Category: Uzbekistan

Authorities in eastern Uzbekistan have warned local churches not to allow youngsters and children to attend their worship services and not to carry out missionary activities or “proselytism”, the word for evangelism, local Christians and activists said.

The news emerged after Deputy Head of Administration Saidibrahim Saynazirov spoke with church leaders in the city of Angren, 110 kilometers (70 miles) east of Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent.

Uzbekistan has imposed a massive fine on a Protestant for owning a Christian film, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Murat Jalalov was fined – apparently on the instructions of the NSS secret police – after police raided his home.

Other religious believers have been fined for offering religious literature on the street. Uzbekistan bans religious activity that does not have state permission.

The film along with other materials was confiscated for analysis by the state Religious Affairs Committee, which said that the film “could be used among local ethnicities for missionary purposes” and was therefore banned. All the confiscated material was ordered to be destroyed.