Tag: Kazakhstan

Kazakh pastor’s trial postponed

November 20, 2013 Kazakhstan Astana, Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev, Kazakhstan

The court hearing for a Kazakh pastor detained since May has been pushed back again. Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev, 67, pastor of Grace Protestant Church in Astana, is charged with the psychological manipulation of a member of his congregation through the use of a “red-coloured hallucinogenic drink”. Other members of the congregation . . . Read More

Kazakh pastor released, then arrested

October 10, 2013 Kazakhstan Astana, Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev, Kazakhstan, Terrorism

Kazakh pastor Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev walked out of prison Oct. 8, only to be arrested again at the prison gate on terrorism charges. The pastor, already awaiting trial on charges that he used a “red-coloured hallucinogenic drink” to cause psychlogical harm to a member of his congregation, was permitted to leave prison and . . . Read More

Jail term for Kazakh pastor extended

September 22, 2013 Kazakhstan Almaty, Astana, Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev, Kazakhstan

A Kazakh pastor has been told he is to be detained for another month, four months after his arrest for allegedly “harming the health” of a member of his congregation. Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev, pastor of Grace Protestant Church in Astana, the capital, was arrested on May 17, charged with the psychological manipulation . . . Read More

The rise of Islamic extremism in Central Asia and the Caucasus

June 6, 2013 Afghanistan, Arab Spring, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Caucasus, Central Asia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Georgia, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Islamic extremism, Kazakhstan, Muslim Brotherhood, Russia, Soviet Union, Uzbekistan

Islamic extremism in Central Asia and the Caucasus will further increase in the next few years, predicts a new report by Anna Münster, a Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, and expected regime changes in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan threaten to . . . Read More

‘Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians’

June 5, 2013 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Algeria, Arab Spring, Armenia, Asia Bibi, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Central Asia, China, Communism, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Middle East, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Russia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

This is a book designed to show that “Christians are the single most widely persecuted religious group in the world today” (p4). With that aim, three authors well known in the field of religious advocacy give the reader the ultimate global briefing on the causes, patterns and trends in the persecution . . . Read More

90 days to freedom

January 28, 2013 Kazakhstan Almaty, Astana, Kazakhstan, Makset Djabbarbergenov, UN, Uzbekistan

For 90 days last autumn, Makset Djabbarbergenov lived in a Kazakh prison cell, under threat of deportation to his native Uzbekistan to face almost-certain years of harsh jail time. His alleged crime: Leading small Christian communities in house churches without official registration. By 2007, this had made “Pastor Makset” a . . . Read More

Uzbek pastor released from Kazakhstan prison

December 5, 2012 Kazakhstan Almaty, Kazakhstan, Makset Djabbarbergenov, Protestants, Uzbekistan

Uzbek pastor Makset Djabbarbergenov has been released from prison in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He was released Dec. 4 and taken to the airport, where he was reunited with his wife and four children. According to the Norwegian religious-freedom watchdog agency Forum 18, they were flown to Germany. After arrival at Frankfurt . . . Read More

Uzbekistan increases charges against church leader in Kazakhstan jail

November 2, 2012 Kazakhstan Almaty, Kazakhstan, Makset Djabbarbergenov, Uzbekistan

The legal ground continues to shift underneath Makset Djabbarbergenov, a house-church leader being held in a Kazakhstan jail at the request of his native Uzbekistan. Djabbarbergenov was arrested Sept. 5 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Uzbekistan wants him back to face charges that he practiced religion outside state regulation. His fate could . . . Read More

Kazakhstan jails pastor, considers extradition to Uzbekistan

September 17, 2012 Kazakhstan Almaty, Kazakhstan, Makset Djabbarbergenov, UN, Uzbekistan

A former Uzbek house church pastor is in a Kazakhstan jail, awaiting a ruling whether he will be returned to his native country, even as Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court considers whether to declare him a refugee from almost-certain persecution.Makset Djabbarbergenov was arrested Sept. 5 in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial center and largest . . . Read More

Persecution increased most in Sudan, Nigeria, report says

January 4, 2012 Global News -- No Particular Country Abyei, Afghanistan, Alexandria, Arab Spring, Blasphemy, Blue Nile, Boko Haram, China, Copts, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hosni Mubarak, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Maspero, Nigeria, Omar al-Bashir, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Kordofan, South Sudan, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Yemen

Sudan and northern Nigeria saw steeper increases in persecution against Christians than 48 other nations where Christians suffered abuse last year, according to an annual ranking by Christian support organization Open Doors. Sudan – where northern Christians experienced greater vulnerability after southern Sudan seceded in a July referendum, and where . . . Read More

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