In early July, Uzbekistan’s Religious Affairs Committee denied clearance through customs of a shipment of Bibles, says the country’s Bible Society.
According to reports, the 11,000 Bibles and related literature were sent by the Russian Bible Society to the Uzbek Bible Society and arrived in Tashkent on May 19. As per new regulations, the local Bible Society then wrote for official permission to receive the shipment. A reply came seven weeks later refusing access to the books, and saying that instead, payments must be made for their “storage”.
The Bible Society is the only interdenominational religious organisation legally registered in Uzbekistan, being founded in 1993 by representatives of the Russian Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches. Even so, the country’s constitution allows for the free practice of religion, including the formation of religious bodies, where this does not impede national security and social harmony.
The reality, though, is somewhat different. Religion is still repressed in Uzbekistan. Missionary and evangelism activity—always a good measure of the free practice of any faith—are illegal in Uzbekistan.
The country has been described as a secular, authoritarian state with limited civil rights for its citizens. Although the constitution provides for various “inalienable freedoms” and two elected houses of parliament, President Karimov and his executive wield considerable power. The media is government-controlled, arbitrary arrests still occur, allegations of the state’s use of torture abound, and human rights activists are targeted by secret police. Criticism of the President—“The Hero of Uzbekistan” or “Papa”— is forbidden. Even today, the country has many of the hallmarks of the Soviet country it once was.
Uzbekistan is also a Muslim-majority country (Muslims 88%, Russian Orthodox 9%, others 3%). Although there are Muslim extremist groups operating in the country, for many Uzbeks, Islam is more of a cultural affiliation than a faith commitment. Some commentators believe a more secular Islam has emerged since the nation’s independence; indeed, the younger generation seems less committed to religious practice. However, at times political Islam has become a channel for the expression of social grievances and civil dissatisfaction in Uzbekistan.
Registan Square, Samarkand, on the ancient silk road in Uzbekistan. (Photo: Dan Kite)
The threat of Islamic extremism, on the other hand, is regularly used by the government to justify its control of religion. In 2005, hundreds, possibly thousands, of protesters in the eastern city of Andijan were gunned down by the military. The government line was that those involved were Muslim separatists and that force was necessary to quash the rebellion. However, evidence suggests the protests were peaceful and that many women and children were killed indiscriminately. After the incident, witnesses, human rights groups and the UN all said that Uzbek troops were directly engaged in crushing an anti-government demonstration.
Christians, too, have been accused of “terrorism” and “fundamentalism”. Those most affected are the smaller Protestant groups—particularly those which aren’t large enough to meet the government requirements for registration. They tend to conduct unregistered—and therefore illegal—activity, such as worship in homes, for instance.
In the first half of 2008, Uzbek Christian minorities were experiencing increased pressure, being the target of raids, fines, detentions, beatings and confiscation of literature. Aitmurat Khayburahmanov, a Protestant from Nukus, will soon face a criminal trial on charges of teaching religion without approval and participating in a “religious extremist” organisation—a charge which could carry a penalty of five to 15 years in prison. Khayburahmanov has been severely beaten in prison and has been forced to implicate another believer, Jandos Kuandikov, as well. Local Protestants believe it is this second leader, Kuandikov, that police really want to capture.
The government has also been actively stirring up feeling against religious minorities—possibly to discourage involvement with them. In June, government television broadcast a film,
In the Clutches of Ignorance, attacking religious minorities including Presbyterians, Methodists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh-Day Adventists.
Christians were outraged by the program, which used slow-motion pictures and dramatic, fear-inducing music. Among the more ridiculous suggestions in it were allegations that Protestant churches use psychotropic substances and that Satanists who conduct human sacrifices were connected with the churches. Twenty-six Protestant leaders responded to the film by publishing an open letter outlining its errors.
How best to deal with attacks of these kinds are an ongoing issue for Uzbek Christians, who have little social clout.
In July, a number of articles were published in Australian newspapers about the situation for Iraq’s religious minorities. First, Assistant Treasurer and MP for Fairfield (NSW) Chris Bowen published an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald about the plight of Iraqi Assyrians, Chaldeans and Mandaeans. A large community of Iraqis live in his electorate—a tremendous number of them Christian—and he has consistently supported their cause in the public arena. In the article he outlined the persecution they suffer within Iraq as well as the poverty they face once they flee. He also described the federal government’s $165 million program for humanitarian aid and capacity building in Iraq.
The latest hearing in the trial of the five men accused of murdering three Christians in Malatya, Turkey, was held on Friday July 4. You may recall that Necati Aydin (married to Semse with two small children), Ugur Yuksel (single) and Tilmann Geske (a German national, married to Suzanne with three children aged 13, 11 and 8) were killed at the Zirve Christian publishing house on April 18, 2007. Five men aged 19 and 20 were arrested at the scene and later charged with murder.
Imprisoned and tortured for her Christian faith since December, 37-year-old Azib Simon died of malaria in Eritrea’s Wi’a Military Training Centre in mid-July. Weakened by ongoing torture, sources said, Simon contracted malaria only a week before she died. 
A hearing for the criminal trial of Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov took place on 22 July in the north-western town of Zakatala, Azerbaijan. The full trial commences on July 28.