repression

Uzbekistan: crackdown on all faiths follows terrorist bombings

By Igor Rotar - Forum 18 News Service, 13 April 2004

After March and April’s terrorist bombings that left nearly 50 people dead – blamed by the government on Islamic extremists and linked by some without evidence to Al-Qa’ida – a crackdown on religious believers of all faiths is taking place.

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. – Forum 18 News Service (F18News, Oslo, Norway) is a Christian initiative which is independent of any one church or religious group. F18News is objective, presenting news in a deliberately calm and balanced fashion, and presenting all sides of a situation. Website: www.forum18.org/index.php

Turkmenistan: secret police close down mosque refusing to go against Islam

By Felix Corley - Forum 18 News Service, 19 November 2003

The State Security Ministry (MSS) (ex-KGB) has closed down a mosque for not putting the Ruhnama (Book of the Soul), President Saparmurat Niyazov’s spiritual writings, on the same stand as the Koran during Friday prayers to be filmed for TV.

Forum 18 News Service (F18News, Oslo, Norway) is a Christian initiative which is independent of any one church or religious group. Its independence is safeguarded by a board whose members are Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic Christians. F18News is objective, presenting news in a deliberately calm and balanced fashion, and presenting all sides of a situation. The overriding editorial objective of F18News is to as accurately as possible present the truth of a situation, both implicitly and explicitly.

Website: http://www.forum18.org/index.php

Uzbekistan: Muslims fined for prayers in closed mosque

By Igor Rotar - Forum 18 News Service, 7 April 2003

Six Muslims in the village of Katarzan in the Uzbek section of the Fergana valley, including the local imam, were fined after holding prayers at their closed mosque in February to mark the Muslim festival of Uraza Bairam (Feast of Sacrifice or Id al-Adha).

Website: http://www.forum18.org/index.php

Uzbekistan: former mufti criticises anti-Islamic campaign

By Galima Bukharbaeva, 15 August 2002

A respected religious leader has warned that the government’s crackdown on Islamic extremism will backfire, radicalising ordinary Muslims. IWPR – 13 August 2002 – Uzbekistan’s most respected spiritual leader has publicly announced his views of the government’s religious policy for the first time, describing the current situation as “totally absurd“. Sheikh Mukhammad Sodyk Mukhammad Yusuf expressed […]

Galima Bukharbaeva is the director of IWPR in Uzbekistan.

This article was first published on 7 June 2002 (RCA No. 137) by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), London. Posted on Religioscope with permission.

Articles published by the IWPR on Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus as well as other topics can be accessed on its website:
http://www.iwpr.net
IWPR supports recovery and development in crisis zones by providing professional training, financial assistance and an international platform to independent media, human rights activists and other local democratic voices. IWPR’s primary beneficiaries are local journalists who participate in its reporting, research and training programmes.

Uzbekistan: crackdown on all faiths follows terrorist bombings

Turkmenistan: secret police close down mosque refusing to go against Islam

Uzbekistan: Muslims fined for prayers in closed mosque

Uzbekistan: former mufti criticises anti-Islamic campaign

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