RUSSIA: "Extremism" religious freedom survey, July 2012

By Geraldine Fagan ("Forum 18 News Service," July 23, 2012)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37792/

The development most threatening to freedom of religion or belief in the Russian Federation is misapplication of the federal 2002 Extremism Law against those the authorities dislike. Such violations have increased dramatically since 2007 under both Presidents Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev.

"Extremism"-related religious freedom violations are now so extensive that they are here examined separately from Forum 18's July 2012 general religious freedom survey of Russia.

Legal background

Two provisions of Russia's federal Extremism Law of 2002 are typically used to criminalise legitimate religious activity. Prosecutors interpret one definition of extremism – "propaganda of the exclusivity, superiority or lack of equal worth of an individual on the basis of their .. religious .. adherence or attitude to religion" – as covering claims that a particular religion or belief is superior to others. However, the right to make such claims is a fundamental part of the internationally recognised right to freedom of religion or belief.

Prosecutors may also insist that such claims fall foul of a second definition of extremism in the Law - "incitement .. of religious discord". The Russian word for discord [rozn] has a broad definition – it may mean simply division. Yet Russia's judiciary ignores the discrepancy between this term and the far stricter corresponding wording of the Criminal Code – "actions directed at the incitement of hatred [nenavist] or enmity [vrazhda], as well as the humiliation of an individual or group of persons on the basis of .. attitude to religion" (Article 282). The Code may consequently be used to prosecute simple disagreement. When committed by an ordinary member of the public, and even if unaccompanied by violence or the threat of violence, the maximum punishment under Article 282 is two years' imprisonment.

Initially, the 2002 Law stipulated that "incitement of religious discord" had to be committed in connection with violence or the threat of violence. Prosecution of activities that had no association with violence became easier, however, when this stipulation was removed in July 2007. The overall toughening of Russia's approach towards "extremism" largely shadows repressive measures in China and various Central Asian states after their June 2001 Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism (of which Russia is a co-signatory). Yet that treaty links extremism exclusively with violent acts or the planning of violent acts, as the Council of Europe's Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) pointed out in its June 2012 critique of the 2002 Extremism Law (Opinion No. 660/2011). The Shanghai Convention is the only international treaty to which the Russian Federation is a party to contain a definition of extremism.

The 2002 Law's main mechanism for prosecuting the "offence" of criticising a religion or belief is the designation of literature containing such criticisms as extremist. Even a very low-level court may issue such a ruling. If not successfully challenged, this results in automatic placement of the offending literature on the Federal List of Extremist Materials. Once on the List, distribution is banned throughout Russia. Religious organisations associated with particular titles may also be ruled extremist. Their members are then liable to prosecution under two articles of the Criminal Code concerning organisation of extremist activity (Articles 282.1 and 282.2). The harshest punishment these articles allow is six years' imprisonment.

Aside from "extremism", the main feature of federal religious freedom policy has been the lack of such a policy. Particularly under former President Medvedev, however, officials have come to treat state-favoured organisations within the four faiths of Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism as the nation's privileged "traditional religions".

Books banned

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was first published by Russia's Justice Ministry in July 2007. As of 20 July 2012, it contained 1,359 entries. These include books and other forms of printed matter, and electronic materials such as image files, videos and websites. This figure is not exhaustive, however. A few entries appear twice, some are blank where titles have been excluded, and others list multiple items.

The Federal List is now so lengthy that thorough examination of each entry is impossible. The efficacy of banning texts is questionable (particularly in an internet age), as is whether a text can be definitively proven to have caused acts of hatred or enmity. For many items there is a defensible justification for their inclusion on the List, as their titles suggest white supremacist and/or ultranationalist content. Some of the Islamic authors listed, such as Sayyid Qutb and Abu Ala Maududi, have promoted violence. But the justification for the inclusion of other items is doubtful. For example, two texts on the list argue for peace and respect for human rights: Muslim theologian Muhammad ali Al-Hashimi's "The Personality of a Muslim"; and the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong's leaflet "Global Human Rights Torch Relay".

The 2002 Extremism Law was initially implemented against groups that might justifiably be prosecuted for extremism. One was the Islamist political movement Hizb ut-Tahrir, some of whose literature called for anti-Semitic violence, which led to prosecutions in Denmark and Germany. The methodology of Russian prosecutors in such cases was highly doubtful, however. In some trials – such as in the Siberian city of Tobolsk in 2005 - courts were not presented with proof of membership or possession of the movement's literature by those convicted, or proof of calls to violence in the literature concerned.

Since the mid-2000s, prosecutors have steadily widened their net to encompass religious groups whose beliefs do not encourage violence. Their efforts are now directed against two: readers of the works of Turkish Islamic theologian Said Nursi (who died in 1960), and Jehovah's Witnesses. As of early July 2012, 22 Russian translations of works by Nursi and 68 Jehovah's Witness titles were on the Federal List of Extremist Materials. (Banned by different courts, a few of these titles appear on the List twice.)

Nursi readers

The precise motivation for the campaign against Nursi readers is unclear, as is who is responsible for it at federal level. Broadly moderate in character, Nursi's works appeal to Muslims wishing to reconcile Islamic teaching and modernity; followers meet to discuss his works in private homes over cups of tea. Official statements – including by then FSB security service head Nikolai Patrushev in 2008 – point to government paranoia that Nursi readers form a pan-Turkic "fifth column" seeking to realign towards Turkey Muslims from among Russia's Turkic-speaking minorities, such as Tatars, Bashkirs and Kumyks. Yet some state officials also insist paradoxically - and wrongly - that Nursi's works are banned in Turkey.

The first significant ruling against Nursi readers came in May 2007, when a Moscow court declared extremist Russian translations of 14 parts of Nursi's Koranic commentary, "Risale-i Nur" [Messages of Light]. This decision relied solely upon linguistic textual analysis. It ignored powerful criticism from Russia's Ombudsperson for Human Rights, Vladimir Lukin, and even Russia's most pro-Kremlin Muslim leader, Talgat Tadzhuddin. In 2001 Tadzhuddin pronounced "Risale-i Nur" to be "far from religious extremism and fanaticism".

In April 2008 Russia's Supreme Court went on to ban Nurdzhular – a russification of the Turkish for "Nursi followers" - as an extremist organisation, although Russian Nursi readers have repeatedly insisted that no such distinct organisation exists. Raids by the FSB security service and riot police on Nursi readers' homes in disparate parts of Russia began in early 2009. To date, five Nursi readers have received prison terms of up to 18 months as alleged members of Nurdzhular; five others have received suspended prison sentences.

As of end June 2012, six more alleged Nurdzhular members are known to be under criminal investigation. In one case in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, the FSB is seeking to secure a conviction using enforced psychiatric examination, a practice reminiscent of the Soviet era. Since early 2011, websites featuring Nursi writings have been blocked in Krasnoyarsk and Lipetsk regions.

In a disturbing decision that could widen potential targets for arrest, 68 Muslim texts were ruled extremist by a court in the southern Urals region of Orenburg in March 2012, and added to the Federal List in July. They include three further Nursi titles, three editions of Said Wahf Al-Qahtani's entirely benign "Fortress of the Muslim", assorted Sufi writings, and collections of hadiths [sayings of the Prophet Mohammed]. The court ruling – which took the judge just 20 minutes to reach and came to light only in June – was issued partly on the basis of analysis by an Orthodox Christian, now a priest, whose website on Islam was itself investigated for extremism in 2008. The Council of Muftis – a major Russian Muslim organisation chaired by Mufti Ravil Gainutdin, who is publicly loyal to the Kremlin - has called the Orenburg ruling an "attempt to revive total ideological control" in Russia.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Hostility towards Jehovah's Witnesses, the second religious group most commonly targeted in Russia's counter-extremism drive, has more identifiable roots. The Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) is very hostile towards them. There is no evidence of a direct link, but the first phase of the state's sweeping campaign against Jehovah's Witnesses – 500 raids on their communities across the country – began just days after current Orthodox Patriarch Kirill was enthroned in February 2009. In Kemerovo and Sverdlovsk regions, state officials have requested analyses of Jehovah's Witness beliefs from local Patriarchate dioceses, and public prosecutors commonly enlist Patriarchate clergy as prosecution witnesses in related extremism trials.

In September 2009 a "counter-extremism" case launched on the back of one of the 500 February raids resulted in a court in the Black Sea region of Rostov ruling 34 Jehovah's Witness books and tracts extremist, as well as a ban on the local Jehovah's Witness organisation in the town of Taganrog. The court relied upon doubtful expert analysis that considered extremist references to traditional Christianity as a "false religion" and citation of Leo Tolstoy's criticism of Orthodoxy. Russia's Supreme Court upheld the ruling in December 2009, however, and courts in Altai republic, Kemerovo and Krasnodar regions have since designated a further 34 Jehovah's Witness titles extremist.

By early 2010, Russian Jehovah's Witnesses were reporting hundreds of detentions of their members while out preaching. They were typically held for several hours, searched for literature, fingerprinted and photographed, but not charged. Then, in July 2010, pensioner Aleksei Fedorin of Rostov region became the first Jehovah's Witness in post-Soviet Russia to be convicted for distributing their religious literature – a standard occurrence in the latter Soviet period. As this was a lesser, administrative prosecution, Fedorin was punished with a small fine: it was left to prosecutors to decide whether to pursue "production or distribution of extremist materials" under the Code of Administrative Offences (Article 20.29) or to prosecute under the Criminal Code (see above).

The first post-Soviet criminal trial of a Jehovah's Witness for allegedly distributing extremist literature began in October 2010 against a congregation leader, Aleksandr Kalistratov, in southern Siberia's Altai republic. While convicted in November 2011, Kalistratov successfully appealed and was acquitted in December 2011, two years after the case against him was launched. Even without a final conviction, the long-running nature of "extremism"-related cases such as Kalistratov's can itself prove a form of punishment.

Kalistratov's final acquittal was not the end of the campaign, however. The 2002 Law's empowering of low-level courts allows multiple prosecutions until a criminal conviction is reached. Begun after Kalistratov's case, two criminal extremism trials against three Jehovah's Witnesses continue in the disparate regions of Transbaikal and Astrakhan. In Astrakhan region, large portions of a key analysis in the continuing trial against Yelena Grigoryeva were found to have been copied from anti-"sect" websites, yet the judge has refused to reject this analysis as inadmissible evidence. In a third, seven-month trial in the republic of Mari El, Jehovah's Witness Maksim Kalinin was acquitted on 20 July 2012.

While some local administrations are more active than others, state-sponsored moves against Jehovah's Witnesses have now taken place in 80 per cent of Russia's 83 regions. In 2011 alone, the Jehovah's Witnesses reported 266 detentions, police raids and new administrative cases. Since late 2011, access to Jehovah's Witness websites has been blocked by courts in Buryatia, Chuvashia and Mari El republics, Altai and Transbaikal krais, Belgorod, Ivanovo, Kemerovo, Krasnodar and Lipetsk regions.

"Counter-extremism" drive unchecked

The state campaign against Jehovah's Witnesses shows no sign of abating: in May 2012 raids took place on at least 16 of their homes and places of worship in Orenburg region. Numerous further criminal investigations against individual Jehovah's Witnesses have yet to reach court. May 2012 charges against 17 named members of the outlawed Taganrog community are particularly significant, as participation in a banned extremist organisation is easier to prosecute than distribution of extremist literature.

In June 2011 Russia's Supreme Court issued an instruction seeking to soften implementation of the 2002 Extremism Law. Positively, it recommended that criticism of religious associations, convictions and customs "in and of itself should not be considered as action directed at inciting hatred or enmity". In its June 2012 critique of the 2002 Law, the Venice Commission further pointed out that, since the European Court of Human Rights protects "the freedom of the members of any religious community or church to 'try to convince' other people through 'teachings' (..) only manifestations of this freedom can be limited, but not the teachings themselves."

Such warnings are having next to no impact, however. Russia's leaders are well aware of the troubling trend in counter-extremism strategy. As recently as April 2012, then-President Dmitri Medvedev was briefed by human rights defender Georgi Dzhibladze specifically on the Jehovah's Witnesses' and Nursi readers' problems at a meeting of the Russian President's Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights. Yet the Kremlin has failed to act.

There is no reason to suppose that pursuit of "extremism" will stop with Muslim readers of Nursi's works and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Other groups now widely regarded in Russia as "non-traditional" or "sects" have already been targeted occasionally, if so far not convicted. From June 2008 onwards law enforcement agents detained, investigated or warned Baptists, Hare Krishna devotees, Lutherans and Pentecostals in connection with extremism.

In 2011 prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk unsuccessfully tried to have the Russian translation of the "Bhagavad-Gita As it Is" – a key text for Hare Krishna devotees – ruled extremist. The case was dismissed in March 2012 following fierce criticism in India. This highlighted the Russian government's incoherent approach to counter-extremism, as to religious affairs more broadly (see Forum 18's July 2012 general religious freedom survey of Russia. Russia's ambassador to India even dismissed his fellow state officials in Tomsk who had initiated the case as "madmen".

Securitisation of religion

At the forefront of "counter-extremism" moves against religious believers is the FSB security service. Its officers are actively involved in most prosecutions, even purchasing a copy of the "Bhagavad-Gita As it Is" at a local Indian shop in the Tomsk case. Often, the approach of law enforcement agents is heavy-handed, with rough treatment by riot police. Some of the May 2012 raids on Jehovah's Witnesses in Orenburg region involved masked spetsnaz officers (normally tasked with roles such as counter-terrorism), including 12 who conducted a 15-hour raid on an elderly couple in very poor health.

Following raids on Jehovah's Witnesses in Taganrog, a local FSB officer told Forum 18 in March 2012 that the FSB counters "terrorism and extremism". (He refused to say which category he thought Jehovah's Witnesses fell into; Russia's 2006 Terrorism Law in any case equates terrorism with extremism.) The 2002 Law's definition of extremism is so broad that it thus allows legitimate religious activity to enter the brief of the security agencies. What lies behind this is an attitude common within the state, Orthodox Church and society that views even non-violent manifestations of "non-traditional" religious belief as a threat to the Russian nation, and therefore national security. It is increasingly reminiscent of the criminalisation of religious activities without state permission in the late Soviet period, and has negative implications for the state's treatment of other activities officials dislike, such as political opposition.

The hooliganism charges against punk group Pussy Riot for an impromptu February 2012 performance inside Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral are not a specifically religious freedom issue. But the state labelled the performance as motivated by "religious hatred and enmity" in a May 2012 police indictment against a Pussy Riot member. The indictment is notable for its equation of opposition to Orthodox Christianity with criminal activity. It accuses the group of "opposing the Orthodox world", "attempting to devalue church (..) dogma treasured and revered for centuries" and even "disparaging the spiritual foundations of the state".

European Court of Human Rights

While very slow, one possibility for redress against misapplication of the 2002 Extremism Law is the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In June 2010 Jehovah's Witnesses lodged a complaint with the European Court over Russia's upholding of the Rostov regional ban on 34 Jehovah's Witness titles and their Taganrog community (Application No. 32401/10). By March 2012, Jehovah's Witnesses had submitted a further 13 applications to the European Court centring on numerous "counter-extremism" actions by the Russian state, including raids, prosecutions and bans on literature. The Court has yet to declare these cases admissible, and if it does it will be some years before they are heard.

In spring 2011 the European Court began to consider the admissibility of a joint complaint lodged in December 2007 against the banning of various Islamic works (Application No. 1413/08). It centres on the 2004 Moscow court ruling outlawing 14 parts of Nursi's "Risale-i Nur" and a similar August 2007 ruling by Buguruslan City Court (Orenburg region) against 17 Islamic texts, including Al-Hashimi's "The Personality of a Muslim". The Court has yet to reach a decision.

North Caucasus

As with the wider religious freedom situation (see previous survey), implementation of the 2002 Extremism Law differs markedly in the North Caucasus. Numerous courts there have added materials to the Federal List of Extremist Materials, particularly Islamist insurgent websites. Yet other than Nursi readers in Dagestan, practically no "extremism"-related prosecutions of individuals have occurred.

In the North Caucasus the state's "counter-extremism" strategy is far cruder. In the republics of Chechnya and Dagestan in particular, those dubbed "Wahhabis" [Muslims adhering to a purist form of Islam critical of Sufism] - and sometimes men merely with a devout Muslim appearance - may be detained as extremists by the law enforcement agencies. Local residents report that they are frequently tortured, and in some cases disappear, allegations very occasionally confirmed by state officials.

The state's crude response to violent Islamist attacks serves only to fuel local support for the Islamists, resulting in a climate of fear in which religious freedom is severely limited.

Conclusion

So far, only a small proportion of investigations into alleged religious "extremism" have resulted in harsh criminal prosecutions. This suggests that on some level law enforcement agents are aware their targets in fact pose little danger to state security. Yet the proliferation of such cases - particularly since 2007 - points to the growth in Russia of the idea that criticism of one religion by adherents of another is a punishable offence. This idea is not challenged by state officials, who are usually anxious to contain opposition of all kinds in order to secure their own positions. In particular, it is unlikely to be countered by ex-FSB security service chief Putin. It thus represents a serious threat to prospects for freedom of religion or belief in Russia.

Rights groups see politics behind rise in Muslim hate crimes

By Carol J. Williams ("Chicago Tribune," April 26, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37186/

Chicago, USA - The Oslo courtroom where confessed mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is on trial offers a look at a tragic outcome of anti-Islamic hostility.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, years of war and repeated calls for violence against the West stirred worldwide fears of Muslim extremism, but many human rights analysts say they find it difficult to explain a recent surge in anti-Islamic hate crimes other than political manipulation and fears that displays of Islamic faith herald new threats from radicals.

In Europe and in North America, where incidents of Islamic extremism have been few and rarely fatal since the Sept. 11 attacks, anti-Muslim hate crimes have increased over the last two years as states enacted laws barring mosque construction and the wearing of veils, head scarves and beards meant to reflect the depth of Muslims' faith, not fanaticism.

A report this week by Amnesty International identifies widespread prejudice in Europe, where far-right political parties have gained traction with anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant fear-mongering that has served to legitimize discrimination against Muslims in the eyes of many.

Amnesty said political leaders, rather than combating fears of Islamic extremism and the equating of the devout with the radical, have been pandering to prejudice against Muslims in a quest for votes.

Recent legislative actions in France, Belgium, Spain, Turkey and Switzerland restrict the open practice of Muslims' faith. Swiss voters in 2009 passed a referendum banning construction of minarets in the alpine country, in one of the more powerful displays of anxiety about the continent's 44 million Muslims. Other European nations have acted to restrict Islamic dress in schools and offices and largely ignored employment discrimination against Muslims, Amnesty said.

The curbs aren't confined to Europe, U.S. Islamic leaders say, citing the recent battle over building an Islamic cultural center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and the legislative campaigns in at least 20 U.S. states to bar judges from recognizing sharia, the strict Islamic legal doctrine, which has no authority in the United States because judges are sworn to uphold the Constitution.

"The bizarre bans on Islamic attire and efforts to target mosques in Europe have great similarities to what we see here in the United States," said Ibrahim Hooper, national spokesman for theCouncil on American-Islamic Relations.

Hooper recalled the emotional showdown over the $100-million Islamic cultural center renovation a few blocks from the site of the terrorist attacks in New York, and right-wing lawmakers' holding of congressional hearings on the threat of Islamic radicalization.

"It's all an effort to demonize Islam and marginalize Muslims in society," Hooper said. "Anders Breivik is the logical conclusion of the extremist views being promoted here and in Europe."

Violent extremism exists in America, the Center for American Progress said in a similar report last year, taking note of a sharp and unexplained rise in hate crimes against Muslims.

"Across the globe, there are terrorists killing in the name of Islam, but a new study from the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Military Academy shows that Al Qaeda attacks kill eight times more Muslims than non-Muslims," the Washington-based think tank said.

In its research on European attitudes toward Muslims, Amnesty pointed to the rising clout of right-wing political parties that play on citizens' fears of those openly espousing their faith and called on elected leaders to fight the portrayal of Islam as a violent theology. The Italian Northern League, Spain's Platform for Catalonia, the National Front in France and the National Union Attack of Bulgaria, a country where hundreds of thousands of Muslims have lived for centuries, have all gained political followings on anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant platforms.

"These parties have instrumentalized public sentiments of anxiety and disenchantment and have contributed to Islam being identified as the 'most significant enemy,' by promoting ideologies of ethnic nationalism and notions of a 'clash of civilizations,' " Amnesty warned.

There is general agreement among Europeans that racial discrimination is unacceptable, "but this isn't the case with discrimination due to religion, especially Islam," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty's director for Europe and Central Asia, citing United Nations and Council of Europe research on anti-discrimination laws in member states.

The rights group reported that Muslim women who apply for jobs with their heads or faces covered are routinely passed over or offered positions on condition they remove the veils.

"Employers argue that employees wearing a head scarf can make colleagues feel uncomfortable or that they don't fit into their company's image," said Marco Perolini, Amnesty's discrimination expert and co-author of the report. "Rather than countering these prejudices, political parties and public officials are all too often pandering to them in their quest for votes."

In the Center for American Progress report, analysts blamed the fears stirred about Muslims in North America on a handful of ideologues and well-heeled institutions bankrolling their propaganda. Some of the "experts" they accused of spreading false facts about the propensity for Muslims to embrace extremism were cited by Breivik in his rambling manifesto about his attacks in Norway last July that killed 77 people.

In its just-released analysis, the Southern Poverty Law Center cited FBI national crime statistics showing a jump from 107 anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2009 to 160 in 2010, noting that the federal agency's statistics "are known to vastly understate the real level of hate crime."

The rise was the most dramatic since the first months after Sept. 11, when attacks on Muslims rose 1,600% to 481 by the end of 2001, said Mark Potok, editor of the law center's latest intelligence report.

"The anti-Muslim wave that we saw in 2010, in my opinion, has been entirely ginned up by opportunistic politicians and professional Islamophobes," Potok said.

He expects the trend to continue once hate crime statistics for last year are available, citing the rash of anti-sharia bills and fierce resistance to construction of mosques in communities including Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Sheboygan, Wis.; and Temecula, Calif.

"What public figures say really matters," Potok said. "We still have police and sheriffs inviting in hard-line Islamophobes to teach law enforcement about Muslims."

First known use of harsh new punishments

By Felix Corley ("Forum 18 News Service," February 14, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36925/

Kazakhstan - In the first use known to Forum 18 News Service of the expanded and increased punishments for exercising rights to religious freedom in an Amending Law adopted at the same time as the harsh new Religion Law, a Baptist in eastern Kazakhstan has been fined what local people estimate to be a year and a half's average local wages for leading an unregistered religious organisation. Shoe-repairer and father of ten, Aleksei Asetov was fined 485,400 Tenge (18,725 Norwegian Kroner, 2,486 Euros or 3,273 US Dollars) for leading the small congregation that meets in his home in Ekibastuz in Pavlodar Region, local Baptists complained to Forum 18 on 11 February. The judge also banned the congregation, which does not wish to gain state registration. Asetov has appealed against the fine.

Meanwhile, a Pentecostal church in Petropavl [Petropavlovsk] in North Kazakhstan Region has twice been raided by the police Department for the Fight against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism and a local official of the Agency of Religious Affairs (ARA). They want the Church punished for leaving religious books on a table, about ten metres (10 yards) from the entrance to a hall they rent for worship.

Prosecutor, Anti-terrorism Police raid church building

Trouble began for Asetov and the Ekibastuz Baptist congregation, in north-eastern Kazakhstan, at lunchtime on 30 November 2011. Rauan Zhakupov, aide to the town Prosecutor, and two officers of the Department for the Fight against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism raided the church building then, Baptists told Forum 18. The congregation, which meets in Asetov's home, belongs to the Baptist Council of Churches, which chooses not to seek state registration in any of the former Soviet republics where it operates. Asetov supports his family by working as a shoe-repairer.

The officials then called an "investigatory-operational group", which searched the building, including the parts of the house where Asetov, his wife and their ten children live. They seized Christian literature but, church members complain, gave no record of confiscation.

Court documents in Asetov's case seen by Forum 18 describe the raid as a "check-up". The documents reveal that a case was brought against Asetov on 14 January for leading an unregistered religious organisation under the old Article 375, Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences ("Refusal by leaders of religious associations to register them with state bodies, carrying out of activity by religious associations not in accordance with their statute, participating in the activity of or financing political parties, violating the rules governing holding of religious events outside the location of a religious association, organising of special children's or youth meetings not related to worship, and forcing individuals to carry out religious rituals").

However, at a hearing on 19 January, Judge Aigul Kaidarova of Ekibastuz Specialised Administrative Court sent the case back to prosecutors, pointing out that the case had been brought under the old Article 375 which had been amended in October 2011. The Judge described the "mistake committed by the organs of the Prosecutor's Office" as "significant", and ordered them to reformulate the case.

New charges

Prosecutors then brought the case under the new Article 375, Part 8 of the Code of Administrative Offences ("The carrying out by religious associations of activity banned by legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the failure by religious associations to remove within the designated time period violations serving as a basis for the halting of their activity"). This punishes leaders of religious associations with a fine of 300 Monthly Financial Indicators (MFIs) and religious associations a fine of 500 MFIs, plus a ban on the religious association's activity.

The MFI is set annually, and since 1 January 2012 has been 1,618 Tenge (62 Norwegian Kroner, 8 Euros, and 11 US Dollars). This is just below one tenth of the official minimum monthly wage.

At Ekibastuz Specialised Administrative Court the case was then handed to Judge Galliya Rakhmatullina. She found Asetov guilty at a hearing on the afternoon of 8 February and handed down the heavy fine of 300 MFIs. Asetov appealed against the sentence, local Baptists told Forum 18, insisting that his right to religious freedom is guaranteed by Article 39 of Kazakhstan Constitution.

First known use of harsh new punishments

Asetov is the fourth Baptist – and the fifth member of a religious community - known to have been fined since the harsh new Religion Law and associated punishments were adopted, but the first to be tried under the new penalties. He was punished under the greatly expanded Article 375 of the Code of Administrative Offences ("Violation of legislation on religious activity and religious associations"). The new version was adopted as part of an Amending Law signed by President Nursultan Nazarbaev on 11 October 2011 It came into force on 25 October 2011. No provisions in the drafts of both the Religion and Amending Laws were altered.

A Muslim was fined and ordered deported in November 2011, for occasionally leading prayers in his local mosque without being personally registered as a "missionary", but under the provisions of the old Administrative Code Article 375 Part 3 ("Carrying out missionary activity without local registration").

The other three Baptists were all fined under Article 374-1 Part 2 ("Participation in the activity of a banned religious organisation") of the Administrative Code. This was not changed in the October 2011 Amending Law.

"The law required her to do this"

The woman who answered the phone at Ekibastuz Prosecutor's Officer on 13 February refused to put Forum 18 through to Deputy Prosecutor Erzhan Dyusekenov, the only senior official present. She also refused to put Forum 18 through to Zhakupov, the aide who took part in the November 2011 raid.

The Court refused to put Forum 18 through to Judge Rakhmatullina on 13 February. "She's not authorised to speak to journalists," the Court secretary – who did not give her name - said. Asked how the judge could punish an individual merely for meeting for worship in a privately-owned home, the secretary responded: "What else could she do? The law required her to do this."

The duty number at Ekibastuz Police was engaged or went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 13 and 14 February.

Refusal to pay fines

Council of Churches Baptists have a policy of not paying fines handed down to punish them for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief. In response, the authorities give some short terms of imprisonment. Baptist leader Nikolai Popov from the town of Balkhash in Karaganda [Qaraghandy] Region was imprisoned for 48 hours in early December 2011 for refusing to pay fines handed down in October 2011 for leading meetings for religious worship.

In other such cases, court bailiffs have confiscated property including washing machines, or the value of the fines has (for those in work) been taken direct from individuals' wages. This happened to Viktor Gutyar, who works in a coal mine.

Anti-terrorism Police against a book table

Elsewhere, the New Life Pentecostal church in the northern city of Petropavl has twice been raided by the police Department for the Fight against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism and a local official of the Agency of Religious Affairs (ARA). They want the Church punished for leaving religious books on a table, about ten metres (10 yards) from the entrance to a hall they rent for worship in a House of Culture.

"There is no logic to their actions," the church's pastor Valery Rudoy complained to Forum 18 from Petropavl on 13 February. "The local ARA Department took it on itself to enforce the new Religion Law and turned to other state organs to help them. But there is no mechanism yet to enforce the new Religion Law."

Drafts of Regulations to implement the Religion Law – such as censorship regulations which break international human rights law – exist, but none have been promulgated.

The raid

The Protestant New Life Church was raided during its Sunday worship on 29 January, church members told Forum 18. Leading the raid was Aubakir Karmenov, an official of North Kazakhstan Region Department of the ARA. He was accompanied by two officers of the police Department for the Fight against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism. The officials gave no written reason for what they described as a "check-up".

They confiscated several New Testaments, books by the American Christian author Josh McDowell, and DVDs of a film on Mary Magdalene, which they found on a table in the foyer. Pastor Rudoy pointed out that the literature was for personal use by church members and a notice stating this was on the table.

Rudoy told Forum 18 that the church does not know exactly how many books and discs were seized as officers refused to give them a record of confiscation. He added that these books and discs had belonged to the church for at least 18 months, long before the harsh new provisions of the October 2011 Religion Law.

Religious affairs official Karmenov told the church that all religious literature was subject to an "expert analysis" by Agency officials, regardless of when a religious community had acquired it.

The wide-ranging censorship and other powers contained in the new Religion and Amending laws, which break Kazakhstan's international human rights obligations, have been strongly criticised by local human rights defenders. One legal expert described the laws as a "legal nonsense", noting that the ARA will require "hundreds of cupboards to store thousands of Korans and Bibles".

After confiscating the religious material, officials then drew up a document recording an administrative offence of distributing illegal literature. However, Pastor Rudoy refused to sign it. He maintains that if the authorities are planning to bring an administrative case against him, the documents allowing them to do so were not properly prepared. "If they wanted to do this, they should have prepared a protocol of an offence, which has to be done at the time and duly signed," he told Forum 18. "Instead they drew up a record."

Rudoy added that officials again visited the church during Sunday worship on 12 February.

"The Church violated the Religion Law"

The head of the North Kazakhstan Regional Department of the ARA, Nurislyam Gabdullin defended his subordinate's actions. "There was no raid – we work in accordance with the law," he insisted to Forum 18 from Petropavl on 6 February. "The Church violated the Religion Law by distributing religious literature."

Gabdullin said the Church has the right to distribute literature which the state has approved to church members in the place where it worships. "But they rent only the hall in the former Culture House, not the foyer. The hall and the foyer are separate." He admitted that the table in the foyer was between ten and 20 metres (or yards) from the entrance to the hall. Asked by Forum 18 if religious literature which was legal in the hall suddenly became illegal when it was taken out of the hall and into the foyer, he responded: "Yes."

Books and discs "being checked"

Gabdullin of the North Kazakhstan ARA insisted to Forum 18 that Pastor Rudoy did not have a list of the confiscated books because he refused to accept it. He said the Department is holding the books and discs and will "check" them within a two-month period. "If we don't find anything negative in them we will return them." Asked why the New Testament for example needed to be examined as he must have seen copies of it before, Gabdullin said all religious literature needed to be checked.

"We have experts here in Petropavl, even though it is a small town, but if further questions arise the books and discs will be sent to the capital," he explained. He said the local "experts" are scholars from the university ready to conduct such analyses without pay. "They want to preserve the purity of religion." Gabdullin found it difficult to explain what he meant by "purity", speaking of "non-traditional faiths". Asked to identify such faiths he spoke of "Protestants who act under the mask of religion". However, he then insisted that not all Protestants should be banned.

"Extremism" and "non-traditional" are terms used by officials in relation to people exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief in ways officials dislike. For example, a Military Affairs Directorate in Almaty wrote to local religious communities, ordering them to "provide information on citizens on record as followers of non-traditional religions and radical religious views". Yet officials were unable to define what these religions and views are when asked by Forum 18.

Asked whether it is the role of the state to determine which religious literature is "pure" and whether this did not constitute state censorship, Gabdullin of North Kazakhstan ARA insisted it was not censorship. "I read [Aleksandr] Solzhenitsyn during the Soviet period," he claimed. "No one punished us."

The ARA in the capital Astana has prepared draft Censorship Regulations to implement the harsh censorship provisions of the new Religion Law. However, as of 14 January, the Censorship Regulations are not known to have been formally adopted and have not been published. Therefore no "legal" mechanism exists for officials to implement this state censorship, which brakes international human rights law.

Is New Life Church "extremist" or "terrorist"?

North Kazakhstan Region Police refused to put Forum 18 through to the Department for the Fight against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism, referring all questions to the police Press Office. However, press officer Inspector Dinara Sagandykova asked that all questions be submitted in writing. Forum 18 asked in writing on 6 February why officers of the Department for the Fight against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism had taken part in the 29 January raid on New Life Church, whether police consider the Church "extremist" or "terrorist" and whether any prosecution is likely to follow.

Despite Forum 18 re-sending the questions several times, Sagandykova told Forum 18 they did not arrive until late on 14 February. She had not responded the end of the working day in Kazakhstan on 14 February.

Will New Life face prosecution?

Pastor Rudoy stated to Forum 18 that officials still want to punish him and the church with a massive fine and a three-month ban on the church. He says officials have tried to get him to visit the Religious Affairs Department because they want him to sign falsified documents on the raid which would allow a prosecution to proceed. He has refused to visit the Department.

Despite saying that New Life Church violated the Religion Law, Gabdullin insisted to Forum 18 that no-one is trying to punish or ban it. Asked why his Department repeatedly calls Pastor Rudoy to invite him to visit, Gabdullin claimed he merely wants to discuss the situation with him and resolve any problems.

Fines, fines

Other Council of Churches Baptists continue to be fined. Ivan Yantsen, from Temirtau in Karaganda Region, was fined on 21 December 2011 for participating in unregistered religious worship after at least six court hearings.

The verdict seen by Forum 18 notes that on 17 November 2011 as part of "Operation Legal Order", three named local police officers visited the private home where Yantsen's church meets. They established that the 62-year-old took part in the Church's activity, a claim Yantsen confirmed in court. He said the Church has been meeting in the same building since 1991 and denied any wrongdoing.

Judge Yelena Kirillova of Temirtau City Specialised Administrative Court found Yantsen guilty under Administrative Code Article 374-1, Part 2 ("Participation in the activity of a banned religious organisation"). In line with the prosecutor's demands she fined him 50 MFIs, 75,600 Tenge (2,916 Norwegian Kroner, 387 Euros or 510 US Dollars).

On 11 January 2012, Judge Adilkhan Talas of Karaganda Regional Court rejected Yantsen's appeal, according to the verdict seen by Forum 18.

Another Council of Churches Baptist from Karaganda Region was also fined, this time for leading unregistered religious meetings. On 11 January, the Specialised Administrative Court in the town of Shakhtinsk fined Yevgeni Savin, according to the verdict seen by Forum 18. The case followed a raid on his home (where his church meets) on the evening of 9 November 2011 when he was not present and no service was underway. He was summoned and officials came in and photographed the church meeting room and began preparing the case against him.

Savin told the court that his church has met in a room specially fitted out for religious meetings in his home since 1998 and is "open for free access". The Court was shown a photo of the Church's meeting room with benches and a piano. However, Savin said that the beliefs of his community do not allow it to seek state registration. He insisted that meeting for worship without legal status does not constitute a crime.

Judge Aliya Mardanova found him guilty of violating Administrative Code Article 374-1, Part 1 ("leading, participating in or financing an unregistered, halted or banned religious community or social organisation"). She fined him 100 MFIs, 161,800 Tenge (6,242 Norwegian Kroner, 829 Euros or 1,091 US Dollars).

Savin then appealed to Karaganda Regional Court but, on 25 January, Judge Nadezhda Kuznetsova rejected his appeal, according to the verdict seen by Forum 18.

Continuing pattern

Fines on those who lead and take part in meetings for religious worship without registration have been common across Kazakhstan for many years. Victims have included Protestants, Muslims, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Another Council of Churches Baptist, Aleksey Buka from the village of Kievka in Karaganda Region, was fined on 1 December 2011 for participating in unregistered meetings for worship. Charges against Buka and two other Baptists were brought under the still current Article 374-1, Part 2 ("Participation in the activity of a banned religious organisation") of the Administrative Code.

A Muslim was fined and ordered deported back to his home country elsewhere in Central Asia for occasionally leading prayers in his local mosque without being personally registered as a "missionary". A Judge found him guilty in mid-November 2011 of violating the old Article 375, Part 3 of the Code of Administrative Offences ("Carrying out missionary activity without local registration"). The Judge sentenced him to a fine of 7,560 Tenge (298 Norwegian Kroner, 39 Euros or 51 US Dollars) and deportation from Kazakhstan. He was deported in mid-December 2011 after his appeal was rejected.

Police raid and charge "people in strange clothes"

By Felix Corley ("Forum 18 News Service," May 29, 2012)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37389/?&section=hari-krishna

Russia - Police in Russia on 22 May raided an evening lecture for Izhevsk's Hare Krishna community, Forum 18 News Service has learned. "They were conducting a public event of the Hare Krishna Society – such events must be approved," police Captain Larisa Ignatyeva told Forum 18 from Izhevsk, capital of the Udmurt Republic in the Urals, on 25 May.

The lecture in a rented hall was on the Srimad Bhagavatam, also known as the Bhagavad-Gita, a Hindu scriptural text that is very important for Hare Krishna devotees. "I am governed by the law and I believe I did well." Captain Ignatyeva stated. Following her action a local Hare Krishna leader is now facing charges under Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences' Article 20.2 ("Violation of the established procedure for organising or conducting a gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession, or picket") for failing to inform the authorities in advance of the meeting.

Article 20.2 imposes fines for organising or taking part in an unauthorised gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession or picket. The fines it imposes are currently small, up to the equivalent of two weeks' official minimum wage. But a controversial draft Law has been introduced, following public protests against the election of President Vladimir Putin, which may massively increase such fines. The draft has passed its first reading in Russia's State Duma, and may pass through all Duma stages in June (see below).

The text of The Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, a Hare Krishna commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, has itself attracted official attempts to have it declared extremist and placed on the Federal List of Extremist Materials. This would have made anyone distributing them or storing them with the intention of distributing them liable to criminal prosecution, but these attempts were rejected by a court in the Siberian city of Tomsk on 21 March. Tomsk Regional Prosecutor Vasily Voikin told RIA-Novosti news agency on 29 May that he had finally decided not to challenge this decision.

Izhevsk lecture raided

The lecture Izhevsk's Hare Krishna community had arranged was being held in the rented hall of the city's 2nd Children's Polyclinic. The lecture was part of a programme of events involving a visiting Hare Krishna leader from the Urals community, Shikshashtaka prabhu.

Police Captain Ignatyeva, together with a police Lieutenant Colonel and two men in civilian clothes, arrived and stopped the meeting, Hare Krishna lawyer Mikhail Frolov told Forum 18 from Moscow on 25 May. One of the men in civilian clothes recorded the lecture on video. They then began to question Shikshashtaka prabhu, who was giving the lecture. They then allowed the lecture to continue while they began questioning the organiser. Captain Ignatyeva then drew up the record of an "offence" under Article 20.2, which has been seen by Forum 18.

Captain Ignatyeva told Forum 18 all four were police officers. She said the video was made to confirm the fact of the "illegal" meeting.

She insisted that the Hare Krishna community was holding not a communal event but a public event. She maintained that the authorities need to be informed. "They can't meet for such purposes in a polyclinic."

"People in strange clothes"

Asked whether – as in many similar raids – the FSB security service had been involved, Captain Ignatyeva said "No". She told Forum 18 that local residents "with small children" had complained to the police that they had seen "people in strange clothes" in the Polyclinic. Asked if the Hare Krishna devotees had disturbed the work of the Clinic or caused any disruption or harm to any of the clinic users, she said they had not.

Captain Ignatyeva said the administrative case against the local leader had been handed to a Magistrate at Judicial Unit No. 7, of Izhevsk's Oktyabr District.

Hare Krishna lawyer Frolov insisted to Forum 18 that no requirement exists under the Religion Law to inform the local authorities of such religious events. He stressed that Izhevsk's Hare Krishna community maintains good relations with the local authorities. Unlike in some other places in Russia, he noted, Hare Krishna devotees have not been prevented by Izhevsk's authorities from processing through the streets.

Outdoor public religious activity, such as processions, by Jehovah's Witnesses, Hare Krishna devotees and Protestants has in some cases resulted in harassment by the police and repeated bans.

Raids leading to charges under Article 20.2

Jehovah's Witnesses have also experienced raids leading to charges under Article 20.2. About 14 raids or visits to their meetings in rented venues for religious purposes across Russia are known to have taken place in 2012, spokesperson Grigory Martynov told Forum 18 from St Petersburg on 25 May. Eleven administrative cases under Article 20.2 have been launched, although only three had concluded with a conviction by 25 May, he added.

Protestants have, like Jehovah's Witnesses, also frequently faced raids on meetings in rented venues and Article 20.2 cases in recent years, including in 2011. However, no such cases are known to have occurred in 2012, Nikolai Semyonov, a lawyer with the Moscow-based Slavic Centre for Law and Justice, and Inna Zagrebina of the Moscow-based Guild of Experts on Religion and Law separately told Forum 18 from Moscow.

Article 20.2

Procedures for gatherings, meetings, demonstrations, processions and pickets are set out in the 2004 Demonstrations Law. Administrative Code Article 20.2, which is linked to the Demonstrations Law, punishes "violation of the established procedure for organising or conducting a gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession, or picket".

Article 20.2, Part 1, which punishes organising such an unauthorised meeting, carries a fine of 1,000 to 2,000 Roubles. (1,000 Roubles, which is almost one week's official minimum wage, is equivalent to 187 Norwegian Kroner, 25 Euros, or 30 US Dollars.)

Article 20.2, Part 2, which punishes carrying out such an unauthorised meeting, carries a fine on organisers of 1,000 to 2,000 Roubles, and on participants of 500 to 1,000 Roubles.

Religious leaders have often faced Article 20.2 charges after police, FSB security service and Prosecutor's Office raids on religious meetings in rented venues. Legal specialists have told Forum 18 that Article 20.2 does not apply to religious meetings, and is in these cases being used in ways that break Russia's Constitution. This has led to such administrative cases being cancelled on appeal.

"Extremism"-related raids

In addition to raids on meetings for religious worship in rented venues, the FSB security service, ordinary police and Prosecutor's Office officials often raid private homes (including when religious meetings are underway) to gather "evidence" in "extremism"-related criminal cases. Muslims who read the works of the late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi and Jehovah's Witnesses are particularly targeted.

In one recent example of such raids, at least 16 such raids were launched early on 4 May on Jehovah's Witness homes and places of worship in five towns in Orenburg Region. And following an 11 February raid on the Kaliningrad home of Muslim Nursi reader Amir Abuev, he is still facing an FSB-instigated criminal case and attempts to have him psychiatrically examined.

Unlike The Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, 68 Jehovah's Witness publications and 19 of the works of Nursi in Russian translations are among those to have been declared to be "extremist" and banned by local courts. These works have then been placed on the Federal List.

Bashkortostan raid

Such "extremism"-related raids continue. Prosecutor's Office officials and FSB security service raided a Jehovah's Witness meeting in the town of Uchaly in Bashkortostan in the southern Urals on 5 May. Officials waited until the end of the meeting before questioning the approximately 14 people who had gathered for the meeting in a rented venue. Some were questioned for up to three hours about why they were holding the meeting, Jehovah's Witnesses complained to Forum 18. Not only the hall but the home of Stanislav Marchishen, the head of the local Jehovah's Witness community, was searched without a warrant.

On 14 May, a record of an "offence" was drawn up (seen by Forum 18), detailing the FSB and Prosecutor's Office raid. It accused Marchishen of violating Administrative Code Article 20.2, Part 1. Marchishen wrote on the document that the case violated his constitutional rights and that he refused to give any testimony. The case was due to be heard by a Magistrate on 28 May, but has been postponed until 4 June.

Police and FSB raid in Kaliningrad

On 5 April, police including officers from the local Anti-Extremism Centre with FSB security service officers raided a Jehovah's Witness meeting in the city of Kaliningrad, the capital of the Russian Baltic exclave. The meeting was to commemorate the Memorial of Christ's Death, the most important Jehovah's Witness event of the year. Officers forced at least some of those present to write statements.

A record of an "offence" – organising an event without notifying the local authorities – was drawn up against Oleg Moiseenkov under Article 20.2, Part 1. Jehovah's Witnesses insisted to Forum 18 that Moiseenkov was not the organiser of the event.

The case was due to be heard by Magistrate Tatyana Kholonina at Judicial Unit No. 2 of Kaliningrad's Moscow District on 15 May. However, at Moiseenkov's lawyer's request it was postponed. The hearing is now due on 5 June, the Judicial Unit's website notes.

Dobryanka raid

Jehovah's Witnesses in the town of Dobryanka in Perm Region of the Urals were also raided on 5 April as they were marking the Memorial of Christ's Death, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. The community had rented the local Cultural and Sports Centre, which it had occasionally rented in the past. The Prosecutor's Office said it was conducting a "check-up" of the activity of the Jehovah's Witness Administrative Centre in St Petersburg (which leads Jehovah's Witness activity in Russia) at the instigation of Perm Regional Police's Anti-Extremism Centre.

On 17 April, Dobryanka's acting Prosecutor, Yuri Sarapultsev, lodged an administrative case under Article 20.2, Part 1 against local Jehovah's Witness Andrei Kuznetsov, who had organised the rental of the Cultural and Sports Centre. Kuznetsov was accused of not informing the authorities of the event. The case was handed first to the Magistrate at Dobryanka's Judicial Unit No. 57 then, as she was absent, to Judicial Unit No. 58. The case is due to be heard on 1 June.

Acting Prosecutor Sarapultsev refused to discuss why officials needed to "check up" on a religious community's meeting for worship. "I have no information on any raid," he claimed to Forum 18 from Dobryanka on 28 May. He claimed not to know about the administrative case he had launched against Kuznetsov. "All will be examined in court, including the legality of the check-up," he eventually said, before putting the phone down.

Two raids in Smolensk Region, but Article 20.2 cases thrown out

On 17 and 18 March, police arrived at the rented Culture Hall in Roslavl in Smolensk Region on both days of a two-day Jehovah's Witness event being held there, attended by about 700 people. On both days officers drew up a record of an "offence" under Article 20.2, Part 1 against local Jehovah's Witness Leonid Belyaev, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. He insisted that the event constituted a religious service for which notification is not required.

On 10 May a Magistrate in Smolensk threw out both the cases as no offence under Article 20.2 had been committed, according to the verdicts seen by Forum 18.

However, the Prosecutor has appealed against the verdicts. The appeals are due to be heard at Smolensk's Zadneprovsky District Court, though no date has yet been set.

Raids without Article 20.2 cases

Raids often take place on Jehovah's Witness religious services without the launching of cases under Article 20.2.

On 16 February, more than 10 police officers surrounded premises where more than 30 Jehovah's Witnesses were meeting for worship in the town of Elabuga in Tatarstan, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. After the meeting, police spent several hours taking down the names and personal details of those present "which was accompanied by insults to the religious feelings of the believers", Jehovah's Witnesses stated. After a thorough search of the premises, all religious literature was confiscated.

Several Jehovah's Witnesses were then taken to a police station for further questioning. Their bags were searched and they were photographed. One of those detained was threatened with having drugs planted on him, as well as being "stripped naked for a search", Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18.

On 23 February in the town of Novotroitsk in Orenburg Region, three officials interrupted a Jehovah's Witness religious meeting in a rented venue. One was a police officer, another the Deputy Mayor with responsibility for social issues. The third did not identify herself. After questioning those present they called for further police.

Five officers then arrived and Jehovah's Witnesses had to halt their service. Police confiscated the March 2012 issue of Jehovah's Witness magazine Awake! containing a front-cover story entitled "Why are people so angry?". Four Jehovah's Witnesses had to remain behind to answer questions and write statements about the community's activity.

Fines overturned

Those punished under Article 20.2 for organising religious meetings without notifying the authorities often have their fines overturned on appeal, Forum 18 notes. However, Jehovah's Witnesses pointed out that achieving this entails stress and preparation time for those who should never be brought to court in the first place.

For example, on 16 April, after three earlier scheduled appeal hearings were postponed, Judge Anatoli Mokrushin at Perm's Ordzhonikidze District Court overturned a fine of 1,000 Roubles handed down earlier to local Jehovah's Witness Aleksandr Solovyev, according to the verdict seen by Forum 18. He had been fined on 14 February by Magistrate Natalya Giniatullina for organising regular worship in the Pushkin Culture House.

The case had been launched under Article 20.2, Part 1 after the local Police Anti-Extremism Centre had passed to the Ordzhonikidze District Prosecutor's Office a report and video materials of the community's two-hour long meeting for religious worship on 21 November 2011. The community had been meeting there twice a week since 1 January 2010 without incident.

The authorities had earlier sought to prosecute Solovyev – also at the instigation of the Police Anti-Extremism Centre – for organising a local Jehovah's Witness congress on 30 April 2011. On 17 June 2011 an administrative case under Article 20.2 had been launched. However, prosecutors did not bring the case to court within the prescribed time limit and so it was closed.

In an earlier case, fellow Jehovah's Witness Eduard Zavalinich succeeded in overturning the fine of 1,000 Roubles imposed on him by a Magistrate in Kaliningrad Region on 18 August 2011 under Article 20.2, Part 1. On 5 October 2011, Polessk District Court upheld his appeal, according to the verdict seen by Forum 18. The case had been launched after a Jehovah's Witness congress had been broken up in the village of Saranskoe on 8 July 2011.

ECtHR challenges

On 20 May 2011, Jehovah's Witnesses lodged a joint case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) challenging fines for meeting for worship in five separate instances. The case is entitled Aleksandr Nabokikh and Others v. Russia (Application No. 19428/11). Nabokikh was fined 1,500 Roubles (362 Norwegian Kroner, 48 Euros, or 66 US Dollars) for organising a three-day meeting in a village in Kirov Region in July 2010.

The ECtHR has not yet ruled on whether the case is admissible.

Massive proposed fine increases

Following public protests against the election of President Putin, a controversial draft Law to increase massively fines for violations of the Demonstrations Law was introduced into the lower house of Russia's parliament, the State Duma, on 10 May. The draft Law was proposed by eight deputies and was considered in the Duma's Constitutional Law and State Building Committee. It received its first reading in the full Duma on 22 May and passed with with 236 votes in favour, 207 votes against, and one abstention. The Law's supporters hope that it may receive its final third reading in June, before being sent to the upper chamber, the Federation Council, for approval. If approved it would then be sent to the President for signature.

The draft Law would – if adopted in its current form – increase fines under Article 20.2. Fines under Part 1 for organising an unauthorised gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession or picket are currently 1,000 to 2,000 Roubles. (1,000 Roubles, which is almost one week's official minimum wage, is equivalent to 187 Norwegian Kroner, 25 Euros, or 30 US Dollars.) They are proposed to increase to between 10,000 Roubles (1,870 Norwegian Kroner, 250 Euros, or 300 US Dollars) and 1,000,000 Roubles (187,000 Norwegian Kroner, 25,000 Euros, or 30,000 US Dollars). There would also be a new possible punishment of up to 200 hours community service.

Fines would also increase under Article 20.2, Part 2 for organisers who carry out an unauthorised gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession or picket. These currently the same as under Part 1, and the increases proposed are the same as the increases proposed for Part 1.

Participants in an unauthorised gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession or picket face punishment under Article 20.2, Part 2, with a current fine of between 500 and 1,000 Roubles. It is proposed that fines increase to between 1,000 and 900,000 Roubles (168,100 Norwegian Kroner, 22,340 Euros, or 28,000 US Dollars). An alternative proposed punishment is up to 200 hours community service.

Zagrebina of the Guild of Experts on Religion and Law noted that the increased punishments are directed mainly at organisers of political demonstrations. "But religious believers will be caught up too – mainly Jehovah's Witnesses, but in some localities possibly Protestants too," she told Forum 18 on 29 May. "I believe the draft Law will be adopted quickly, but not with such heavy fines. The fines will probably be up to about 15,000 Roubles [2,800 Norwegian Kroner, 375 Euros, or 470 US Dollars]."

Hare Krishna community lawyer Frolov expressed particular concern about the impact of these amendments, if adopted. "These proposals to increase punishments will create bigger problems for all religious organisations", he told Forum 18, "as public religious events – by their very nature peaceful and non-political - are under the Religion Law held under the terms of the Demonstrations Law." He points out that any violations of the procedures for organising religious events face exactly the same penalties as for organising street demonstrations, even though the possibility of danger to the public around such religious events is "incomparably lower".

Semyonov of the Slavic Centre for Law and Justice also thought that, if adopted, this draft Law would cause problems for some religious communities. Yet he thinks the chances of it being adopted remain low. "They've tried this several times before," he told Forum 18 on 28 May.

China Discourages Fasting for Uighur Muslims

By Alexa Olesen (AP, August 3, 2012)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37872/

Beijing, China - China is discouraging some Muslims in the far western region of Xinjiang from fasting during Ramadan. The government says the move is motivated by health concerns, but others said Friday that it's a risky campaign to secularize the Muslim minority that will likely backfire.

Several city, county and village governments in Xinjiang have posted notices on their websites banning or discouraging Communist Party members, civil servants, students and teachers from fasting during the religious holiday. Muslims around the world abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk during the 30-day period.

Regional spokeswoman Hou Hanmin was quoted in the state-run Global Times newspaper Friday as saying authorities encourage people to "eat properly for study and work" but don't force anyone to eat during Ramadan.

Xinjiang is home to the traditionally Muslim Uighur ethnic group. Long-simmering resentment among Uighurs over rule by China's Han majority and an influx of migrants has sporadically erupted into deadly violence.

Those familiar with the region say attempts to restrict participation in Ramadan are not new, but this year's campaign is more intense.

There is "a much more public and concerted effort" than in previous years and in some cases Communist Party leaders are delivering food to village elders to try to get them to break their fast, according to Dru Gladney, a professor of anthropology at Pomona College in California and an expert on China's Muslim minorities.

"I think it is a misguided effort to try to secularize the Uighurs and my feeling is it will backfire," said Gladney. "It makes the Uighurs even more angry at the party for not honoring their religious customs."

Separatist sentiment is rife in Xinjiang, with some Uighurs advocating armed rebellion. A smaller fringe has been radicalized by militant calls for Muslim holy war and trained in camps across the border in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In July 2009, rioting between Uighurs and Han Chinese killed nearly 200 people in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi. Uighur activists say the riots were the result of decades of pent-up frustration with Chinese rule.

China has responded by boosting police presence and restricting the practice of Islam — moves that have ratcheted up tensions.

Over the last few months, authorities in Xinjiang have stepped up a campaign against illegal religious schools, which they believe are fomenting extremism and separatist thought.

Hou, the regional spokeswoman, said battling religious extremism and terror in the region remains a priority.

"Religious extremism is closely related to violence and terrorism, and cracking down on these is one of our top priorities," Hou was quoted as saying.

Ilham Tohti, a Beijing-based Uighur economist, said this year's campaign against participation in Ramadan was being more strictly enforced, with officials in some areas requiring people to sign pledges that they won't take part in religious activities.

Tohti said the campaign appeared aimed solely at Uighurs in Xinjiang, noting that Kazakh and Hui Muslims in Xinjiang and Uighurs outside the region face no such restrictions.

At the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing, where Tohti teaches, there have been no warnings against taking part in Ramadan and up to 70 Muslim students, including about 10 Uighurs, gather nightly at a local restaurant next to campus to break their fast, he said.

He said officials may be particularly nervous about potential unrest in Xinjiang in the lead up to a once-a-decade leadership transition that will kick off in Beijing in the fall.

"As a result they are tightening control measures in many areas, not just religion, but this could give rise to new problems and they may end up with an outcome that is the opposite of what they were seeking," he said.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department released a global report on religious freedom that criticized authorities in Xinjiang for their "repressive restrictions on religious practices" and failure to "distinguish between peaceful religious practice and criminal or terrorist activities."

China's Foreign Ministry dismissed the U.S. report as biased and called it interference in Chinese affairs.

All-American Bigotry

By John Feffer ("Huffington Post," January 6, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36755/

USA - Islamophobes would like you to believe that they're not anti-Islam. They're only anti-Islamic extremism.

So why is it that Islamophobes are always going after mainstream Islam? They lampoon Muhammad. They want to burn not the writings of Osama bin Laden but the Quran itself. They target an Islamic community center in downtown New York City that's the brainchild of an interfaith dialogue proponent and an overseas emissary of the George W. Bush administration.

And now they're venting spleen at an innocuous cable TV show called "All-American Muslim." This reality show on TLC follows five Muslim families in Dearborn, Mich. It explores typical family situations (getting married, having a baby), cultural traditions (hookah, bellydancing) and religious experiences (wearing the hijab, converting to Islam). There's a cop, a football coach, a businesswoman, a tattooed rebel. The program showcases the diversity of the community.

It's so all-American, so earnest in its efforts not to offend anyone, that it verges on boring. Sure, the show does address some provocative issues, such as anti-Muslim sentiment and 9/11. And there are the usual inter-personal tensions familiar to reality-show connoisseurs. But all in all, it's light on outrageousness and exhibitionism, two critical qualities for successful television these days.

You'd think that social conservatives would embrace ventures like "All-American Muslim." The show features people who are hard-working, religious and family-oriented. But that's not how bigotry operates. Otherwise, social conservatives would be the first in line to support gay marriage and the repeal of don't ask, don't tell in the military.

It was no surprise, then, that the Florida Family Association, an evangelical Christian outfit infamous for its intolerance, called on advertisers to boycott "All-American Muslim." Several businesses cravenly followed suit, most prominently the home improvement chain Lowes. In mid-December, Lowe's issued a half-hearted apology but refused to reinstate its ads on the show, which will air the final show of its first season on Jan. 8.

Both Florida Family Association, and noted Islamophobes like Pamela Geller who have supported its campaign, complain that "All-American Muslim" is not representative because it doesn't dwell on sharia law or feature a terrorist or two.

But although it might boost ratings considerably -- and "All-American Muslim" has seen its viewership slip recently -- the inclusion of a terrorist in the program would not be representative. Political extremism is in fact extremely rare in the Muslim-American community.

Since 9/11, there have been only 11 cases of Muslim Americans who have committed terrorist acts in this country, resulting in 33 deaths. Between 1980 and 2005, according to FBI statistics, approximately 6 percent of all terrorist attacks in the United States were conducted by Islamic extremists. These perpetrators of violence are not representative of the 2.75 million Muslim Americans. Moreover, Muslim American organizations have all condemned terrorism, and the FBI has long relied on the help of the community to identify the few individuals who are inclined toward violence. As for sharia law, except for one minor case in New Jersey that was subsequently overturned, it has had no impact on the U.S. court system.

In other words, the attempts by Islamophobes to rationalize their bigotry on factual grounds is just plain wrong.

I'm no fan of reality shows. But if "All-American Muslim" can prove to mainstream America that Muslims are as boring, community-minded, socially conservative, occasionally wacky and celebrity-obsessed as the rest of us, then it deserves a place on TV. And companies like Lowe's should support it.

It's one thing for big mouths on the margins to voice their extremism. There's a long American tradition of that, from anti-Catholic Know Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan to anti-Semitic preachers and homophobic radio hosts.

But it's quite another matter when these extremists block community centers, win passage of ludicrous anti-sharia laws and convince major U.S. businesses to join their Islamophobic campaigns. There's an equally long American tradition of denouncing bigotry. In the TLC show, Muslims amply demonstrate that they're ordinary, mainstream Americans. Now it's time for the rest of us to do the same by standing up to the Islamophobes.

German Muslims say anti-militant posters offensive

By Chris Cottrell (Reuters, September 5, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38009/

Berlin, Germany - A poster campaign by Germany's Interior Ministry to advertise a hotline for those worried that a friend or family member may be turning to radical Islam has incensed some Muslims who say it stigmatizes them.

Germany, home to four million Muslims, has become increasingly concerned about home-grown Islamic militants over the past decade after Hamburg served as a base for three of the September 11 suicide airline hijackers in 2001.

Officials are especially worried about the ease with which individuals can be recruited over the Internet by extremists. Last year a young Kosovo Albanian Muslim shot dead two U.S. airmen at Frankfurt airport after being radicalized online.

In the new campaign, posters showing four fictitious missing persons - 'Hassan', 'Fatima', German convert 'Tim' and 'Ahmed' - will be displayed in Arabic, Turkish and German in major cities with big immigrant populations from September 21.

"This is my brother Hassan. I miss him and hardly recognize him anymore," one poster reads.

"He has become reclusive and gets more radical every day. I'm afraid of losing him completely to religious fanatics and terrorist groups. If you're experiencing something similar, contact the information center for radicalization," it says.

Critics fear the campaign could fuel stereotypes of Muslims.

"Muslims are always regarded as a potential threat," said Aydan Oezoguz, a Turkish-German member of parliament and integration commissioner for the opposition Social Democrats.

"This is a very important issue, but it risks alienating an entire religious community," Oezoguz added.

The Interior Ministry says the campaign was crafted with the help of Muslim interest groups as part of a larger initiative to improve ties between security agencies and Muslim communities.

"FALSE PERCEPTIONS"

However, four of the six interest groups involved in the confidence-building initiative have since withdrawn their support.

"Constantly associating Islam with issues of violence and security policy can only lead to false perceptions," the groups said in a joint statement.

Mistrust among Germany's immigrant population increased after the authorities' botched handling of a wave of neo-Nazi killings of mostly Turkish shopkeepers. For years, authorities told victims' families that the murders were the result of score settling between organized criminal gangs.

Erol Puerlue from the Association of Muslim Cultural Centres, one of the groups involved in the initiative, said too much focus was placed on extremism among Muslims rather than in German society as a whole.

"Addressing extremism only among Muslims risks putting them under a general suspicion," he said, adding that more classes on religion in schools would be a more effective way of combating radicalization among young people.

"We also have to talk about protecting Muslims. They can fall victim to extremism too," said Puerlue.

Joachim Trebbe, a professor of media analysis at Berlin's Free University, said stereotypes were unavoidable when trying to depict people with immigrant backgrounds.

"The alternative would be to not include any pictures, you're always going to be stereotyping someone," he said.

A Model of Inclusion for Muslim Women

By Didi Kirsten Tatlow ("The New York Times," October 9, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38267/

Beijing, China - Could an old religious tradition from China help solve one of the world’s most pressing problems — violence committed in the name of Islam?

The irony of an officially atheist country possibly offering a way out of an international religious problem is intense. Yet that is what some Islamic scholars in China and elsewhere hope may happen as they point to a quietly liberal tradition among China’s 10 million Hui Muslims, where female imams and mosques for women are flourishing in a globally unique phenomenon.

Female imams and women’s mosques are important because their endurance in China offers a vision of an older form of Islam that has inclusiveness and tolerance, not marginalization and extremism, at its core, the scholars say.

Exact numbers are not available, but Shui Jingjun, a leading scholar of women in Hui Islam (the Hui are scattered across China and are distinct from the Uighur Muslims of the far western region of Xinjiang) estimates there are hundreds of female imams leading mosques around the country, educating boys and girls, and organizing social services in their communities.

Female imams and women’s mosques are not “a new thing here. It’s just a cultural tradition that was never interfered with,” Ms. Shui, an author and researcher at the Henan Academy of Social Sciences in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, said in an interview.

That is what makes it so important, said Khaled Abou El Fadl, a prominent Islamic legal scholar.

“The Chinese tradition of women’s mosques is rooted in Islamic history. It is not novel, a corruption or innovation or some type of heretical practice,” Mr. Abou El Fadl, a professor of Islamic law at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a recorded interview.

China’s liberal Hui tradition therefore challenges the power of Wahhabism, a puritanical, patriarchal sect dominant in Saudi Arabia today that is behind much Islamic extremism, he said.

“The Chinese example preserves and reminds Muslims of an important jurisprudential and historical phenomenon that Wahhabism tried to wipe out,” he said.

“Contemporary fundamentalist movements use the space provided by the mosque to affirm all types of patriarchy and male power over women,” he said. “When you have something like the Chinese example, which ultimately empowers women to work within their own space and lead prayer and manage that space on their own, it’s a significant form of women asserting themselves in the Islamic tradition, helping in constructing it and perpetuating it.”

“I always see Islam in places in China as reminding Muslims of their authentic tradition before it was impacted by petrol dollars and this very gruff and dry form of Bedouin Islam that came out of Saudi Arabia,” said Mr. Abou El Fadl. “So the point is there’s an old, historically rooted tradition, and the Chinese, if they tap into this tradition, they can effectively provide resistance or examples of resistance to puritanical Islam.”

Muslims arrived in China during the Tang dynasty, more than 1,000 years ago, and their numbers swelled during the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century. Mostly from Persia and Central Asia, though some were Arabs, they brought with them traditions that had always emphasized women’s education, said Ms. Shui. But women’s status really took off in the early Qing dynasty, more than 300 years ago, when the numbers of Hui declined as they were absorbed into the majority Han Chinese culture, she said.

By then, she said, “most Muslims couldn’t read or speak Arabic. So they relied on women to spread the word, to educate. It wasn’t possible to rely just on the men. There weren’t enough of them.”

Far away, in the Arab world, Wahhabism began spreading.

“About 300 years ago, there were changes in Islamic education” in the Middle East, said Ms. Shui. “In other Islamic nations, what men said was decisive. But that wasn’t going to work here.”

Over the past decade, Hui Muslim women’s role in offering both religious and secular education in their communities has grown, said Jackie Armijo, a professor at Qatar University.

Young Hui women, seeing the need for education among their people, are choosing to travel far from home to teach, often in small villages, she said. While conducting doctoral research in China, “I was continually struck by these young women,” Ms. Armijo said.

“They know instinctively, and they say it: ‘To teach a man is to teach one person. To teach a woman is to teach everyone,”’ she said.

Slowly, awareness is spreading in China of how valuable this tradition might be.

During a recent meeting in Gansu Province of mostly female Muslim educators, researchers, writers and local Han Chinese officials — there were also some non-Chinese Muslims from Pakistan and Taiwan, according to online reports — “some people argued privately that China should ‘go out into the world’ with this good tradition,” spreading the word, said Ms. Shui, who was among the participants.

That, Ms. Armijo said, would resonate among women elsewhere in the Muslim world, who are increasingly gathering to study texts independently of men.

At the meeting, many people said they wanted the biennial event, happening for just the second time, to become a permanent research facility in Gansu. “We talked about turning it into an international meeting for all Muslim women,” said Ms. Shui. “Everyone was in favor of that.”