Turkmenistan. The Government continued to maintain tight control over the practice of religion, despite the presidential decrees signed in March and May that weakened a more restrictive Law on Religion passed in November 2003. The Government controls the leadership appointments of Russian Orthodox and Sunni Muslim groups. The Committee on Religious Affairs must approve all religious instruction. Local imams are forbidden from teaching Islamic theology; it may only be taught at the Theological College at Turkmen State University. The Government treats participation in or sponsorship of nontraditional religions as a potential threat to national security, making all groups coordinate their contact with all foreigners through the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Non-registered congregations are prohibited from gathering publicly, proselytizing, and disseminating religious materials. The law restricts the freedom to meet and to worship in private. The Government imposed a number of financial penalties on religious groups attempting to meet for worship, though there have been no reports of fines imposed since April. By the end of the period covered by this report, Government respect for religious freedom had improved. The restrictive law had been changed to permit the registration of four minority religious groups. Changes in Government policy toward minority religions have engendered a noticeable reduction in harassment of minority congregations.
Uzbekistan. The Government continued to commit numerous serious abuses of religious freedom. The Government permitted the operation of what it considers mainstream religions but invoked the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations to restrict the religious freedom of other groups. This law contravenes internationally recognized norms, and its registration requirements for religious organizations are strict and burdensome, though Christian churches generally are tolerated as long as they do not attempt to win converts among ethnic Uzbeks. The law prohibits or severely restricts activities such as proselytizing, importing and disseminating religious literature, and offering private religious instruction, and there are stiff civil and criminal penalties for violating this law. The Government continued its campaign against unauthorized Islamic groups it suspected of extremist sentiments or activities, arresting numerous alleged members of these groups and sentencing them to lengthy jail terms. Individuals arrested on suspicion of extremism often face particularly severe mistreatment in custody, including torture. During the period covered by this report, the Government released 704 individuals as part of a large-scale amnesty, and the number arrested continued to decline through the end of 2003. However, following a series of terrorist incidents in late March and early April, the Government took into custody up to two hundred individuals; the overwhelming majority of detainees were identified as having belonged to Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic political party, or other so-called "Wahabbi" groups. Terrorist charges aside, as in previous years, a large percentage of those taken into custody on charges of extremism were arrested arbitrarily. This campaign led authorities to be highly suspicious of those who were among the most observant, including frequent mosque attendees, bearded men, and veiled women, creating a climate of intimidation and fear for some devout believers. A number of minority religious groups, including congregations of a variety of Christian confessions, had difficulty satisfying the strict registration requirements set out by the law. As in previous years, Protestant groups with ethnic Uzbeks reported operating in a climate of harassment and fear.
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
Lemme see, uhm, working to bring back Cthulhu from the city of R'lyeh, and trying to organize an anarcho-syndicalist soccer league. And then there's the grow-op, but we don't talk about that. As for child-care, those thieving street urchins are almost as much bother as the revenue they bring in, so I'd have to call that a break-even.
2 - Eric Olsen
Say, do you know a guy named "Artful Dodger"?
3 - Jim Carruthers
But I do know about food, glorious food. But, yah, I might have seen him. Who wants to know?
4 - Eric Olsen
his mum misses him