Lawmakers in Kazakhstan have voted for controversial legislation that Christians and rights activists say will further limit religious freedom in the mainly Muslim Central Asian state.
...continue reading this storyPolice who raided a Protestant family's home in Fergana also assaulted the husband as they confiscated a Bible, an Uzbek New Testament, the Proverbs of Solomon and a Koran.
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Although the Law on Parental Responsibility for the Education and Upbringing of Children has recently been enacted, Religious Affairs officials haven't explained how the ban on children's participation in worship will be enforced.
The Tajikistan Parliament recently adopted two new laws that could ban children from participating in religious activities.
Rights activists and religious groups in Armenia say new legislation will increase intolerance towards the country's evangelical Christians and other minorities, some of whom already face prosecution for their church activities.
...continue reading this storyPastor Yerzhan Ushanov of New Life Protestant Church in Taraz is looking at two years' imprisonment if criminal charges for injuring an individual's health ever come to court, Christian rights investigators said.
...continue reading this storyAt least four incidents of Christian persecution were reported from the former Soviet country of Uzbekistan this week. According to an analysis and report researched and written by Fernando Perez for the World Evangelical Alliance – Religious Liberty Commission, a Christian woman was beaten into concussion, another woman was fined $1,465 by a court for giving the New Testament to a child, a Christian man was threatened with axe attack by a police official and another man was assaulted by police.
...continue reading this storyBeing a Christian in Uzbekistan can be costly. Just ask Galina Shemetova who was ordered to pay a fine of 2,486,750 som, 50 times the minimum monthly pay for giving a colleague a children's Bible. This amounts to $60,320US, four times the yearly pre-tax salary of a 40 hour-a-week minimum wage earner. Miss Shemetova not only had to pay the fine, but she was also beaten physically by police, a fact known by the Tashkent Court of Appeals.
...continue reading this storyUzbekistan continues to persecute Christians exercising their religious rights. Recently a Christian in eastern Uzbekistan was beaten by police, another was threatened with death by an axe while a Baptist congregation was promised prison for failure to co-operate in a pre-trial investigation of their pastor.
...continue reading this storyKazakh Christians gathering without government approval were expected to face more punishments after officials said Kazakhstan's long-time President Nursultan Nazarbayev won Sunday's presidential poll.
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