Kyrgyz Officials Reject Muslim Sect

December 30, 2011

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz Officials Reject Muslim Sect

BISHKEK – Kyrgyz religious authorities have refused to re-register the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.

Sagynbek Toktorbaev, a representative of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Kyrgyzstan, told RFE/RL on December 29 that the government’s State Commission on Religious Affairs rejected their re-registration.

He said the commission’s decision violates the rights of the some 1,000 members of the Kyrgyz branch of the Ahmadiyya community, an Islamic revivalist movement founded in India in the late 1800s by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Some of the Ahmadiyya community’s beliefs are considered controversial with mainstream Muslims.

Yusub Baltabaev, an official with the State Commission on Religious Affairs, told RFE/RL that the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan (SAMK) proposed that the activities of Ahmadiyya in Kyrgyzstan be suspended because of its alleged “threat to religious security” in the country.

SAMK official Zhorobay Shergaziev told RFE/RL on December 29 that the Ahmadiyya Muslim community is controversial and does not comply with Shari’a law.

The activity of the Ahmadiyya community, which has its main office in London, was first registered in Kyrgyzstan in 2002.

Ahmadiyya representatives translated the Koran into Kyrgyz and published 3,000 copies of their interpretation, which was not approved by the official Kyrgyz Muslim clergy.

URL: www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyz_officials_reject_muslim_sect/24438562.html

KYRGYZSTAN: New Law to introduce sweeping controls on religious education?

Forum 18 News, Norway

7 September 2009

KYRGYZSTAN: New Law to introduce sweeping controls on religious education?

By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service

The draft text of a proposed new Law on Religious Education and Educational Institutions seen by Forum 18 News Service would impose sweeping controls on who can open religious educational institutions, would ban all but approved and licensed institutions and ban individuals from seeking religious education abroad without state approval. Yet Kanybek Osmonaliev, Head of the State Agency for Religious Affairs, and his deputy, Kanatbek Murzakhalilov, adamantly denied that if adopted it would restrict religious education. “The Law will not be restrictive but promote orderliness in the sphere of religious education,” Osmonaliev told Forum 18. Two Muslim leaders declined to comment on the draft, or on Osmonaliev’s claims that there are “too many” Islamic schools in Kyrgyzstan and the number needs to be reduced. Baptists, Lutherans, Ahmadiyya Muslims and Baha’is expressed concerns over the draft Law’s provisions.

Kyrgyzstan’s State Agency for Religious Affairs (SARA) is developing a new Law on Religious Education and Educational Institutions which, if adopted in its current form, would impose further restrictions on the activities of religious organisations and educational institutions, Forum 18 News Service has learned. The draft seen by Forum 18 would impose sweeping controls on who can open religious educational institutions, would ban all but approved and licensed institutions and ban individuals from seeking religious education abroad without state approval.

Despite this, Kanybek Osmonaliev, Head of the State Agency, and his deputy, Kanatbek Murzakhalilov, adamantly denied to Forum 18 that the Law would further restrict religious organisations. “The Law will not be restrictive but promote orderliness in the sphere of religious education,” Osmonaliev told Forum 18 from the capital Bishkek on 1 September.

Osmonaliev said that the SARA has presented the draft Law to religious organisations for comments, as well as to the Bishkek office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE confirmed to Forum 18 that it had received the draft Law and is working on an Opinion to be submitted to the government.

Asked when the proposed law will go to Parliament, Osmonaliev responded: “The law is being discussed in the public and religious organisations. After the discussions are over we will take comments from all the interested parties, and introduce the law with the comments to the Parliament.” He would not give any deadlines.

Murzakhalilov told Forum 18 on 3 September that the licensing of religious educational institutions until now has been done on the basis of a provisional statute ratified by Presidential decree No. 319 signed on 14 November 1996.

Kyrgyzstan has been steadily tightening controls on religious activity in recent years. A new, highly restrictive Religion Law came into force in January 2009. Since then, officials of the Prosecutor’s Office, Police, National Security Service secret police, local Executive Authorities and the SARA have checked up on many religious communities. Unregistered religious communities of Protestant Christians, Hare Krishna devotees and Ahmadiya Muslims in many parts of Kyrgyzstan have been told to halt worship. New difficulties are emerging for religious communities seeking registration (see F18News 21 August 2009).

Why is a Religious Education Law needed?

Explaining what he sees as the need for such a Religious Education Law, Osmonaliev complained that “too many Islamic religious educational institutions with no licence exist” in the country and their number needs to be reduced, the AKIpress news agency reported on 20 August. Osmonaliev pointed to Uzbekistan, “where there are only eight medreses (Islamic secondary religious schools)”, and said that the existing sixty or so medreses in Kyrgyzstan is “too many”.

Osmonaliev also pointed to what he said was the need to adapt the curriculum of Islamic higher education institutions “by strictly observing the ratio between the theological and secular subjects”. He insisted such examples exist in Kazakhstan, Russia and Western countries — “the whole world has experienced it,” AKIpress quoted him as saying.

Asked why such a law was needed, Osmonaliev told Forum 18 to read the text of the draft law, and “everything would become clear”. Asked why he says the number of medreses in Kyrgyzstan should be reduced, he told Forum 18 that “indeed the number of the medreses is too many”, but refused to explain why he believes this. Asked whether it will be obligatory for religious education institutions which have been licensed to renew their licences, he was categorical. “As far as I know, no religious education institution in Kyrgyzstan has a licence.”

However, the interdenominational Protestant United Bible Seminary and Protestant Silk Road Bible Institute were quick to respond to the claim, each telling Forum 18 on 3 September that they have been registered by the SARA and licensed by the Education Ministry.

Murzakhalilov said that when the new Law is adopted, licensed religious educational institutions will have to renew their licences “in cases where parts of their existing charters do not correspond to the requirements of the new Law”.

Proposed new restrictions in draft Law

The draft Law presented by the SARA to some religious organisations, a copy of which Forum 18 has seen, declares in the preamble in Article 1 that the Law is aimed at “the preservation of the religious and spiritual culture of the people of the Kyrgyzstan Republic”. It is unclear what this means: whether or not the doctrines and teachings of faiths such as State-controlled Islam and the Russian Orthodox Church would be protected and whether others would be closely scrutinised and restricted.

Article 11 would oblige all religious education institutions to register with the SARA and be licensed and accredited by the Education Ministry. Article 6.5 would entitle the “authorised appropriate state bodies in the spheres of education and religion to carry out oversight of compliance with the Law on Religious Education and Educational Institutions.”

Asked what will be the procedure for the authorised state bodies to check up on the activity of the educational institutions, Murzakhalilov told Forum 18: “This will depend on the regulations to come after this Law is adopted. It may be once a year or once a semester for instance, or if any violations are reported to us.”

Article 7 would require religious educational programmes also to include general secular subjects. The Article would entitle the authorised state bodies for education and religion to check up on religious education institutions’ activity, order the elimination of exposed “violations”, and order institutions to suspend their activity if they do not teach exactly what was in their educational programmes and conditions of education established while registering.

Told of the discontent of the religious organisations over the enforced inclusion of secular subjects into their educational programmes, Murzakhalilov responded: “The Education Ministry’s recommendation is that thirty percent of the subjects taught should be secular. We will consider the comments from religious organisations as the draft Law develops.”

Article 8 would allow registered religious organisations to be founders of a religious educational institution, subject to compliance with state educational programmes and having appropriate approval to open and maintain an educational institution. In the draft seen by Forum 18, this Article also says that foreign citizens may not be founders of a religious educational institution, though Murzakhalilov claimed that this clause has been removed. The draft Law does not, however, specify who else might be founders.

Article 10 declares that religious education may only be in the form of full-time tuition, no other forms are provided for: “Religious education at home as well as organisation of religious training courses outside facilities for religious purpose is not allowed.” Asked whether this means that individuals or religious communities will be punished for religious education classes — whether formal or informal, large or small — at places of worship or in private homes, Murzakhalilov responded: “It must be done in an official way.” He declined to say what would happen to those who conduct such education without state approval.

The Silk Road Bible Institute and others told Forum 18 that this could create problems for students who have to travel all the way to the capital Bishkek for studies. Murzakhalilov dismissed such concerns. “What kind of religious education can one receive from distance?” he told Forum 18. “It would not be real. You have to participate in person to understand religious teachings.”

Article 10 also tries to determine the number of students in the secondary and higher religious education institutions. This number “is defined according to Kyrgyzstan’s Law on Education and the Law on Licensing”.

Aleksandr Shumilin of Kyrgyzstan’s Baptist Union complained that by putting a threshold on the number of students the authorities are trying to “limit us so we could not raise” future leaders for churches. “What if we have only ten students, does that mean now that we cannot operate a Bible institute, which could raise and license preachers and pastors?” he told Forum 18 on 3 September from Bishkek.

Murzakhalilov said he is “not sure” whether the Education Law sets a minimum required number for students.

Article 12.5 would require adult Kyrgyz citizens leaving the country to receive religious education abroad to obtain agreement from the authorised state bodies for religious affairs and education. Underage citizens would not be allowed to study religion abroad.

Article 12.6 would require those teaching religious subjects to have higher or secondary religious education. This could be a problem for many religious educational institutions as they do not have many teachers with such qualifications, several institutions and communities told Forum 18.

Murzakhalilov also touched on educational institutions such as courses teaching the Koran or the Bible. “Those will not need licensing from the Education Ministry but a notification to SARA would do,” he told Forum 18, but did not explain how this would not conflict with the ban on such activity that would be imposed under Article 10 or with his earlier comments that all religious education would need a licence.

Murzakhalilov declined to further comment further on the draft Law, insisting it is “too early” to discuss specific provisions since it is still being shaped.

Will medreses be closed down?

Despite his assertion that there are “too many medreses”, Osmonaliev, the head of SARA, refused to say whether the authorities will close down any of them - or any other religious education institutions. “I do not have time for a discussion over the phone, and I am having a meeting,” he told Forum 18.

“We will not close down any medreses but we just want to bring some order to them,” Murzakhalilov told Forum 18. “Most of the existing medreses do not correspond to the standards of architecture, sanitary-epidemiological rules. Some of them do not even have chairs, and the students sit on the floor during classes. Some of them can evolve into real educational institutions, and some can become simple courses of the Koran.”

Lugmar Aji Guahunov, Deputy Head of Kyrgyzstan’s state-sponsored Muslim Board, said he has not heard of any official intentions to close down medreses. “I have not heard such official statements,” he responded to Forum 18 on 3 September when told of Osmonaliev’s opinion on the number of medreses. “Of course if they [SARA] give us any instruction on medreses we will make the necessary changes but I don’t think the authorities will close down any medrese.”

Religious communities’ concerns over state interference in religious education

Asked his opinion of the draft Law, Lugmar Aji of the Muslim Board said he could not comment at the moment since it is “still being developed”. Ravshanbek Akymbayuulu, Vice Rector of Kyrgyzstan’s Islamic University in Bishkek, told Forum 18 on 2 September that he had not seen the draft Law, and the Islamic University has “not had any discussion of it yet”.

However, Shumilin of the Baptist Union complained of State interference in what is considered by them as an “internal matter” of religious communities. “How can the state bodies license us and examine our curriculum if they do not even have any experts on Christianity?” he asked Forum 18. The government wants to make religious education an “alternative to the secular” one by including secular subjects in the curriculums, he said. “Our students already have secular secondary or higher education, and they do not need to take secular subjects once again,” Shumilin insisted.

Alexandr Shants of Kyrgyzstan’s Lutheran Church pointed out that this proposed Law, combined with the new Religion Law, would create problems for raising new, especially Kyrgyz-speaking leaders for Protestant Churches in the country. “Lutheran Churches lack leaders as many Russian-speaking leaders are emigrating from Kyrgyzstan,” he told Forum 18. “We are trying to fill this void by teaching local Kyrgyz leaders, but with these laws the authorities are trying seriously to restrict us from doing so.”

Kyrgyzstan’s Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said that they do not have formal education programmes for their believers in Kyrgyzstan but “send local believers to study abroad if need be.” Receiving official approval for this could be “difficult” if the draft Law was adopted in its current version, an Ahmadiyya Muslim told Forum 18 on 2 September.

Aida Ibrayeva of Kyrgyzstan’s only Baha’i community, said that their “only” concern with the proposed Law would be if the authorities interpreted teaching or explaining the Baha’i faith to members of their community as giving religious education. “We do not have a religious education institution, do not give our believers an official or formal education, do not give out certificates of education, and neither are we planning to do so,” she told Forum 18 on 3 September from Bishkek.

Akymbayuulu of the Islamic University said they that they are working on getting an official license for the university at the moment. “Four years ago we were told by the Ministry that we could function without a licence,” he told Forum 18. “Now, we have to obtain one.” He declined to comment on whether or not it was difficult to obtain the licence.

Is the draft law being discussed?

No public discussions of the law or round tables have yet taken place, Murzakhalilov said, but insisted this would start soon. “It could be very soon if some international donors helped us with the arrangements,” he told Forum 18.

Many Protestant church leaders are “even afraid” to give comments to SARA about the Law “especially” after what happened when the new Religion Law was adopted, Shumilin said. He said SARA took these comments but did not use them. “It seems to us that SARA collects our comments to find out our vulnerable points.”

Both Shumilin and Shants lamented that despite promises earlier this year from SARA, representatives of neither the Baptist Union nor the Lutheran Church were invited to participate in a working group for the new Law. Ibrayeva of the Baha’is told Forum 18 she hopes that her community will also be invited when official round tables and discussions of the Law take place. (END)

URL: www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1345

KYRGYZSTAN: What will new “Coordinating Council on the Struggle Against Religious Extremism” do?

---Forum 18 News, Oslo, Norway

19 August 2009

KYRGYZSTAN: What will new “Coordinating Council on the Struggle Against Religious Extremism” do?

By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service

Kyrgyzstan has established a state Coordinating Council on the Struggle against Religious Extremism, Forum 18 News Service notes. The execution of Council decisions will be obligatory for the different parts of the government, but officials are unclear when asked by Forum 18 what they mean by religious extremism and what the Council will do. It will be led by the State Agency for Religious Affairs, the Interior Ministry and the NSS secret police, and will have members from other parts of the government, the Muslim Board, and the Russian Orthodox Church. Civil society and religious organisations have reacted with concern, Raya Kadyrova of the Foundation for Tolerance International pointing out that “unfortunately our laws give a very wide definition of religious radicalism and extremism.” She suggested that the Collective Security Treaty Organisation might be a reason for the Council. The Jehovah’s Witnesses said they needed to wait and see what it would do. They noted that some officials have previously described them as “a destructive movement,” but “hoped” the Council would not listen to such opinions. One Protestant asked why there was a need for the Council, given the other responsible state organisations.

Kyrgyzstan has recently transformed its state Interagency Council on Religious Affairs into a state Coordinating Council on the Struggle against Religious Extremism, Forum 18 News Service has learned. However, although the Council will apparently be powerful, uncertainty surrounds what it will do.

The Decree establishing the Council — signed by Prime Minister Igor Chudinov on 5 August — states that it was established “for the purpose of ensuring concerted action and coordination of activity of State agencies and local governments of Kyrgyzstan in prevention of the spread of and resistance to religious extremism, fundamentalism and conflicts on religious grounds”. The Decree goes on to state that: “Constructive and effective mutual relations between State agencies and religious organisations aimed at efficient solutions of issues related to prevention of the spread of religious extremism, fundamentalism, and conflicts on religious grounds, will allow suppressing the ideas of various extremist and destructive groups.”

Kanybek Osmanaliev, Head of the State Agency for Religious Affairs, told Forum 18 on 18 August that the Secretariat of the Council will be led by himself, the Deputy Interior Minister, and the Deputy Head of the National Security Service (NSS) secret police. The members of the Council will be representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Health, Culture, and Finance, heads of Regional Administrations, as well as representatives from the state-favoured Muslim Board and the Russian Orthodox Church.

It appears that much power will be given to the Council, as the Decree states that Council decisions must be executed by “Ministries, State Committees, administrative units, and other executive authorities, as well as local state administrations and local self-government”.

What issues will the Council address?

“The reason for the decision was to turn the Interagency Council, which was more of an amorphous structure to a more effective one to fight religious extremism,” Osmanaliev of the State Agency for Religious Affairs told Forum 18. “We will meet no less than twice a year and report to the Vice-Prime Minister,” he said. The State Agency will be responsible for preparing the agenda for each meeting. However, Osmanaliev said that he “cannot say what exact issues we will discuss, as we are only in the phase of formulating our policy.” He also did not say what principles would serve as the basis of the Council’s policy.

Father Igor Dronov of the Russian Orthodox Church in Bishkek told Forum 18 on 19 August that he is aware of the new Council, but has not yet accepted the invitation to it. “I cannot say at the moment what issues the Council will be occupied with,” he stated. Reminded that he’d told Forum 18 on 7 August that some Protestant Churches are “aggressive,” Father Dronov said “that’s not religious extremism but aggressive proselytism.” The new Religion Law bans — without defining — “aggressive action aimed at proselytism” (see F18News 13 January 2009 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1240). Asked if he would bring these type of issues at the Council, Fr Dronov repeated his previous answer that he did not know what the Council would be doing.

The Muslim Board and Osmanaliev of the State Agency have, along with Fr Dromov, welcomed the restrictive new Religion Law. In a written explanation of the “need” for a new Law — placed on the parliamentary website — Osmanaliev expressed concern about what he described as the “abnormality” of a rising number of people changing faith, especially young ethnic Kyrgyz joining Christian churches. He also complained of “illegal” activity by “various destructive, totalitarian groups and reactionary sects”, among whom he included the Hare Krishna and Mormon communities, and “uncontrolled” building and opening of mosques, churches and other places of worship (see F18News 2 October 2008 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1197).

Who decided what the Council’s membership is?

Asked why representatives of other religious organisations were not invited as members to the Council, Osmanaliev of the State Agency said the question should be put to the government.

Suyun Musaliyev, who works for the department overseeing religious issues in the Cabinet of Ministers, said that the members from the religious organisations were proposed by the State Agency for Religious Affairs. “If they [the State Agency] would like to propose a representative of Protestants, for instance, they could,” he told Forum 18 on 18 August. “We will make a decision on their proposal.”

What is religious extremism?

Officials were unspecific when asked what they meant by religious extremism, and how the struggle against it would be carried out. “It is the Coordinating Council’s duty to expose destructive and extremist religious movements in the territory of Kyrgyzstan,” Musaliyev of the Cabinet of Ministers responded. Osmanaliev of the State Agency said that “only courts” in Kyrgyzstan can decide which religious movements are extremist. “So far, such decisions have been made on organisations like Hizb-ut-Tahrir” (see http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=170 for an outline of this group’s views), he stated. “None of the existing and registered organisations are considered as extremists here,” Osmanaliev assured Forum 18. He did not discuss the situation of unregistered organisations, or those whose registration the new Law threatens.

Asked what would happen if names of existing organisations were claimed in Council meetings to have negative effects, Osmanaliev would only said that the Council “would need to make a collective decision” on cases of extremism.

Reactions from civil society and religious communities

Raya Kadyrova, President of the Foundation for Tolerance International in Bishkek, pointed to one possible problem in the Council’s work. She told Forum 18 on 19 August that “unfortunately our laws give a very wide definition of religious radicalism and extremism. For instance, any criticism by independent Muslim organisations of the work of the Muslim Board can easily be interpreted as radicalism and extremism.” She also said that she “hoped the Council will also listen to the opinion of Kyrgyzstan’s so-called minority faiths before making any decisions affecting their activity”

Various religious organisations expressed their concerns to Forum 18 about the Council. A Protestant Pastor, who wanted to remain unnamed, said he does not understand why there needs to be such a Council. “We already have law-enforcement agencies in the country to detect who breaks the laws,” he told Forum 18 on 18 August from Bishkek. The Protestant added that the State Agency is also supposed to work with religious organisations. “I am afraid they are trying to tighten the noose around our necks,” he complained. He said he believed that the Council was created to “make life hard” for the Protestant churches in the country.

Vladimir Gavrilovski of Jehovah’s Witnesses said they needed to wait and see what the Council would do. “It has been re-organised very recently, so we have to wait to see,” he told Forum 18 on 18 August. “Some officials have spoken about us as being a destructive movement in the past,” he noted. “When we explained our position on different issues, they told us that they were given wrong information on us.” He said he “hoped” that the Council would not listen to such opinions.

Synarkul Muraliyeva (Chandra Mukkhi) of the Hare Krishna community said she did not know what the position of the Council on their community would be. “The NSS secret police has told us that we are a totalitarian sect, and are in a list with the banned terrorist organisations.”

Why is the Council being established?

Kadyrova of the Foundation for Tolerance International told Forum 18 that the establishment of the Council was “official recognition that the country’s security is under threat from religious extremism.” She thought that a reason for it’s establishment may be that the authorities “need to determine” what the security threats are. She added that the Council may also have been established “to integrate into national policy a policy adopted at a recent meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).” She noted that “the policy of the CSTO is that special attention needs to be given to religious radicalism and new religious movements, as a threat to security in the region.”

The CSTO, consisting of of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, added some Muslim movements to its list of terrorist and extremist organisations in May 2009. These included Tabligh Jamaat and Salafism (see F18News 15 May 2009 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1297), as well as “Nurdzhular” - as it calls followers of the Turkish theologian Said Nursi. Muslims who follow Nursi’s approach to Islam have been attracting increasing state hostility in the former Soviet Union. Increasing numbers of Muslims following his approach have been jailed in Uzbekistan (see eg. 31 July 2009 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1333). Translations of many of his writings are banned in Russia, and those thought to possess them have been raided (see F18News 16 July 2009 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1328).

The Kyrgyz legal background

Since a repressive new Religion Law came into force in January, religious communities of all faiths have experienced increased official hostility. One example of this has been that unregistered communities of Protestant Christians, Hare Krishna devotees and Ahmadiya Muslims in many parts of Kyrgyzstan have been ordered by the authorities to stop meeting for worship (see F18News 13 August 2009).

Officials have claimed to Forum 18 that they have formed a Commission to resolve three controversial provisions of the Religion Law: restrictions on sharing faith and distributing religious literature, and the high threshold of members required before religious communities can register. Separately, a legal challenge to the Law was mounted by Protestants (see F18News 27 May 2009 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1301). The Constitutional Court on 24 July dismissed the complaint, in a ruling signed by Judge Chinara Musabekova. She stated that the “concrete constitutional rights of the applicants have not been violated.” (END)

URL: www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1337

KYRGYZSTAN: “Don’t meet for worship”

---Forum 18 News, Oslo, Norway

13 August 2009

KYRGYZSTAN: “Don’t meet for worship”

By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service

Unregistered communities of Protestant Christians, Hare Krishna devotees and Ahmadiya Muslims in many parts of Kyrgyzstan have been ordered by the authorities to stop meeting for worship, Forum 18 News Service has found. In some cases, communities have been told that state registration in the capital Bishkek does not allow religious activity elsewhere. One Protestant church in the north-west told Forum 18 that they had been unsuccessfully trying for two years to register, but that they “would not be registered unless they had 200 signatures. How can we collect 200 signatures if we are not allowed to function normally?” Asked what would happen to religious communities who have less than 200 members, and so cannot be registered, an official of the State Agency for Religious Affairs told Forum 18 that “there is a Law, and we will deal with them accordingly.” An employee of the State Agency recently told a person known to Forum 18, who wished to remain unnamed for fear of state reprisals, that after the July presidential elections there would be “a massive campaign against religious groups meeting illegally.”

Kyrgyzstan is continuing a crackdown on people exercising their freedom of religion or belief, Forum 18 News Service has found. Communities of Protestant Christians, Hare Krishna devotees and Ahmadiya Muslims have all been ordered by the authorities to stop meeting for worship, in some cases the orders having been originally issued in 2007.

Since the entry into force of Kyrgyzstan’s new Religion Law in January 2009, officials of the Prosecutor’s Office, Police, National Security Service secret police, local Executive Authorities and the State Agency for Religious Affairs have checked up on or raided many religious communities. One such community was the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Maili-Suu, whose members were told that “they have no rights to distribute or to keep any religious literature at their homes” (see F18 News 28 May 2009 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1302)

An employee of the State Agency for Religious Affairs recently told a person known to Forum 18, who wished to remain unnamed for fear of state reprisals, that after the July presidential elections there would be “a massive campaign against religious groups meeting illegally.” President Kurmanbek Bakiev, who has been in power since 2005, was officially announced as having won these elections. Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observers noted that electoral fraud and intimidation of the opposition “contributed to an atmosphere of distrust and undermined public confidence in holding genuinely democratic elections.”

Crackdown on unregistered worship outside Bishkek

One of the many controversial aspects of the Religion Law is the ban on unregistered religious activity (see F18News 27 May 2009 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1301). The authorities in the north-western city of Talas in April told the leader of the Protestant Church of Jesus Christ to stop meeting for worship in his private flat, a church member wished to remain unnamed told Forum 18 on 12 August.

The Church was registered in the capital Bishkek, and its members in Talas met in a rented cinema for worship until January. In that month, the authorities claimed that registration in Bishkek did not cover public worship in Talas and stopped the Church using the cinema. When the worship meetings were moved to the leader’s flat, police summoned the leader for questioning in March and April.

“Our church in Talas has tried to register with the regional Justice Department for two years without success,” the church member told Forum 18. “The last time they tried, they were told they would not be registered unless they had 200 signatures. How can we collect 200 signatures if we are not allowed to function normally?”

As a Baha’i pointed out to Forum 18, as well as the threshold of 200 founders very high, many people are reluctant to sign registration applications as they distrust the authorities (see F18News 6 November 2008 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1215).

At the Talas regional Justice Department, the Secretary (she did not give her name) of Department Head M. Karmyshakov said neither he nor anyone else was available to talk. “Most of the responsible officials are either out of office for a few days, or on holiday,” she told Forum 18 on 13 August.

In the central Naryn Region, Prosecutor T. Kasymbekov of Kochkor District in March issued a warning letter to Bakhyt Mukashev, Pastor of El-Shaddai Protestant Church, to stop meetings for worship in his private home. A church member who wished to remain unnamed told Forum 18 on 13 August that Pastor Mukhashev and his wife were then summoned the Prosecutor’s office and questioned. Other state agencies summoned some church members for questioning and compelled them to write statements on their activities. They were then warned not to meet in Mukashev’s home.

The Church showed the authorities a certificate that they were a branch of the registered El-Shaddai Protestant Church in Bishkek. But as in Talas, the authorities in Kochkor claimed that registration in Bishkek does not apply elsewhere in Kyrgyzstan.

Forum 18 attempted on 13 August to reach officials at Kochkor District Prosecutor’s Office to discuss the case. The Naryn Regional Prosecutor’s Office assured Forum 18 that officials in Kochkor would answer calls, but no official in Kochkor answered their telephone that day.

Crackdown on unregistered worship in Bishkek

Synarkul Muraliyeva (Chandra Mukkhi) of Bishkek’s unregistered Hare Krishna community also complained that they are not able to meet publicly. In 2008 “a few of us [Hare Krishna devotees] were taken to the National Security Service (NSS) secret police headquarters in Bishkek,” she told Forum 18 in Bishkek on 7 August. “An NSS lieutenant colonel compelled us to sign a paper saying that we would not meet publicly for worship.” Muralieva said the NSS secret police told the devotees that “they acted on complaints from neighbours” of their community building, where they used to hold worship meetings. She also told Forum 18 that a former official of the State Agency for Religious Affairs told her in 2007 that “someone from higher up” had stated: “Do not even dare to register them!”

When asked why the Hare Krishna Community in Bishkek, the only in the country, has not so far been registered, Kumar Dushenbayev of the State Agency responded on 6 August in Bishkek that “they have an internal problem they cannot solve.” He added that “we met them a year ago and told them to correct certain things in their charter. But they did not come back.”

Muraliyeva agreed that the Community has an internal property problem, but insisted that “our main problem is that we have been refused registration and cannot meet publicly,” she emphasized.

Other religious communities Forum 18 knows of throughout Kyrgyzstan face the same problems of being unable to worship publicly. A Protestant church leader from Bishkek, for example, told Forum 18 on 13 August that his church too is also in an “illegal” situation. “There are very many home churches like ours,” he continued. He predicted that “some groups will either go underground trying to hide”, and others will “unite with other groups, despite confessional differences, to gain legal status.”

Crackdown on “foreign mission”

The Ahmadiya Muslim Community has been registered in Bishkek as a “foreign mission”. This “creates certain problems”, Ahmad Basharat of the community told Forum 18 on 12 August. “As a foreign mission it is harder to register communities outside Bishkek,” he emphasised. Also, because of the new Law, “it will be difficult to get missionary visas” for leaders from Pakistan, Bahsarat added. “The members of our community are predominantly Kyrgyz,” he noted. “Between 150 and 180 local people attend our Friday prayers in Bishkek.”

Elsewhere in Kyrgyzstan - in Osh in the south-west, Karakol in the north-east, and Issyk-Kul [Ysyk-Kol] in the centre — Ahmadiya Muslims were in 2007 “asked to stop from meeting publicly for worship by local authorities,” Basharat told Forum 18. “Our activity in those regions was not registered, but we rented places and met freely. We were told we could not continue as a foreign mission without official registration.” Bahsarat said the Ahmadiya’s then tried to register as local communities, but were told by local authorities to wait as a Religion Law was being introduced. “We submitted documents then, and are still waiting,” he said.

Asked why Ahmadiya communities cannot register as local communities, Dushenbayev of the State Agency told Forum 18 that “we will register them if they submit documents in compliance with the Law.”

“There is a Law, and we will deal with them accordingly”

Asked by Forum 18 what would happen to religious communities who have less than 200 members, and so cannot be registered, Dushenbayev of the State Agency asked: “Why should religious communities such as the Presbyterians try to open a branch in every corner of the country? Why can’t they come together in one place, where they would not have a problem gathering 200 people?” When Forum 18 repeated the question, he said that “we will not fight with them. There is a Law, and we will deal with them accordingly.”

Asked whether he thought the Law placed many restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in Kyrgyzstan, Dushenbayev said the question “should be asked of the Parliament, which adopted it.” However, he quickly added that “the Law is at the moment being worked on” by a group of experts. Regulations to implement the law “were not in place yet,” Dushenbayev said, “and another group is working them out.” Without giving an exact date, Dushenbayev told Forum 18 that both groups “should finalise their work in the autumn.”

Officials have previously claimed to Forum 18 that only after three controversial elements of the Law — on restrictions on sharing faith, distributing literature and on the high threshold of 200 adult citizen members required — have been resolved will regulations enacting the Law be produced (see F18News 27 May 2009 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1301). (END)

URL: www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1336