UZBEKISTAN: Government clamps down on religious freedom
Pastor Dale Morgan
UZBEKISTAN: Government clamps down on religious freedom*
06 Sep 2006 15:37:41 GMT
Source: IRIN
ANKARA, 6 September (IRIN) - Uzbekistan is clamping down on religious
groups, with congregations closed, harsh penalties for unregistered
religious activity and activists deported, Forum 18, a religious freedom
watchdog, says.
Felix Corley, Forum 18's editor, said from London on Wednesday that the
situation had been bad since 1998 - when Uzbekistan's religious laws
were changed - but it had got "far worse" in the past year.
Forum 18 is a Norwegian-based organisation that promotes the
implementation of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and concentrates on serious religious freedom.
It said heavy increases in penalties on unregistered religious activity
were introduced last December in the Central Asian state.
Administrative and criminal codes were also changed in June, severely
increasing penalties for the unapproved publication of religious literature.
Corley said the censorship of religious literature had been stepped up.
"At the same time, we've got very severe raids on religious communities,
detentions of religious believers, beatings and the deportation of
foreigners who have been involved in religious activities in
Uzbekistan," Corley said. "This is something new that has been stepped
up in the last couple of months."
Igor Rotar, an activist with Forum 18, reported on Tuesday that Uzbek
authorities had withdrawn the registration of a Jehovah's Witness
community in the eastern city of Ferghana. The country had one remaining
Jehovah's community that was registered.
Rotar's report said that were it not for official discrimination, the
Jehovah's Witnesses could have registered "dozens" of congregations in
the former Soviet republic.
Forum 18 said Tashkent planned to introduce even harsher penalties. They
would, if adopted, mean people trying to spread their faith would be
heavily punished, Corley said.
The government had closed foreign NGOs it believed were involved or
linked to religious activity.
Corley said the country's Muslim community was "more tightly controlled"
than any faith, with the government telling imams what they could preach
and, in reality, appointing them as well.