Jehovah's Witnesses News

By Derek Brett, Conscience and Peace Tax International

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (ECHR) has recently made a very dangerous judgement for freedom of religion or belief in the Bayatyan v. Armenia case which puts it out of step with the international standards on conscientious objection to military service and with the Council of Europe’s own human rights agenda, notes Derek Brett of Conscience and Peace Tax International http://www.cpti.ws in a commentary for Forum 18 News Service http://www.forum18.org. The Court, apparently unaware of the recent parallel jurisprudence under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, found no violation of the freedom of thought, conscience and religion in the imprisonment of a Jehovah’s Witness for his refusal on grounds of conscientious objection to perform military service, or the subsequent increase in the sentence, which had been partly justified by his reasons for refusal. Brett argues that it is vital that the Grand Chamber of the ECHR agrees to hear the appeal in the Bayatyan case, as it alone can overturn the precedent which this will otherwise set for future ECHR cases. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9%

For Immediate Release
November 18, 2009

VYBORG, Russia—Most of the contents of a shipment of literature addressed to the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia was released by the Vyborg Customs officials after being detained for two months.

Earlier, on October 6, the Vyborg Customs officials held up a shipment of literature intended for Jehovah’s Witnesses because “it may contain material intended to incite religious discord.” Then on October 22, Customs officials issued a decision to have all the literature in the shipment subjected to an expert study. On October 26, without awaiting the results of the study, Customs issued a letter to the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia stating that “release of the goods is forbidden” and that “action must be taken to ensure that the goods are removed” from the country within 72 hours, with no further explanation given. The shipment was not yet transported out of the country because of an appeal to the St. Petersburg Court of Arbitration. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 17%

For Immediate Release
November 18, 2009

MOSCOW—The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will hear the appeal of Jehovah’s Witnesses from the city of Taganrog regarding the decision of the local and appellate courts to liquidate their congregation and to put 34 pieces of their religious publications on a national list of “extremist literature.” The publications at the heart of this controversy are distributed in over 500 languages worldwide. Lower courts in Russia have already ruled that the literature is extremist under Russian law. The Supreme Court will hear the appeal on December 8, 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 26%

For Immediate Release
November 16, 2009

New York—In the midst of a civil war in Rwanda, a small group of translators flee their homes, leaving behind their possessions, but they do manage to take their laptop computers along. Why? They translate Bible publications into the Kinyarwanda language, and they want that translation to continue.

This real-life account is one of many that show the dedication of translators who appreciate the value of the Bible and of the educational publications used in teaching people who want to learn about the Bible. This year a milestone is being reached in that such information is being published in 500 languages, more than 75 percent of which are also available online. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 15%

Today marks the last day of the Jehovah’s Witnesses convention which has seen over 4,000 Fijian speaking church members from around the country receiving assistance after the Church launched the final translation of the Fijian Bible.

The church members, who all converged at the Vodafone Arena, were all brought to their feet when the Church elders announced the launch of the “I-Vola Tabu”, which saw a completion of 3-4 years of translation. Today is the last day for the three day convention which focuses on “Keeping Awake Spiritually.”

So far in the past two days, new church literature has been released in Fijian, Hindi as well as in Chinese and Japanese.

There are two conventions being held simultaneously at the Vodafone Arena and the Kingdom Hall Vatuwaqa which has so far seen close to 5,000 in attendance from all over Fiji and Rotuma, with close to 200 other church members also holding simultaneous assemblies in Tuvalu and Kiribati.

This is sometimes a yearly or triannual gathering where Jehovah’s Witnesses come together to strengthen their faith.

Meanwhile, a group of Methodist Church Ministers are currently visiting the Methodist Schools as part of their annual trips before Christmas break.

Acting General Secretary, Reverend Tevita Nawadra said the visit is to see the condition of the schools and if there are renovations and repairs are to be done.

Rev Nawadra said that money collected from the main SOLI will also pay for the repairs of the Methodist schools.

More than $300,000 has been collected from the various circuits of the Methodist Church locally and overseas.

Source: FijiVillage

Popularity: 22%

The religious community complains about “arbitrary” trials, persecution and a campaign of “demonisation’ by the courts and the press. They ask Russian president to “guarantee their constitutional rights” and protect them “from bureaucratic arbitrariness.”

Moscow (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The leader of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses has appealed to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to protect his community from a campaign of persecution. V.M. Kalin, chairman of the steering committee of the ‘Administrative Centre of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia’ (ACJWR), wrote to the Kremlin leader, complaining about “arbitrary” trials against members of his community (see AsiaNews, 17/09/2009, “Court in Rostov bans Jehovah’s Witnesses for being religious extremists,” in AsiaNews, 17 September 2009, and “Altai court condemns Jehovah’s Witnesses for “extremism,” in AsiaNews, 5 October 2009). Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 12%

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

The Deputy Chief of Minsk’s Frunze District Police, Dinas Linkus, said he sent the local police officer to question the Kagramanyan family, who are Pentecostals, about their religious faith. “We had a request from the Culture Department of Minsk City Executive Committee several weeks ago to find out whether any religious activity was going on at this address, to establish whether a church was active there or not,” he told Forum 18 News Service. “We have Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims – these are the religions. All the others are sects.” Meanwhile Transfiguration Baptist Church in Vitebsk Region was fined for using a private house for religious worship, despite having official permission to do so. Jehovah’s Witness Dmitry Smyk has been fined for refusing compulsory military service on religious grounds, but criminal charges against one other conscientious objector have been dropped.

At the request of Minsk City Executive Committee, local police in the capital Minsk visited the Kagramanyan family, who are Pentecostals, and asked intrusive questions about whether they use their home for worship, which church they attend and why they are believers, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. The Deputy Chief of Minsk’s Frunze District Police with responsibility for public security, Dinas Linkus, insisted to Forum 18 that now the family has answered the questions, no further action will be taken.

Meanwhile, a Baptist congregation has been fined in Vitebsk Region, although administrative charges against the leader of another local Baptist congregation have been dropped. And Jehovah’s Witness Dmitry Smyk, facing imprisonment for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of religious faith, has instead been fined. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 7%

By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service

State religious affairs officials failed to invite all religious communities to a 21 October roundtable in the capital Bishkek to discuss the controversial proposed new Religious Education Law, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. At a 29 October conference, where the draft Law was briefly discussed, Kanatbek Murzakhalilov, Deputy Head of the State Commission for Religious Affairs, gave religious communities one week to submit comments. Murzakhalilov refused to tell Forum 18 why discussion is being rushed or why his agency is refusing to allow the publication of the legal review of the draft by the OSCE requested by his agency and received in late October. Several directors of medreses (Muslim secondary schools) across Kyrgyzstan were afraid to comment to Forum 18 on the draft Law for fear of reprisals from the authorities.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 23%

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

Jehovah’s Witnesses in the internationally unrecognised entity of Nagorno-Karabakh, in the south Caucasus, have lost a legal challenge to the entity’s refusal to grant them legal status, Forum 18 News Service has learned. An appeal to the entity’s Supreme Court may be made. Ashot Sargsyan, head of the Department for Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs vigorously defended to Forum 18 denial of registration to Jehovah’s Witnesses and a local Protestant Church. Sargsyan said that, without registration, individual believers have the right to conduct religious activity – such as to pray – alone at home. But he said neither of the two groups can meet together as a community, even in private. “If they violate the law by meeting together for religious purposes, they will be fined,” Sargsyan pledged. Both groups have told Forum 18 that low-profile meetings are not currently being obstructed.

On 28 October a court challenge against legal status denial of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the internationally unrecognised entity of Nagorno-Karabakh in the south Caucasus failed, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Vigorously defending the denial of registration to both the Jehoavh’s Witnesses and a local Protestant congregation is Ashot Sargsyan, head of the government’s Department for Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs. “Our Religion Law bans proselytism, so they don’t have the right to spread their faith,” he told Forum 18 from the capital Stepanakert on 2 November. “Our Law says we cannot register them.” Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8%

For Immediate Release
October 27, 2009

YEREVAN, Armenia—On October 27, 2009, in the case of Bayatyan v Armenia, the European Court of Human Rights held, in view of existing case law, that it was required to rule that freedom of conscience as defined in Article 9 of the European Convention does not protect the rights of conscientious objectors who refuse to serve in the military.

Vahan Bayatyan is an Armenian national, born in 1983, who lives in Yerevan, Armenia. He is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and for reasons of conscience refused to perform military service. In 2002 he was sentenced to a prison term of one and a half years. His sentence was increased by one year after the Prosecutor appealed for a harsher sentence, claiming that Mr. Bayatyan’s conscientious objection was “unfounded and dangerous.” When the decision was confirmed by the Armenian Supreme Court, Bayatyan took his case to the European Court. The European Court ruled against Mr. Bayatyan even though it did “not doubt that the applicant’s objection to compulsory military service was based on his genuine religious convictions.” Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 12%