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Recent reports indicate increasing discrimination and persecution against Christians in Uzbekistan. Despite being properly registered, the Generation of Faith Assembly of God Church in Chircik was ordered to close on Feb. 4. It was registered in 1993 and then forced to re-register in 1998 under a new religion law. The Department of Justice for the Tashkent region sent a letter to the church ordering the congregation to stop meeting, claiming its registration was incorrect. This is the latest in a series of incidents in which Uzbek authorities have ordered churches to close -- especially if they use the Uzbek language -- in an apparent attempt to keep the gospel from spreading among the country's predominantly Muslim population. Full Gospel Church in Tashkent was also ordered to stop meeting because church members were singing and preaching in Uzbek. In another incident, police raided a Bible study in Muynak on Dec. 16, arresting two Christians (Asanbayev Kuralbai Jangabayevich and Keulimjayev Rashid Tajibayevich) for reading the Bible. Police beat them and held them in prison for five days before releasing them. "It's appalling that Christians in Uzbekistan can't even have a Bible study without being subjected to a police raid and imprisonment," said Wilfred Wong of Jubilee Campaign. "Uzbekistan has a long history of discrimination and persecution against Christian. In recent years Uzbek authorities have tried harder to present a more moderate face to the international community, but it's clear that anti-Christian persecution still exists in that country." (Jubilee Campaign)

* HCJB World Radio airs weekly Uzbek broadcasts to Uzbekistan via shortwave. An estimated 15 million Uzbek-speaking people are within range of the broadcasts. Uzbek is also one of four languages that HCJB World Radio airs to Afghanistan from an AM station outside the country.

FORMER RWANDA PASTOR, SON SENTENCED FOR ROLES IN 1994 GENOCIDE

A United Nations tribunal has sentenced former Seventh-day Adventist administrator Elizaphan Ntakirutimana to 10 years in prison and his son, Gérard, to 25 years in prison for their roles in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. On Feb. 19 the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, 78, of aiding and abetting in genocide while his 45-year-old son, Gérard Ntakirutimana, a medical doctor practicing at the Mugonero Adventist Hospital, was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. "The Rwandan tragedy -- the senseless loss of thousands of lives -- cannot be forgotten," says Ray Dabrowski, communication director at the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters. "Christians should reject violence as a means of conflict resolution. The heart of the Christian message is reconciliation, compassion and love which transcend any differences of language, race or nationality. . . . As a church we extend our deepest sympathies to all those whose lives have been shattered by this terrible experience." Elizaphan, a Rwandan national, had been living in retirement near Laredo, Texas, since 1994, was indicted by the tribunal in June 1996. He was arrested the following September and extradited from the U.S. in early 2000 to stand trial in Tanzania. (Adventist News Network)

LEBANESE CLERIC CHARGED WITH INCITING VIOLENCE

An Islamic cleric who told a soldier that killing Christians was a "Muslim's duty" has been charged with inciting violence. Last week Chief Military Prosecutor Riyad Talieh demanded up to three years in jail for Sheik Mohammed Joumaa for fomenting sectarian strife by telling the soldier Hussein Khalaf that Muslims who kill Christians will go "straight to paradise," the Associated Press reported. Khalaf opened fire in a barracks in a Beirut suburb on Dec. 30, killing a Christian colleague and wounding four others. He died in a shootout with police a few hours later. Joumaa, who was arrested a few days after the shooting, reaffirmed his remarks to Khalaf in front of prosecutors. Before the soldier began shooting at his colleagues, he reportedly shouted out, "I'm a member of al-Qaida from Osama bin Laden's group. You are infidels!" Khalaf frequented the Wadi Khaled mosque in the northern town of Akkar where Joumaa preached. No trial date has been set. Lebanon is highly sensitive to Christian-Muslim strife which devastated the country during the 1975-90 civil war. (Religion Today)

INDONESIAN PASTOR BOYCOTTS LATEST HEARING OF HIS CASE

Refusing to attend the third hearing of the case against him in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesian pastor Rinaldy Damanik says he is "tired of being accused of being a provocateur." International Christian Concern reported that he refused to attend the third hearing of his case on Feb. 18 after charges were changed from the possession of weapons to provoking violence. "Those accusations were only rumors, but now they have been announced formally by the Minister of Law and Human Rights," Damanik told prosecutors, saying that attending the hearing would only "legitimize the new charges against him." The session opened as scheduled, but the hearing was postponed until Monday, Feb. 24. Damanik was originally arrested last September after going to Jakarta to clarify the facts about accusations of illegal weapons possession made against him in Central Sulawesi. Since then, his case has been extended several times despite a lack of evidence. (Assist News Service)

LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD IN COLORADO DROPS BIBLE CLUB BAN

Pressured by a religious discrimination lawsuit, school officials in a Colorado community have decided to allow Bible clubs and other student-led groups to meet on school property, The Denver Post Reported. The Boulder Valley School Board voted 6-0 to revise a 19-year-old policy that banned from Boulder district schools student-formed religious and other clubs that weren't directly linked to the curriculum. Two students who wanted to start a Bible club at Monarch High School filed suit last month targeting the old policy, saying it violated their First Amendment right to practice religion. Lawyers representing the two girls who sued will review the policy change before deciding whether to go ahead with the lawsuit, said American Center for Law and Justice spokesman Gene Kapp. The suit noted that numerous other clubs, including a pro-gay group, had been approved that bore little relationship to the curriculum. (Religion Today/Charisma News)

EX-PRISONERS MAKE IMPACT FOR GOSPEL IN RUSSIA

Former prisoners in Russian are making a lasting impact on evangelism and church planting, says Slavic Gospel Association's Michael Johnson. Sasha, the son of a Ukrainian pastor, is one example. He turned away from his upbringing and ended up in prison. "Through the ministry of a local Baptist church he got saved' and he developed a tremendous passion for evangelism," Johnson says. "Once he got out of prison he connected with SGA and was trained in one of our seminaries that we sponsor, and he was eventually sent out into Siberia. Today Sasha is the senior pastor of a growing church." Johnson says this story is being repeated across Russia, but Christian workers also face huge challenges in spreading the gospel. "There are many pastors and church planters who are graduating from Bible institutes and seminaries in Russia, but they simply don't have the resources to be sent out to many of the unreached areas. And these are areas where people are waiting to hear the gospel." (Mission Network News)

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