http://yle.fi/uutiset/jehovahs_witnesses_to_hand_over_top_secret_manual/7244267
16.5.2014 7:00
| updated 16.5.2014 17:10
Jehovah's Witnesses to hand over top secret manual
On Friday Finland's Jehovah's Witnesses will give their religious
rule book to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior so
that it can be inspected to ensure that it's in line with Finnish rule
of law.
Until now, only senior members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Committee have had access to the congregation's secret book of rules.
The disciplinary activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses Committee have been criticised for violating human rights.
According
to Anna-Maja Henriksson, Finland's Minister of Justice, the purpose of
the handover is to examine the book and determine whether its rules and
regulations run counter to Finnish law.
Henriksson and Interior
Minister Päivi Räsänen met on Thursday with the leadership of the
Jehovah's Witnesses in Helsinki. The book will be handed over on Friday
for inspection.
According to representatives of the Jehovah's
Witnesses, committee practices have been changed recently and the
committee no longer addresses or interferes in the matters of its
members that are considered to go against church guidelines.