Now the police help Turkmen imams to persecute Christians
ICC Note:
Turkmenistan government ignores Protestant registration requests. Police raid prayer gatherings and demand Christians to “renounce”.
2/3/2010 Turkmenistan (AsiaNews) – Police raids, led by local imams, against the Christians who gather to pray. In a systematic way, the faithful are summoned by the agents that force them to “renounce”. But they complain that they have applied for state authorization to meet, without receiving any response.
December 20 in the city of Dashoguz, Rovshen Allaberdiev chief mufti, imam of the region on led a police raid against the Path of Faith Baptist Christians gathered for Sunday prayer. The officers took photographs of those present and confiscated over 100 Bibles and other Christian books. All 22 faithful present were brought to the police station and interrogated for hours; some for fear signed an undertaking not to attend any more Christian meetings.
The authorities say it is forbidden to meet without the group being registered by the state, but some believers report that they applied for registration long ago but have received no answer, and ask only that they can meet and pray. January 28 in Gurbansoltan-eje, still in the area Dashoguz, police interrupted a birthday party in a private home, identified and questioned all those present and took the pastor Yuri Rozmetov and his mother, detaining them for hours.
