Religious Freedom and Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses: Armed with the Constitution - Book
History of Struggle for Religious Freedom and in the house-to-house work
of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States.
Plaque commemorating Jehovah's Witnesses' liberty from Mauthausen
Concentration Camp, Austria "For all things I have the strength by virtue of him who imparts power to me."
Fear not: persecution and resistance of Jehovah’s witnesses under the Nazi regime
a film by Stefanie Krug and Fritz Poppenberg, 1997.
This story combines first-person descriptions of events with historical footage, photos and eye-witness accounts of the spiritual resistance of Jehovah’s Witnesses during the Nazi regime.
Source: University of Connecticut Libraries, Annotated Human Rights Film Collection. 2007 Waterbury
D804.5.J44 F43
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Jehovah's Witnesses and Religious Liberty - Index of Court Decisions Listing
History of Jehovah's Witnesses legal struggle from 1940-1944 & 2001
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December 8, 2009
Russian Supreme Court rules against Jehovah’s Witnesses and religious freedom (official site link)
MOSCOW—On December 8, 2009, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation considered the appeal of a local congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and upheld the earlier lower court ruling to pronounce 34 pieces of educational religious literature “extremist.” The Supreme Court dismissed the congregation’s appeal. This congregation now faces “liquidation.”
Arli Chimirov, the lawyer representing the interests of Jehovah’s Witnesses, decried the ruling: “Today’s decision by the Supreme Court is a ruling against the freedom to manifest religious beliefs, and it affirms a misapplication of the Federal Law on Counteracting Extremist Activity to Jehovah’s Witnesses, who distribute these publications internationally. Jehovah’s Witnesses will appeal this matter to the European Court of Human Rights in order to protect freedom of religion in Russia, including the right to worship using religious literature of one’s choice and to peacefully share one’s beliefs with others. Meanwhile, I fear there will be many more acts of religious intolerance and hatred taken against Jehovah’s Witnesses because of the Court’s ruling.”
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November 3, 2009 - Azerbeijan
Forum 18 by Felix Corley
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: "If they violate the law by meeting together for religious purposes, they will be fined." 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.
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November 4, 2009 - Armenia
J.W. v Armenia: Religious group unhappy with Strasbourg court decision
Jehovah’s witness who spent nearly a year in prison for refusing to serve in the Armenian army is likely to appeal to a higher Strasbourg court chamber after the international judicial body resolved his “conscientious objector” case against Armenia in favor of the latter.
On October 27, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the Vahan Bayatyan v Armenia case not to satisfy the claim of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization member against the state, assuming as grounds mainly the circumstance that during his draft to the Armenian army (in 2001) Armenia did not have a law on alternative service (the law came into force only in 2004) and had not yet ratified the European Convention on Human Rights (it did so in April 2002).
The same day, the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization disseminated a statement in which it said that the European court does not defend the rights of conscientious objector....
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October 19, 2009 - Belarus "They were not doing wrong – it's just our law"
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Baptists and Jehovah's Witnesses in Belarus continue to be raided and fined by the authorities for unregistered religious activity, Forum 18 News Service has found. The raids on meetings for unregistered worship have been strongly defended by the authorities. Anna Mukhlya, an expert in a regional Ideology Department who took part in one of the raids, conceded that the raided congregation was not harming anyone. "They were not doing wrong – it's just our law," she told Forum 18. Civil society groups continue to campaign against the Belarusian Religion Law, which makes unregistered religious activity a criminal offence. The..............................
October 09, 2009 - Belarusian Jehovah's Witness Charged For Refusing To Join Army
HOMEL, Belarus -- A 23-year-old conscientious objector from the Belarusian city of Homel is standing trial for refusing to join the army, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. Dzmitry Smyk, a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, was officially charged on October 8 with avoiding mandatory military service.
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Jehovah's Witnesses Victims of New Harrasment Campaign in Russia
CONTENTS
Summary of Events.................................................................................................3
Shocking Examples of Intolerance......................................................................5
Human Rights Violations in Yekaterinburg and
Sverdlosk Region......................................................................................................6
Religion on Trial ......................................................................................................8
Disruptions of Religious Services........................................................................10
Interference in the Private Lives of Religious Believers ...............................12
Unprecedented Harassment of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Throughout Russia.................................................................................................14
The Past Must Not Repeat Itself ........................................... ...........................15
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
This report, compiled by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, presents facts to
demonstrate that certain government authorities in that country are sponsoring
mass violations of the rights of this religious group to enjoy freedom of worship.
By way of an introduction, the following background summary of events shows
that there exists a relentless campaign of harassment aimed at banning their
activities throughout the country.
In 1991 Jehovah’s Witnesses received official recognition in the USSR. In the
same year in accordance with the Law on Rehabilitation of Victims of Political
Repression, and in 1996 by Presidential order, they were fully rehabilitated as
victims of political repression. This enabled hundreds of thousands of citizens of
the former Soviet Union to enjoy exoneration and freedom of worship...........
February 10, 2001 - Russian Court attempts to ban Jehovah's Witnesses
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Religious freedom is on trial in Russia. The courts are taking on an effort to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses from the former Soviet Union. This is our CNN report.....
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ATTACK OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES RAISES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ISSUE IN GEORGIA
One recent evening a mob of about 100 people in the eastern Georgian town of Kaspi sacked a house belonging to a local leader of Jehovah’s Witnesses, aiming to disrupt the religious group’s annual meeting. They set fire to the property, destroying much of the group’s religious literature and damaging the stage and seats needed for the meeting. The rabble’s violent tactics succeeded in forcing the cancellation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses convention. But the attack has also reinforced the notion of Georgia being a state lacking effective leadership.
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October 23, 2009 - Radio Free Europe -
Jehovah's Witnesses arrested for Refusing Military Duty
Mushfiq Mammadov, a conscientious objector to military service in Azerbaijan, has been detained for refusing to perform compulsory military service. Mammadov, who is a member of the Christian group Jehovah's Witnesses, is reportedly being held in the Kurdakhani isolation center and has not been given a lawyer. Mammadov was once detained in 2006 and given a six-month suspended jail term on the same charges. Although Azerbaijan's Constitution guarantees the right to alternative service, no program exists for pursuing such an option. Mammadov was detained on August 10 and sentenced one day later, even though the Interior Ministry says it has no information about the arrest. Human rights defenders are calling on Azerbaijani authorities........
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Objectors Imprisoned
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Two young Jehovah's Witnesses have joined two other Jehovah's Witnesses already incarcerated in the labour camp in Seydi after being sentenced in July for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of religious conscience, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service. Shadurdi Ushotov, who is 21, received the maximum two-year term, while 19-year-old Akmurat Egendurdiev received an 18-month term. Both had their appeals rejected in their absence. Jehovah's Witnesses complain three of the four have been obstructed from lodging further appeals.
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Jehovah's Witnesses in Africa - Human Rights Struggle
"Jehovah’s Witnesses are a religous minority in every country where they are present and because of their beliefs — which includes a refusal to participate in politics or to honour nationalist symbols — have been the subject of harassment and persecution by many governments. In Nazi Germany they were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, while during World War II the Society was banned in Canada and Australia. Today there are about [seven] million Jehovah’s Witnesses world wide, of whom about [one half] of a million are in Africa."
* "The most serious conflict between Witnesses and government occurred from 1967 in Malawi."
* Other places of past difficulty (not complete listing) and conflict: Mozambique, 1975-1985. Ethiopia, Tanzania, Eritrea (present), Egypt (present), Angola, Benin, Liberia, Zambia, South Africa. Some of these difficulties have stemmed from the political neutral stance of Jehovah's Witnesses, and the stand of Jehovah's Witnesses of not accepting military conscription.
* The largest population of Jehovah's Witnesses in Africa is in Nigeria.
Map: 1996, US Government-CIA
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Jehovah's Witnesses - Korea - Video Site - Official Site
Living by a Bible-Trained Conscience
They Did Not Shrink Back During the past 65 years, more than 10,000 of Jehovah's Witnesses in Korea have chosen to serve a prison sentence rather than violate their Bible-trained conscience. Their personal experiences speak.....
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U.S. Government map
Jehovah's Witnesses face legal struggles and bans in a number of countries, including Communist China. In the late 1950s-1960s, many Jehovah's Witnesses spent many years in prisons and labor camps. Two Jehovah's Witness missionaries in China, Harold King and Stanley Jones, spent 5 and 7 years respectively in solitary confinement there. One Chinese Jehovah's Witness, Nancy Yuen, spent the better part of 20 years in Chinese prisons and labor camps, before finally recieving her freedom.
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