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
30 June 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Six jailed for sharing faith
Six months after arrest, six Sunni Muslims were jailed in Atyrau for between two and three years for sharing their faith, with post-prison bans on religious activity. Their bank accounts are likely to be frozen. They are among 18 known criminal convictions in 2017.
21 June 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Secret trial after six months' imprisonment
At a closed trial in Atyrau in a secret police-initiated case, with the lawyers sworn to secrecy, six Sunni Muslims face possible years of imprisonment for talking to others of their faith. Jehovah's Witness cancer sufferer Teymur Akhmedov failed to overturn his five-year prison term.
15 June 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Five years' jail for Islamic talks
Sunni Muslim Nariman Seytzhanov was given five years' jail for "inciting religious discord" by talking about schools of Islam to Kazakh pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. Satymzhan Azatov's trial on similar charges continues in Astana on 21 June. Five years' suspended sentence handed down in Almaty.
8 June 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Fingerprints, mugshots, fines follow worship raid
After one of many recent raids on Baptist Sunday meetings for worship in Taraz, police took 21 people present to the police station. Claiming they were looking for criminals, officers fingerprinted and photographed them and took addresses and personal data. Police issued summary fines.
22 May 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: "Anti-extremism" raid captures Koran
An "anti-extremism" raid on a Kokshetau shop captured a Koran and other Muslim books. The seller was fined for selling religious materials without state permission. She will have to appeal if she wants to regain the books. Icon and book sellers are often fined.
3 May 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Five years jail, three year ban
Jehovah's Witness prisoner of conscience, pensioner and cancer-sufferer Teymur Akhmedov was jailed in Astana on 2 May for five years and banned for a further three years from conducting "ideological/preaching activity". He denied KNB secret police charges of "inciting religious discord" and will appeal.
25 April 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Fined for Easter worship
Police fined four Baptists for leading Easter worship meetings in Temirtau and Taraz. Council of Churches Baptists speak of a "new wave" of raids. An Almaty court fined a Protestant church and banned all its activity for three months, and ordered a foreigner deported.
18 April 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Islamic study in Saudi Arabia a crime?
Of five Kazakh Sunni Muslims facing criminal prosecution after studying their faith in Saudi Arabia, one has already been sentenced, two face imminent trial and two remain in pre-trial detention. The trial of Nariman Seytzhanov is due to begin in Kokshetau on 25 April.
11 April 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Eight Muslim prisoners of conscience sentenced
Kuanysh Bashpayev was jailed for four and a half years at a closed trial in Pavlodar for "inciting religious hatred" for speaking about Islam. Seven Muslims were jailed in South Kazakhstan for up to four years for alleged membership of Tabligh Jamaat missionary movement.
3 April 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Lawyers now face trial for defending client
The two lawyers for a Jehovah's Witness now on trial in Astana are themselves under criminal investigation. The KNB secret police investigator accuses them of "revealing information from a pre-trial investigation" by appealing to President Nazarbayev for the case against their client to be halted.
28 March 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Fined for praying "Amen" in mosque
The state is prosecuting and fining Muslims for saying the word "Amen" aloud in mosques, after November 2016 Muslim Board behaviour regulations were imposed. Also, moves have begun in one region for the state-backed Muslim Board to seize mosque building ownership.
7 March 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: Article 174 cases increase, Cancer sufferer tortured
Jehovah's Witness Asaf Guliyev was given five years' restricted freedom on 24 February. Fellow Jehovah's Witness Teymur Akhmedov, a cancer sufferer, is in pre-trial detention and states he was tortured. Guliyev's conviction is one of an increasing number of Criminal Code Article 174 cases.