JW's banned by secular Moslem government in Tajikistan

by Gopher 3 Replies latest social current

  • Gopher
    Gopher

    News reports have announced this ban in a former Soviet republic in Central Asia. The government is secular, and the vast majority of the population is Sunni Muslim. There are about 85 registered religions in Tajikistan, but apparently JW's are the only one perceived to be preaching against the military.

    If they're preaching "against" the military, they can't claim neutrality. They've managed to avoid this problem in other countries by claiming their anti-military stance was only directed at their members.

    http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=96740

    Jehovah's Witnesses banned in Tajikistan

    Agence France Presse

    DUSHANBE - Tajikistan's culture ministry banned the Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the Central Asian state after finding the religious group had preached against military service, an official said Monday.

    "An investigation conducted by the ministry showed that this religious group violated the constitution which stipulates mandatory military service -- by calling against such service," the ministry's religion department's chief Saidbek Makhmadulloyev told Agence France Presse.

    The group also "violated the religion and media laws -- Jehovah's Witnesses conducted propaganda in public places, in private homes, that is involved citizens in their group by force," Makhmadulloyev said.

    The Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian group engaging in evangelism across the world, was registered in Tajikistan in 1997, and numbered some 500 members. Of Tajikistan's seven-million population, 99 percent are Muslim.

  • tula
    tula

    Thank you for bringing that "GOOD NEWS" to our doorstep.

  • Happy Harvester
    Happy Harvester

    Oh well.

  • Justitia Themis
    Justitia Themis

    From the latest OSCE meeting document related to Tajikistan. They are complaining about religious literature confiscation and not being allowed to meet.

    http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2007/09/26593_en.pdf

    Justitia

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