Council of Churches Baptists. The decision, which against Uzbek law the Baptists have not seen, entered into force on 27 May. Demolition began on 30 July. One of the buildings was intended to be a church. The Judge, regime officials, and state-appointed Muslim clerics have either refused to explain the demolition order or given contradictory explanations, and officials have stated they are "determined to complete the demolition sooner or later".
12 July 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Planned new punishments for parents allowing children's religious education
The regime's non-freely-elected parliament has adopted in the first reading a draft law to allegedly "further strengthen the rights of children". The draft Law would ban and introduce punishments for parents or guardians who allow their children to receive "illegal" religious education before the age of 18. Many of the people the regime rules have expressed strong opposition to the draft Law. The regime is also planning to tighten the existing state censorship with a new Information Code.
26 April 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Regime continues repeated arbitrary blocking of registration
Regime officials have in 2023 and 2024 continued to, as in previous years, repeatedly use a variety of tactics to block state registration applications from Muslim and non-Muslim religious communities. Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims, and Protestants have all experienced blocking of registration attempts, and in a Jehovah's Witness case courts have backed the regime's arbitrary use of its power. "The Religion Law gives the authorities unlimited powers to refuse our registration, to our regret," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. Unregistered Protestant communities have also come under police and SSS secret police pressure, including attempts to recruit informers.
1 March 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Large fines for sharing beliefs with permission
The regime has resumed fining people who share their faith with others. A Tashkent court fined Jehovah's Witness Nadezhda Manatskova two weeks' average wages in October 2023. The same court fined Elnora Maksutova 8 months' average wages and Marina Penkova over 5 and a half months' average wages in February 2024. In the previous last known case, a Protestant was fined in January 2019. "Members of this community are telling people to join their religion, and this cannot be accepted," says the police officer who questioned Manatskova.
26 January 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Muslim prayer rooms closed, Bukhara Baptists unable to meet
The regime has blocked Bukhara's registered Baptist Union Church from meeting since May 2021, but it hopes to be given a new building in 2024. "When we tried to rent other places to meet, we were refused," Baptists said. The Interior Ministry has closed public Muslim prayer rooms nationwide, using excuses such as escaped prisoners may use them. An Interior Ministry official could not explain to Forum 18 how Muslims who want to pray the five-times-a-day namaz prayers can pray if they are in public places.
6 October 2023
UZBEKISTAN: New punishments "correspond to international standards"?
Senator Batyr Matmuratov would not say why Criminal and Administrative Code amendments to increase punishments related to exercising freedom of religion or belief, adopted by both chambers of parliament in September, were not first published for public comment. He falsely claimed that all laws "correspond to international standards". Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov reportedly warned state officials not to attend mosque, though his spokesperson denied this. From the summer, police resumed detentions on the street of Muslim women wearing religious clothes, including the hijab and niqab, and men growing beards.
26 May 2023
UZBEKISTAN: Devout Muslim jailed after return to country
Prisoner of conscience and devout Muslim, 52-year-old Alijon Mirganiyev has been transferred to a strict regime prison to serve a 6 and a half year sentence imposed after he returned to Uzbekistan from Turkey. He was promised he would not be arrested if he returned to end criminal charges brought against him for his exercise of freedom of religion and belief, but was arrested on arrival at Tashkent Airport. "This is one of the numerous fabricated cases made against influential Muslims," says human rights defender Yelena Urlayeva.
13 April 2023
UZBEKISTAN: 15-day jail for haram yoghurt videos
Hojiakbar Nosirov, a 25-year-old consumer rights activist from Tashkent, posted a video on social media on 5 April declaring that the red colouring agent carmine he had found in locally-sold yoghurt is haram (forbidden) for Muslims. Police investigated and commissioned an "expert analysis" from the regime's Religious Affairs Committee that claimed Nosirov had expressed "enmity, intolerance or discord". A 3-minute closed online trial jailed him for 15 days. "The experts quickly conducted a literary examination, wrote down the conclusion and decided the fate of an individual", his lawyer complained.
11 April 2023
UZBEKISTAN: Easter church raid, Baptists tortured, prison Ramadan fast ban
Police raided the Baptist Church in Karshi during worship on Easter Sunday, 9 April. They "damaged the door of the prayer house, behaved crudely, and arrested three church members", Baptists said. Police "brutally beat David Ibragimov and a few more church members in front of our fellow believers" and "used electric shock prods and other implements to incapacitate" church members. Police refused to explain why they raided the church and tortured church members. Open Prison No. 49 in Olmalyk banned prisoners from fasting during Ramadan, threatening those that do.
15 September 2022
UZBEKISTAN: "Go on dreaming!" prison governor replies to tortured prisoner of conscience's medical need
Prisoner of conscience Fazilkhoja Arifkhojayev is being forced to do work he cannot medically do, damaging his spine even more. He has been repeatedly tortured, and when the family asked Prison Governor Oybek Tishayev personally whether they could arrange medical care at their own cost, or as required by the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules) the prison could arrange the necessary specialist medical care. Tishayev replied: "Go on dreaming!"