Baptist believers are threatened by the country’s feared police, a human rights organization said Monday, August 18.
The Barnabas Fund, which supports suffering Christians, said the Chief Mufti of the former Soviet republic "has joined forces with the police in at least four raids on unregistered churches" in the mainly Islamic country.
This latest crack-down also included a raid "during a prayer meeting" of a congregation in the eastern city of Turkmenabad which is "mainly serving deaf-mute Baptists," The Barnabas Fund and the well informed Forum 18News Service (F18News) said.
PRISON
The city police chief Alaverdy Khudoberdiev was quoted as saying that he defended the raid and that "the police had done nothing unlawful." Members were initially threatened with a 12-year prison sentence during the June 13 raid, but in the end received fines of $48 out of their monthly $58 invalidity benefit.
They also include two deaf-mute Baptist women who were summoned to a court last month, F18News said. A court in Turkmenabad ordered Olga Shchedrova and Nezire Kamalova to face fines and imprisonment for 15 days, F18News added.
"Attempts were made to force (Shchedrova) to deliver summonses to other Christians, which she refused to do. " Last month court officials took Shchedrova’s passport and withdrew all her pension for fines, while keeping the rest "for themselves," F18News said.
THREATENED
Kamalova’s non-Christian mother accompanied her to the court and after the hearing reportedly threatened to send her daughter to non-Christian relatives "in a distant village so that she will be unable to attend Christian services in Turkmenabad," said F18News.
It was unclear if the mother was pressured by authorities of Turkmenistan, which has the harshest religious policy of all the former Soviet republics, according to human rights watchers.
In a statement seen by BosNewsLife, The Barnabus Fund observed that "only Sunni Muslims and Orthodox Christians are free to meet together without restriction," while other groups "must apply for registration, which is often withheld."
RESTRICTION
"This restriction primarily targets Muslim extremist groups. However the personal attendance of the Chief Mufti, who is also deputy chairman of the Council for Religious Affairs, in raids on Protestant meetings suggests another agenda," The Barnabas Fund said.
It said it was crucial that Christians around the world "pray that the authorities relax restrictions on unregistered churches."
The Barnabas Fund stressed it was important to "pray for God’s blessing and protection on those ethnic Turkmen who are turning to the Lord." Turkmen make up about 72 percent of Turkmenistan’s over 4 million population, according to official estimates.
