Tag: Kazakhstan

‘Unprecedented’ persecution of Egypt’s Christians heads 2018 World Watch List

January 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Anti-conversion law, Boko Haram, Cairo, Central Asia, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, Eritrea, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jharkhand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Marawi, Middle Belt, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Philippines, Somalia, Southeast Asia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Upper Egypt

More Christians abused in India than in all other countries combined; Nepal enters list Islamic extremists driven out of Iraq and Syria are behind a new intensity of Christian persecution in surrounding countries, says global charity Open Doors in its latest annual survey of countries where it is most difficult . . . Read More

Kazakhstan’s new restrictions to ‘flagrantly’ violate religious rights

December 1, 2017 Kazakhstan Azerbaijan, Censorship, Central Asia, Children, Education, Human rights, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Religion Law, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

At the facility of one of the presbyterian Churches in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is set to pass a new set of restrictions on freedom of religion or belief that violate international human rights obligations, according to regional news service Forum 18. The proposed amendments to Kazakhstan’s religion law are currently with the Prime Minister and are expected to be signed into law . . . Read More

Kazakhstan: more Baptists fined ‘for unregistered meeting’

November 28, 2017 Kazakhstan Baptists, Kazakhstan, Religion Law

Kazakhstan's Parliament building in the capital Astana. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Baptists in Ekibastuz, north-eastern Kazakhstan, have been fined for holding meetings not registered with the authorities, reports regional news agency Forum 18. Officials raided the Baptists’ church during a Sunday service on 29 October and detained most of those present. Twenty church members were later fined under Administrative Offences’ Article . . . Read More

Kazakhstan Baptist convicted for refusing to pay state ‘expert’ to analyse his Christian books

November 6, 2017 Kazakhstan Akmola, Astana, Baptists, Censorship, Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Religious freedom, UN

Handing out Christian literature in Kazakhstan comes at a price. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A court in northern Kazakhstan has given a Baptist man a one-year suspended prison sentence for refusing to pay fines for the state to give its “expert analysis” of Christian books he had with him at the time of his arrest. Yuri Bekker had also failed to pay outstanding fines . . . Read More

Kazakhstan releases Christian imprisoned ‘as message to Muslims thinking about converting’

November 2, 2017 Kazakhstan Astana, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Yklas Kabduakasov

Kazakhstan has released a 56-year-old man imprisoned for more than two years to dissuade other Muslims from converting to Christianity, reports Christian persecution charity Voice of the Martyrs. Yklas Kabduakasov, a father of eight, was arrested in August 2015 on a charge of “inciting religious hatred”. Police confiscated Christian books . . . Read More

Kazakhstan proposes further restrictions on religion

October 11, 2017 Kazakhstan Censorship, Central Asia, Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Religion Law

The Presidential Palace, the official work place of Kazakhstan's president, in the capital Astana. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Kazakhstan has drafted amendments to its religion laws that will further tighten restrictions on religious freedoms, reports regional news agency Forum 18. The changes focus on the religious freedom of children and parents and could reach parliament for ratification as early as December. The latest October draft states that one . . . Read More

More than 80 countries ‘favour’ one religion over others – Pew Research Center

October 5, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Apostasy, Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Central Asia, China, Comoros, Converts, Cuba, India, Iran, Islamic extremism, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Maldives, Mauritania, Middle East, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Africa, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Over 80 countries favour a specific religion, either officially as a state religion or tacitly through special treatment, according to a new report by the US-based Pew Research Center. Islam is the most common state religion – 27 countries have it as their official religion, including 16 of the 20 . . . Read More

Kazakhstan church banned for singing songs at summer camp

September 11, 2017 Kazakhstan Almaty, Central Asia, Constitution, Kazakhstan

A policeman is filmed during the Good Friday raid on New Life church in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Photo: Maxim Maximov / YouTube

A church in Kazakhstan has been banned from meeting because its members sang religious songs at a summer camp, reports regional news service Forum 18. The three-month ban – yet to come into force because of an appeal – was imposed on the New Life Protestant Church in Oskemen, eastern . . . Read More

Kazakhstan deports missionary for conducting baptisms

August 14, 2017 Kazakhstan Almaty, Baptism, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev

Kazakhstan has ordered the expulsion of a Canadian citizen for conducting “illegal missionary activity” by holding baptisms in hot springs near the country’s commercial capital, Almaty. Hae Taik Kim, a Canadian citizen who leads a church in New York, was also fined 226,900 Tenge (US$680) – about two months’ average . . . Read More

Russia outlaws Jehovah’s Witnesses as ‘extremist group’

July 18, 2017 Russia Don Ossewaarde, Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Russia, USA, Vladimir Putin, Yarovaya Law

The administrative centre of the Jehovah's Witnesses based in the town of Solnechnoye in the federal city of St Petersburg, Russia. The Supreme Court has ordered the disbanding of the group. It needs to hand over all its assets and property to the Russian government. (Photo: Getty Images)

Russia’s Supreme Court yesterday (17 July) rejected an appeal by the Jehovah’s Witnesses against a ruling in April which declared it to be “extremist” and has ordered the disbanding of the group on Russian territory. “The justice ministry had argued that the group distributed pamphlets which incited hatred against other . . . Read More

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