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
UZBEKISTAN: Is interrogation and banning activity just "we simply chatted to him as friends"?
Ulugbek Taishmatov, of the Andijan regional Department of Internal Affairs, has denied pressuring Protestant pastor Bakhtier Tuichiev, despite interrogating him daily over four days and banning his church's activity. Taishmatov told Forum 18 News Service that "no-one has been questioning him; we simply chatted to him as friends. We don't have any intention of making trouble for him." Pastor Tuichiev is not reassured, stating that "he didn't talk to me in a friendly way at all. I remain very concerned for my safety." Tuichiev noted that he was questioned personally by Taishmatov from 9 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock in the evening over four days, and that Taishmatov forced him to write a statement that church members would not meet for religious gatherings. Pastor Tuichiev told Forum 18 that "I was afraid that if I did not write it, I would simply be arrested." Under Uzbek law – and against international human rights standards – unregistered religious activity is illegal.
Tuichiev is not reassured by these comments. "Taishmatov was simply trying to conceal the problem from a foreign journalist," the pastor told Forum 18 from Andijan on 14 December. "He didn't talk to me in a friendly way at all. I remain very concerned for my safety."
Andijan is located in Uzbekistan's part of the Fergana [Farghona] Valley and was the centre of an anti-government uprising in May (see F18News 23 May 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=567).
Tuichiev was subjected to the four days' questioning by the regional Department of Internal Affairs. "I arrived for questioning at 9 o'clock in the morning and returned at six o'clock in the evening," he told Forum 18, adding that he was questioned personally by Taishmatov.
The pastor reported that Taishmatov was interested primarily in his contacts overseas, including human rights organisations, and whether he received financial support from abroad. Taishmatov made Tuichiev write a declaration that members of his church would not meet for religious gatherings, because the church is not registered with the Justice Ministry. "I was forced to write that declaration. I was afraid that if I did not write it, I would simply be arrested," Tuichiev told Forum 18. Under Uzbek law – and against international human rights standards – unregistered religious activity is illegal.
Since the Andijan uprising, Uzbek authorities have increasingly attempted to isolate religious communities from international support (see F18News 3 October 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=665). The censorship of international post in Uzbekistan is routine, open and severe (see F18News 14 November 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=687). Controls on access to some websites – especially websites with Muslim content - are also in place (see F18News 19 June 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=86).
Tuichiev has been trying unsuccessfully to register his church with the state since 2002. He maintains that the National Security Service (NSS) secret police has placed him under surveillance, along with other active members of the Protestant community, and claims that NSS officers are trying to stir up residents of his local mahalla (city district) against him.
In 2002, a group of people claiming to be BBC and CNN journalists visited Tuichev, but he subsequently concluded that these were really NSS secret police, as both the BBC and CNN told him by phone that none of their employees had visited him (see F18News 14 March 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=5). (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=546
For an outline of what is known about Akramia and the Andijan uprising see F18News 16 June 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=586
A printer-friendly map of Uzbekistan is available at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=uzbeki
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20 December 2005
UZBEKISTAN: "People are being sentenced for their beliefs"
Judge Alisher Jalilov, who sentenced two Jehovah's Witnesses to several days' detention and fined a further nine under Article 240 of the Administrative Code, has rejected Forum 18 News Service's suggestions that imprisonment is a harsh punishment in these circumstances. Religious believers prosecuted under Article 240 are normally fined, not jailed. Judge Jalilov also claimed that the defendants "did not have any lawyer at all and so I had to choose a defence lawyer myself." Andrei Shirobokov of the Jehovah's Witnesses has categorically rejected Jalilov's claim, stating that the defendants had asked to be represented by a lawyer they had chosen, but Jalilov refused this. "I am not at all surprised that Jalilov has denied the actual facts," Shirobokov told Forum 18. "This is the norm for state officials. They tell you one thing, and tell us completely the opposite." Shirobokov also stated to Forum 18 that "the believers' only 'crime' was that they met to talk about religious matters."
1 December 2005
UZBEKISTAN: Mahalla and Mullah block Jehovah's Witness registration
The latest instance known to Forum 18 News Service of a religious minority being barred from gaining state registration – thus rendering its activity illegal – is a Jehovah's Witness community in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. Following open hostility against the community from the head of the city's Yaksarai district, a subsequent meeting of local residents (the Mahalla committee), presided over by the local Mullah (Islamic clergyman), reversed a decision to allow a Jehovah's Witness congregation to apply for state registration. Under Uzbekistan's complex registration procedure, which institutionalises obstacles to religious minorities, the approval of both the Mahalla committee and the head of the district administration is necessary before a religious community can even apply for state registration from the Ministry of Justice. The Mahalla committees, theoretically independent but in practice under state control, are used to maintain controls over religious believers of all faiths.
21 November 2005
UZBEKISTAN: Increased repression of religious minorities continues
Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses inside Uzbekistan have told Forum 18 News Service of ongoing post-Andijan uprising repression. Mahmud Karabaev, pastor of a Full Gospel Pentecostal church, faces up to three years in prison for "participation in the activity of an illegal religious organisation," following a joint police, NSS secret police and Public Prosecutor's office raid on his home. Latif Jalov of the Public Prosecutor's office refused categorically to confirm or deny to Forum 18 the charges, stating that "there is such a thing as a secret investigation." The church's lawyer, Iskander Najafov, believes the situation for Christians in Uzbekistan has worsened. "Instead of catching terrorists the authorities are persecuting Christians," he complained to Forum 18. Najafov's view of a nationwide crackdown is echoed by Andrei Shirobokov of the Jehovah's Witnesses, who told Forum 18 that the "facts suggest that the state's religious policies have become more severe since the Andijan events."