Religious Repression Carries on Unabated in Turkmenistan

WEA-RLC Research and Analysis Report

September 6, 2013

Turkmenistan has been one of the most repressive countries in the world for over two decades, as key international actors continue to sideline the issue of religious and other freedoms due to their thirst for cheap energy. This Muslim-majority Central Asian nation possesses the world’s fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources.

Like some other countries in this region, Turkmenistan is “reminiscent of the old Soviet Union” as it commits serious human rights violations, “particularly through enacting and enforcing laws against freedom of religion or belief,” Katrina Lantos Swett and M. Zuhdi Jasser, Vice Chairs of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), wrote in an op-ed article in The Moscow Times recently.

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Turkmenistan: Raids, fines, exit denial, bloodied hands

Turmenistan has, probably, the most oppressive regime of all the former Soviet republics (and there is quite a competition 😦 )

Here is the latest Forum 18 report about religiouspersections in this country.

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Police and other unidentified officials who raided the home of a Baptist family in the northern city of Dashoguz dragged the father of the family, 77-year-old Begjan Shirmedov, from the house by his collar and beat the hands of his 68-year-old wife until they bled, Protestants told Forum 18 News Service. About 15 church members were questioned and religious literature seized. The raid came two weeks after a raid on another Protestant meeting in the city, with fines on three participants. One of those fined – Oleg Piyashev – was revisiting his homeland from Russia. A Russian and Turkmen citizen, he was banned from leaving Turkmenistan at Ashgabad airport on 23 September. The Russian Embassy told Forum 18 it is awaiting an explanation from the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.

Forum 18 – Another prisoner of conscience jailed on false charges

Forum 18 Search/Archive.

Turkmenistan is the most dictatorial post-communist regime in Central Asia.
A real shame for the civilised world.

Cele mai putin libere locuri din lume

Săptămânalul Foreign Policy publica pe 2 iulie un remarcabil fotoreportaj intitulat  “The Least Free Places on Earth”.

Vă invit să citiţi AICI textul scurt şi incisiv. Şi, mai ales, să vedeţi fotografiile extrem de relevante.