Uzbekistan

Where Persecution Comes From

In Uzbekistan, both the Uzbek government and Islamic culture are engage in Christian persecution. When former president Islam Karimov died in September 2016, he was succeeded by Shavkat Mirziyaev, leading many to hope that the situation in country would improve for Christians. Sadly, this has not been the case, and the government continues to persecute Christians and other religious minorities through local authorities, secret service agents and police. Christian converts from Muslim backgrounds bear a great deal of persecution from family, friends and community members who are intent on convincing them to return to their former faith.

How Christians are Suffering

All Christian communities in Uzbekistan experience one form of persecution or another, to varying degrees. The Russian Orthodox Church experiences the least persecution from the government, as it generally does not engage in outreach. Converts from Islam and other Christian communities face raids, threats, arrests, interrogation and fines, as well as the confiscation of religious materials. Homes are bugged, phones are tapped, and groups are infiltrated. Converts are also sometimes violently persecuted by their families, friends and communities for refusing to recant their faith.

Examples

In March 2017, state officials raided a flat in Tashkent in Uzbekistan where five Protestant women were meeting together. Authorities confiscated books, a computer and a camera. A month later, a district criminal court fined the group’s leader five times the minimum monthly wage for “carrying out an unauthorized religious activity.”