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
17 October 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Ten years jail if Germany extradites Muslim?
Murat Bakrayev has not been in his native Kazakhstan since 2005, but Kazakhstan now wants his extradition from Germany on terrorism-related accusations. Family and friends say he is being detained and his extradition sought for refusing to join Kazakh state-controlled mosques and teaching Islam.
28 September 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Senate approves more religious freedom restrictions
Parliament's upper house adopted almost unchanged wide-ranging amendments to Kazakhstan's Religion Law and 10 other laws in both first and second readings on 27 September. The Amending Law – described by one Muslim as "extremely harsh" – returns to the lower house, the Majilis, before final adoption.
25 September 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Senate to adopt "extremely harsh" religion amendments?
Parliament's upper house is due to hold its first and possibly also second reading on 27 September of wide-ranging amendments to Kazakhstan's Religion Law and other laws. "This draft Law is extremely harsh, harms the rights of believers and should not be adopted in its current form," a Muslim told Forum 18.
4 September 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Religious freedom survey, September 2018
Kazakhstan restricts freedom of religion and belief, along with interlinked freedoms of expression, association, and assembly. Forum 18's survey analyses violations including increasing numbers of prisoners jailed for exercising freedom of religion and belief, with increasing types of "offences", prosecution numbers, and fine levels.
22 August 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Raid, fines to punish Koran teaching
On 3 September, Jambyl Regional Court is due to hear appeals by husband and wife Aidar Kharsanov and Zarina Manu against combined fines of more than four months' average wages. Police raided their home while they were teaching Koran to school-age girls and a lower court fined them.
26 July 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Restricted freedom, community service for religious meetings
A judge in Aktobe Region punished seven Muslims with restricted freedom sentences of one to three years for holding religious meetings. Four were also given 120 hours' community service. A court has awarded compensation to atheist writer Aleksandr Kharlamov who was held for six months during a nearly six-year criminal investigation.
4 July 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: 79 known administrative prosecutions in six months
Of 79 known administrative prosecutions in the first half of 2018 for exercising freedom of religion or belief, 61 ended with fines of up to four months' average wages. A quarter of those punished also received three-month bans on activity. Meeting for worship, offering religious literature and sharing faith without state permission triggered such punishments.
5 June 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Restrictive legal amendments reach Senate
Wide-ranging amendments to Kazakhstan's Religion Law and 11 other laws that seem set to increase still further the already tight restrictions on freedom of religion or belief begin consideration in Parliament's upper house. Working Group chair Sergei Ershov was unable to say if he would send the draft Law for an OSCE review.
30 May 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Legal amendments - no text, no OSCE review
Kazakhstan's Human Rights Ombudsperson called on 2 May for the parliamentary Working Group considering the wide-ranging amendments to the Religion Law and other laws to send them for an OSCE legal review. The Working Group head rejected this. The amendments, now adopted by the lower house, are likely to reach the Senate soon, but the public has no access to the text.
22 May 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: 40 months, 65 criminal convictions
Three Muslims who drank tea, prayed and discussed their faith have failed to overturn their three-year jail terms on appeal. The men's bank accounts are likely now to be blocked and they owe a large sum in court fees. Their jailing means 65 alleged Tabligh Jamaat members have been convicted since 2015.
18 May 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Why were prisoner's conditions made harsher?
After prisoner of conscience Imam Abdukhalil Abduzhabbarov's transfer to a harsher prison he is held in solitary confinement with one short daily exercise period, and can have only two two-hour meetings with relatives a year. He is only occasionally allowed to read the Koran.
20 April 2018
KAZAKHSTAN: Parents challenge schoolgirl headscarf ban
Kazakhstan's national schoolgirl headscarf ban is being legally challenged by a group of Muslim parents, whose daughters have been banned from school for wearing a headscarf. In their interpretation of Islam, they argue, wearing a headscarf is compulsory. Officials deny a headscarf problem exists.