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Posted on 03/01/2007 8:28:33 PM PST by nwctwx
|
"The use of commercial explosives here is therefore novel and suggests something quite a bit more sinister... "
Yes, and that's why it caught my eye.
Have a great weekend DieHard.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=china
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798492/posts
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http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-03/10/content_824468.htm
"China forming company to invest huge reserves"
(agencies)
Updated: 2007-03-10 10:12
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Beijing is to create one of the world's biggest investing companies, with possible ramifications for global stock, bond and commodities markets, and might also affect how the US finances its huge budget deficits.
Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing said on Friday in Beijing on the sidelines of the ongoing National People's Congress session, that Beijing is trying to make more profitable use of its $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves. It is believed that most of the reserves are now parked in safe, but relatively low-yielding US Treasury securities and other dollar-denominated assets.
"We can achieve more profit from (wiser) investments (of the reserves)," Jin said at a news conference. "We are now in the stage of forming this new company.""
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=syria
http://www.memri.org/syria.html
---
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798230/posts
"Syria deploys thousands of rockets on Israel border: sources"
YAHOO NEWS/AFP ^ | Fri Mar 9 | Ron Bousso
Posted on 03/09/2007 12:54:36 PM PST by Izzy Dunne
JERUSALEM (AFP)
NOTE: The following text is a quote:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3374543,00.html
Earthquake rattles Honduras, El Salvador
Published: 03.10.07, 00:32 / Israel News
A moderate earthquake shook Honduras and El Salvador on Friday. There were no immediate reports of damages or injuries.
The tremor had a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 and struck in the Gulf of Fonseca, off the Honduran coast, 105 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Authorities in El Salvador measured the quake at 6.1. (AP)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=france
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hamas
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http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/03/usdesignated_hamas_front_gets.php
"US-Designated Hamas Front Gets Symbolic Win in France"
By Matthew Levitt
(March 9, 2007)
ON THE NET...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hamas
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hezbollah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hizballah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hizbullah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798503/posts
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http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54634
"Students facing charges of 'desecration of Allah'
Hamas, Hezbollah flags used in college Republicans protest"
Posted: March 10, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "College Republicans at San Francisco State University desecrated the name of Allah by stepping on makeshift Hezbollah and Hamas flags, charged school officials who brought the students before a hearing yesterday.
The trouble began at an Oct. 17 anti-terrorism rally in which the students stepped on butcher paper painted to resemble the flags of the Middle East terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah. The College Republicans say they simply copied the script from an image on the Internet and didn't know it bore the name of Allah in Arabic script.
University spokeswoman Ellen Griffin, however, told San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders the university "stands behind this process" of investigating the students for possible punishment.
"I don't believe the complaint is about the desecration of the flag," Griffin said. "I believe that the complaint is the desecration of Allah.""
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/4326
"Daniel Pipes fights the worldwide threat of Islamism - from Malibu"
by Marc Ballon
Jewish Journal
March 6, 2007
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The view from Daniel Pipes' front porch in Malibu is "California Dreamin'" perfect. With the Pacific stretching beyond the horizon, the vista induces a Zen-like calm. If the scholar's striped cotton shirt and khakis betray his Boston roots, Pipes' barely audible voice and gentle demeanor suggest that he has gone native just weeks after his arrival as a visiting professor this semester at Pepperdine University.
But Pipes' words are not so laid-back. The 57-year-old Harvard-educated Middle East expert is one of the most prominent scholars to have warned of the growing threat of fundamentalist Muslim terrorism to the West before the Sept. 11 attacks. He has become a lightening rod for some Muslims as well as other critics, in part because he predicts that radical Islam is a far greater threat than most people would like to imagine. The United States, he says, must gird itself for a protracted struggle against an enemy that wants nothing less than to transform this country from a beacon of democracy into a repressive Islamic state.
"You name it, radical Islam is anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-female, anti-moderate Muslim and anti anyone who disagrees with it," said Pipes, who is Jewish. "Anyone in their way is their enemy."
Pipes calls himself a "soldier" in the war against Islamic fundamentalism; he is founder and director of the Middle East Forum -- a Philadelphia think tank that publishes Middle East Quarterly -- and he has written hundreds of newspaper columns, appeared countless times on Fox News and CNN and traveled the globe, including a recent trip to England to debate London Mayor Ken Livingstone with the purpose of warning of the growing danger. He soon plans to unveil Islamist Watch, a Web site which he describes as an attempt to monitor nonviolent radical Islam in the West.
Pipes gets nearly 3 million visits annually to his Web site, making him, if not exactly a household name, then at least one of the most prominent anti-Islamists on the scene.
"It used to be that people would ask him if he was related to me," said Pipes' father, Richard Pipes, professor emeritus of Russian history at Harvard and a former policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan. "Now, it's the other way around."
Like his father, Daniel Pipes has a reputation for bluntness and a willingness to go against conventional wisdom -- both in the academy and elsewhere. Whereas Richard Pipes sounded the alarm against appeasing the Soviets, Daniel Pipes preaches against working with radical Muslims, no matter how law-abiding, scholarly or open-minded they might appear.
Instead, "like David Duke and Louis Farrakhan," Pipes said, "Islamists should be ostracized socially and politically."
He favors the profiling of Muslims at U.S. airports."
BTTT
ON THE NET...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=noi
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=nationofislam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=farrakhan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=louisfarrakhan
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http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_330.shtml
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_56.shtml
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http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/003633.html
March 8, 2007
"Nation of Islam: History - Part 1"
Originally this article was published in Family Security Matters and is reproduced with their permission.
"Nation of Islam - What is it?"
Part 1 (of 4)
By Adrian Morgan
===
===
http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/003634.html
March 8, 2007
"Nation of Islam: History - Part 2"
Originally this article was published in Family Security Matters and is reproduced with their permission.
"Nation of Islam - What is it?"
Part 2 (of 4)
By Adrian Morgan
===
===
http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/003635.html
March 8, 2007
"Nation of Islam: History - Part 3"
Originally this article was published in Family Security Matters and is reproduced with their permission.
"Nation of Islam - The Path to Louis Farrakhan"
Part 3 (of 4)
By Adrian Morgan
===
===
http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/003636.html
March 9, 2007
"Nation of Islam: History - Part 4"
Reproduced from a series of articles on Family Security Matters and is reproduced with their permission.
"Nation of Islam - An Empty Legacy"
Part 4 (of 4)
By Adrian Morgan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798509/posts
"Iraq - Three explosions near site of security conference"
AFP via translation | March 10, 2007
Posted on 03/10/2007 3:16:39 AM PST by HAL9000
UPDATE:
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/1833/Security_Forces_Deny_al-Baghdadi_Capture
"Security Forces Deny al-Baghdadi Capture
"Senior leader" in Custody, but Not Abu Omar"
Posted 3 hr. 16 min. ago
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was not apprehended in a recent raid near Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad, contrary to earlier reports.
The BBC reports that a "senior leader" of an al-Qa'ida related group had been captured, but that this man was not al-Baghdadi. The senior leader is not identified in the BBC report."
Note: The following text is a quote:
https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=64699
you are here: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report
Warden Message: Nepal Diplomatic Death Threats
Consular Affairs Bulletins
South / Central Asia - Nepal
9 Mar 2007
Printer Friendly Email Article
Related Reports
15 Feb 2007
Warden Message: Nepal Power Schedule Changes
25 Jan 2007
Warden Message: Nepal Terai Region Warning
10 Jan 2007
Nepal 2007 Crime & Safety Report
22 Dec 2006
Warden Message: Pokhara Forced Closure
19 Dec 2006
Warden Message: Nepalese Maoist Bandh (Strike) December 19
U.S. Embassy Kathmandu issued the following Warden Message on March 9, 2007:
This warden message is being issued to alert American citizens that the Embassy has released a press statement regarding news reports of Maoist allegations of a plot to assassinate U.S. officials in Nepal. The widely publicized statement made by Maoist leader Prachanda did not address private American citizens. The Embassy is attempting to verify these allegations, and has called on the Maoists to provide the Embassy or the police the source of this information.
The Embassy continues to be concerned about the security situation in Nepal and urges American citizens in Nepal to exercise special caution and maintain a low profile.
The text of the statement is below.
"The U.S. Embassy is deeply concerned by a public allegation of a plot to assassinate U.S. officials posted in Nepal. The Maoist leader Prachanda raised this issue Thursday at a mass meeting in Pokhara, according to media reports. The security of American citizens in Nepal is the Embassy's highest priority. Therefore, if the Maoist leader has evidence to support his statement, then he should immediately share that information with the Embassy and with the appropriate police authorities. This is the proper way to deal with such matters. If he has no such information, then his remarks are both irresponsible and dangerous. We again urge the Maoists to contribute to a peaceful democratic transition in Nepal by renouncing violence, once and for all. In democracies, political parties win support through their ability to persuade voters in peaceful elections - not through violence and intimidation."
For further information about security conditions in Nepal, American citizens are encouraged to refer to the Consular Information Sheet for Nepal and the current Travel Warning for Nepal issued on December 08, 2006 (http://travel.state.gov). American citizens are also encouraged to refer to the Worldwide Caution Public Announcement for additional travel safety and security information. These documents are available on the homepage of the Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs at http://travel.state.gov and the American Embassy in Nepal's home page at http://nepal.usembassy.gov. The State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs maintains an information line at 1-888-407-4747 toll free or (202) 501-4444 Monday through Friday (excluding U.S. Government holidays) from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Specific information may also be obtained by calling the Embassy at 977-1-444-5577 during working hours and at 977-1-441-1179 during evenings and weekends and asking for the Embassy Duty Officer.
Consular Section
U.S.Embassy
Kathmandu, Nepal
Phones: 977-1-444-5577
Fax: 977-1-444-4981
http://kathmandu.usembassy.gov
http://nepal.usembassy.gov
Note: The following text is a quote:
https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=64642
you are here: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report
Warden Message: Bahrain Demonstrations March 9-10
Consular Affairs Bulletins
Middle East / N. Africa - Bahrain
8 Mar 2007
Printer Friendly Email Article
Related Reports
2 Mar 2007
Warden Message: Bahrain Demonstrations March 2-4
12 Feb 2007
Bahrain 2007 Crime & Safety Report
21 Dec 2006
Warden Message: Manama Demonstrations December 21-22
12 Dec 2006
Warden Message: Bahrain Demonstration December 13
7 Dec 2006
Warden Message: Bahrain Demonstration December 8
U.S. Embassy Manama issued the following Warden Message on March 8, 2007:
Pursuant to Embassy efforts to advise U.S. citizens in Bahrain of events or gatherings that may affect them, the following information is provided. Please understand that protests are often spontaneous and will periodically occur due to local issues or worldwide events. Accordingly, all American citizens should monitor events in the local press and be aware of their surroundings at all times. We wish to remind American that even gatherings intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. If you find yourself encountering large unexpected gatherings or demonstrations, you should simply depart the area.
Thursday, 8 March 2007 - The Shi'a 40th Day observance of the death of the Imam Hussain will be held throughout Bahrain this weekend, March 9-10, 2007. The observance is very similar in appearance to last month's Ashoora remembrance. Marches, large gatherings and road closures are to be expected.
We wish to take this opportunity to remind Americans of the PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS dated October 11, 2006 (Worldwide Caution) and November 20, 2006 (Middle East and North Africa), which reiterate the Department of State's continued concern of possible terrorist attacks, demonstrations, and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas. Americans are reminded that demonstrations and rioting can occur with little or no warning. As the Department continues to develop information on any potential security threats to U.S. citizens overseas, it shares credible threat information through its consular information program documents, available on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov/. In addition to information on the Internet, travelers may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. or outside the U.S. and Canada on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8: p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays). The Embassy telephone number is (973) 1724-2700; the after hours emergency number is (973) 1724-2957; the fax number is (973) 1725-6242. The Embassy's web site, which includes consular information and the most recent messages to the American community in Bahrain, is at http://bahrain.usembassy.gov.
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_3124.html
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
This information is current as of today, Sat Mar 10 2007 03:53:07 GMT-0800.
Senegal
March 09, 2007
This Public Announcement is being issued to advise American citizens to defer most non-essential travel to the Casamance region due to an increase in violence there. This Public Announcement is valid until June 9, 2007.
In the past month, there has been fighting on both sides of the Casamance river between rebels and the Senegalese military. Due to the increased violence and the unpredictability of the current security situation in the Casamance region, the Department of State recommends against all nonessential travel to the Casamance region, except direct air travel to the Cap Skirring resort area or to the city of Ziguinchor.
Americans should avoid driving outside Ziguinchor and Cap Skirring's city limits. American citizens who must travel to the Casamance region should regularly monitor the Department's Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov where the current Consular Information Sheet for Senegal, the Worldwide Caution Public Announcement, and other travel information can be found. Up to date information on security can also be obtained by emailing consulardakar@state.gov or calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the United States and Canada, or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
Americans living or traveling in Senegal are urged to register with the U.S. Embassy in Dakar, where they can obtain updated information on travel and security within Senegal. Security updates are e-mailed to all registered Americans with an e-mail address. Registration is done online and can be done in advance of travel at https://travelregistration.state.gov. Americans without Internet access may register directly with the U.S. Embassy in Dakar. By registering, U.S. citizens make it easier for the Embassy to contact them in case of emergency.
The U.S. Embassy is located at Avenue Jean XXIII, Dakar; the mailing address is B.P. 49, Dakar, Senegal. The telephone number is (221) 823-4296; after-hours (221) 823-4604. The U.S. Embassy website is http://usembassy.state.gov/dakar.
Note: The following text (minus the photo) is a quote:
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07030054.htm
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com
Friday, March 9, 2007
Salem Voice Ministries‘ Missionary Attacked in Kashmir
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
KUPWARA, KASHMIR, INDIA (ANS) -- A Salem Voice Ministries missionary in Jammu and Kashmir was attacked on March 6 in Kupwara in Jammua and Kashmir, India.
Pastor Ashir suffered a broken leg in the attack.
Pastor Ashir was returning home on Tuesday afternoon after a prayer meeting in a small village Rikwaza, which is about 6 miles away from Kupwara. Suddenly a group of masked people attacked him with steel pipes and wooden sticks. He was severely beaten and one of his legs was broken.
Ashir became unconscious and fell down. Some of the local people found him in the street and admitted him to the hospital.
Local police have registered a case against some unidentified militants.
Tahira, Pastor Ashir's wife, and their four- month-old child, Noorul Masih, are also under threat.
SVM asks for prayer for the Ashir family and says that few families believe in Jesus Christ in that locality.
Rev. Paul Ciniraj, President of the Christian Ministers of the Churches in India (CMCI) who is also the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries, condemned the attack against Pastor Ashir.
Salem Voice Ministries,
Devalokam, Kottayam,
Kerala-686038, India.
http://salemvoice.org
** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.
** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
http://www.satp.org
http://www.saag.org
http://www.saag.org/papers22/paper2161.html
Paper no. 2161
09.03.2007
"THE SUNNI A-BOMB VS THE SHIA A-BOMB - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---PAPER NO. 202"
By B. Raman
I'm so sorry to hear your sad news. I will pray for you and your family. Please take care.
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07030058.htm
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com
Friday, March 9, 2007
Insurgents Injure Believers Church Member
From Gospel for Asia
For Immediate Release
In Jharkhand, GFA missionaries faithfully spread the Good News
JHARKHAND, INDIA (ANS) -- Silas, a Christian in a Gospel for Asia-related Believers Church in Jharkhand, India, was recently attacked by the Naxalites—a Maoist-oriented group known for its use of violence and coercion in its uprising against the government. He was beaten and his legs were severely slashed. Two other villagers had their legs cut off, and two others were killed.
In the incident, 12 Naxalites came to the village and began dragging people out of their homes. Violence ensued as they accused the villagers of defending and supporting the police.
GFA leaders ask for prayer for protection and courage for the believers of the church, and for wisdom for GFA’s missionaries ministering with compassion in this tense situation. Pray also for Silas, who is in his early 20s, for physical and emotional healing. Pray that the Lord would touch the hearts of the two villagers whose legs were cut off, drawing them to salvation in Jesus.
Read more about Jharkhand and GFA’s work there at www.gfa.org/jharkhand
** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07030052.htm
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com
Friday, March 9, 2007
Protestant Pastor Sentenced to Internal Exile in Uzbekistan
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
UZBEKISTAN (ANS) -- Protestant pastor Dmitry Shestakov has today (March 9) been sentenced to four years' exile within Uzbekistan for his religious activity.
The regional criminal court in the Fergana Valley city of Andijan [Andijon] sentenced Shestakov to four years' exile within the country for his religious activity. The place of exile has not been determined.
The prosecutor had called for a five-year prison sentence. Shestakov maintained his innocence throughout the trial. During his final speech, he told the court that despite the tears of his wife and children he forgives those who have taken action against him, It appears that two of the three charges against him were withdrawn during the trial. The full written verdict will not be handed to the defense for another few days.
According to Felix Corley, writing for Forum 18 News Service (www.Forum18.org), Shestakov maintained his innocence throughout the trial. During his final speech, Forum 18 learned, he told the court that despite the tears of his wife and children he forgives those who have taken action against him. Shestakov's friends have stated that there were numerous irregularities in the trial, including: an expert analysis of his sermons being illegally conducted by an Andijan University professor; forgery of documents by the Prosecutor's Office; false prosecution claims of religious services being conducted in a property not belonging to a registered religious organization; and Pastor Shestakov being illegally charged under a Criminal Code article that was not in force when the criminal case against Shestakov was launched. Before the trial, Uzbek state-run media tried to smear Shestakov and his church.
At the beginning of the trial, Shestakov was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code: Article 216 ("illegal organization of social or religious organizations," which carries a maximum five year prison term), Article 156, part 2 ("inciting ethnic, racial or religious hatred", which carries a prison term of between five and ten years) and Article 244-1, part 2 ("distributing materials containing ideas of religious extremism," which carries a maximum five year prison term). The indictment was drawn up by Senior Investigator Kamolitdin Zulfiev.
Corley writes that normally in cases with multiple charges, judges impose concurrent sentences, so those found guilty serve the longest of the prison terms handed down, although judges do have the right to order the prison terms to be served consecutively.
Pastor Shestakov's trial began in Andijan on February 19, but several subsequent hearings were delayed because his own lawyer was ill. Despite a medical certificate from Shestakov's lawyer that he was ill -- which under Uzbek law should have led to the postponement of the hearing -- a trial session was held on February 28 with a state-appointed lawyer. This lawyer reportedly did nothing to defend Shestakov.
Shestakov had been due to be sentenced on March 1 (see F18News 28 February 2007 www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=923) , but his own lawyer was able to present further arguments in his favor which led to the continuation of the case.
Corley's Forum 18 report states: "Shestakov's friends point to what they regard as numerous inconsistencies in the way prosecutors handled the case. They insist that an expert analysis of his sermons -- recordings of which were confiscated during a search of his home in June 2006 -- was illegal as it was conducted by a professor from Andijan University. According to an April 2004 decree from the Cabinet of Ministers, only the government's Religious Affairs Committee is authorized to conduct such analyses. There are also claims that the Prosecutor's Office forged documents to incriminate Shestakov.
"His friends also refute another of the prosecutor's accusations -- that Shestakov conducted religious services on property that did not belong to a registered religious organization. They cite a notarized document from December 2003 recording the house where services were held as the property of the registered Andijan Full Gospel church. They also point to an October 2004 Full Gospel document authorizing Shestakov to lead services at the property."
Corley writes that Shestakov's friends also complain that, given that the criminal case against him was launched on 10 June 2006, his charge under Article 156 part 1 was illegally changed to Article 156 part 2, a provision that was introduced into the Criminal Code only twelve days later and which does not have retroactive force.
He continues:"In the run up to the trial, Uzbek state-run media tried to smear Shestakov and his Full Gospel church claiming, for example, that "he abused alcohol and was dependent on drugs and now he presents himself as pastor David". Such allegations were picked up in early March by internet news agencies in Kyrgyzstan and Russia."
Official harassment of Shestakov -- who faced official warnings for his "illegal" religious activity in 1997 and 2004 - was stepped up in May 2006, apparently in reaction to the conversion to Christianity of some ethnic Uzbeks. Neither the chief public prosecutor of Andijan, Bekmukhadam Akhmedaliev, who initiated the case, nor officials of the government's Religious Affairs Committee in the capital Tashkent have been prepared to comment to Forum 18 on the prosecution of Shestakov (see F18News 14
February 2007 www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=911).
Meanwhile, says Corley, Protestant sources who preferred not to be identified for fear of reprisals have told Forum 18 that about ten police secret police officers armed with video-cameras raided a Pentecostal church's Sunday worship service in the southern city of Karshi [Qarshi] on 25 February. They began to film the service without seeking the approval of the worshippers but, as sources told Forum 18, Pastor Sergei Shandyvayev "decided not to panic and continued the worship".
Corley writes: "After the congregation finished the service, police and secret police officers sealed the entrance door and recorded the names and addresses of all those who had attended and began interrogating them separately in different rooms. Officers tried to pressure them to reveal why they had become Christians and where the church received its money. Police also searched all the rooms and seized Christian literature and audio and video recordings. Officers cited the church's lack of state registration as the reason for the raid, although the church has sought registration in vain for seven years. Some church members were followed to their homes, where their families were then interrogated.
"Church members were told they would be summoned to the public prosecutor's office to face charges under the Code of Administrative Offences. However, Forum 18 has not heard that any hearings have taken place. On 1 March Pastor Shandyvayev was summoned and questioned for two hours, and officials told him all the confiscated literature had been sent for examination to the Religious Affairs Committee in Tashkent."
In another case, two Pentecostals are on trial for their religious activity in Nukus, the capital of the Karakalpakstan [Qoraqalpoghiston] autonomous republic in north-western Uzbekistan. On February 28 and on following days, police came to the home of Makset Djabbabergenov in Nukus and also to the home of Salauat Serikbayev in the town of Muynak north of Nukus near the Aral Sea, but neither was at home.
Both men face charges under Article 216 of the Criminal Code, which punishes "violating the law on religious organizations" with sentences of up to five years' imprisonment, while Serikbayev also faces charges under Article 244-2 of the Criminal Code, which punishes setting up, leading or membership of banned organizations with imprisonment of between five and twenty years. Their trial began in Nukus on 26 February - as did the trial of other local Protestants who face lesser charges under the Code of Administrative Offences - but none of the defendants attended (see F18News 22 February 2007 www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=918) . A second hearing was held on 5 March and sources say a third has been set for 12 March. On 8 March some of the Protestants were summoned to the Prosecutor's Office, where they were told a verdict on their case has been reached, though they were reportedly not told what it was.
Serikbayev -- who is married with five children -- spent four months in prison in 1999 for his religious activity.
For a personal commentary by a Muslim scholar, advocating religious freedom for all faiths as the best antidote to Islamic religious extremism in Uzbekistan, see www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=338.
For more background, see Forum 18's Uzbekistan religious freedom survey at
www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=777.
A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=806 and of religious intolerance in Central Asia is at
www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=815.
A printer-friendly map of Uzbekistan is available at
www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=uzbeki
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to F18News www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
www.forum18.org/
If you need to contact F18News, please email them at:
f18news@editor.forum18.org
Forum 18
Postboks 6603
Rodeløkka
N-0502 Oslo
NORWAY
** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.
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