ICC Note: Another incident of religious materials being seized by the Tajik police has again highlighted the severe restrictions on religion in Tajikistan. In just the past few months both Christian and Muslim groups have had materials seized by the police and fines handed down for materials that had not been “approved” by the State. A Tajik official stated that all religious literature must be examined, the religious communities have complained about the high cost of the censorship fees that make obtaining religious materials unaffordable.
By Mushfig Bayram
11/18/2013 Kazakhstan (Forum 18) – Members of Tajikistan’s Islamic Renaissance Party had “hundreds of booklets” seized from them by police in the northern city of Khujand, a party member complained to Forum 18 News Service. The booklets, seized ahead of the 15 October Islamic festival of Kurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha), explained “the meaning of the holiday and its values”. Police warned party members they could be punished for distributing unapproved religious literature. A Baptist was fined in the capital Dushanbe in September after three church members received religious magazines by post from Belarus. This – and at least five other earlier Protestant cases – were all brought by the NSC secret police. Mavlon Mukhtarov, Deputy Head of the government’s Religious Affairs Committee, defends state censorship of religious literature, telling Forum 18 it “must be done according to the Religion Law.” Religious communities described the Committee’s censorship fees as “unaffordable”.
Police and secret police officers have seized religious literature from Muslims, Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses in various cases in Tajikistan in 2013, Forum 18 News Service notes. Many individuals have been warned or fined for “illegal” religious literature which has not been through the compulsory state censorship. Two more are known to have been fined for talking about their faith with others on the street or with meeting for worship without the compulsory state registration.
Asked why individuals and religious community members must have their personal religious literature checked by the state, Mavlon Mukhtarov, Deputy Head of the government’s Religious Affairs Committee in the capital Dushanbe, insisted to Forum 18 on 14 November that this “must be done according to the Religion Law.”
Religious communities have complained of the high cost of gaining an “expert analysis” from the Committee for every item of literature (see below).
Asked why – in at least six cases since summer 2013 – courts gave large fines on Protestants for receiving personal copies of religious magazines by post, Mukhtarov responded: “I don’t know why they were fined, but I will look into the matter.”
Other punishments
Forum 18 knows of individuals who have been punished for unapproved religious education. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has criticised Tajikistan’s “severe restrictions on freedom of religion” and punishments on those exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief in a report made public in August (see forthcoming F18News article).
Warning over confiscated Kurban Bayram booklets
Police in the northern city of Khujand [Khojand] in Sogd Region stopped members of the officially registered Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) on the street and “confiscated hundreds of booklets” from them. Party members were handing out the booklets on the eve of the 15 October celebration of the Islamic festival of Kurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha). “The booklets only explain the meaning of the holiday and its values,” Hikmatullo Sayfullozoda of the IRP complained to Forum 18 from Dushanbe on 13 November.
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