New restrictions on religious freedom in Tajikistan

Pray for religious freedom
in Tajikistan!

The Upper Chamber of Tajikistan's Parliament recently adopted two legal measures that will further restrict religious freedom, particularly the religious education of children, reports Forum 18 News.

On July 21, a new Parental Responsibility Law was passed, banning almost all children under 18 from participating in religious activity. At the same time, an amendment to the Criminal Code was passed to punish organizers of "extremist religious" teaching—an unidentified concept that could easily be applied against Christian leaders.

Both of the new legal measures—which still need to be signed by President Emomali Rahmon—come just two weeks after an amendment made to the country's Religion Law decreed tight restrictions on religious education abroad for children and adults.

Please pray!

• Pray for an end to restrictions on religious freedom in Tajikistan.
• Ask the Lord to continue to equip believers to make the most of every opportunity to share their faith.
• Pray for wisdom for all believers in the nation as they serve Christ and witness to those who do not yet know Him as Lord.

Pray for Tajikistan

Pray for believers in Tajikistan.

A January 19 Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin reported there have been many answers to prayer for the Church in Central Asia:

• Unity among Protestant churches is growing.
• There are many testimonies of a growing interest in the Good News among Muslims.
• Many churches have a missionary vision for reaching out to the neighbouring Muslim countries.

However, much prayer is still needed.

Today, please consider praying for believers in Tajikistan.

• Almost all registered churches in Tajikistan were able to re-register in accordance with the legal requirements. However, the Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists was denied registration as a union of churches. That limits their rights, e.g. to open new churches. Also some smaller new churches faced problems with registration.
• The majority of the population continue to live in conditions of extreme poverty, unemployment and frequent electricity blackouts.
• Many labour migrants from Tajikistan and elsewhere in Central Asia live and work in Russia and become more open to the gospel there than in their home countries.

Why should I ask the government what books I can read?

Tajikistan has imposed greater
fines on breaking censorship rules.

Tajikistan has a new law.

In late December 2010, President Emomali Rahmon signed into law severe new punishments for producing, distributing, importing or exporting religious literature and items of a religious nature that have not passed through the compulsory prior state religious censorship, reports Forum 18 News Service.

The Religion Law states that only officially registered religious organisations and their members may import, export, produce, sell and distribute religious literature or items of a religious nature—and they may do this only if they have specific permission for each item from the state Religious Affairs Committee.

Religious leaders have complained to Forum 18 about the high new fines and the continuing religious censorship that violates Tajikistan's international human rights commitments.

An Ismaili Imam from, who wished to remain unnamed for fear of reprisals from the authorities, told Forum 18 on Tuesday that it is "very bad that such heavy fines" were introduced by the Tajik authorities. "Why should I ask the Government what books I can read?" he asked. "I should be free to read any books about my faith."

Individuals who break the censorship rules will be fined up to $800 CAD, and religious organisations will be fined up to $1,600 CAD. Repeat violations will lead to fines for individuals of up to $1,200 CAD and for organisations up to $2,400 CAD. In addition to these new fines, religious organisations can also be fined up to $800 CAD for not marking the organisation's full name on the religious literature.

The new law was created with the addition of Article 474-1 to the Code of Administrative Offences, and took effect on January 1.

The new punishments come amid increasing government restrictions on religious activity. In recent months the government has pressured Muslims studying abroad to return home, has closed mosques and continued to deny state registration to religious communities.

You can read the full story here.