Polls have opened in Uzbekistan to elect a successor to the late leader, Islam Karimov, with long-serving Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev expected to win a comfortable victory. Mirziyoyev, who was appointed prime minister in 2003, became interim president following Karimov’s
Read moreIncreasing numbers of Christians in Uzbekistan are being punished simply for the “crime” of having religious literature at home, and Open Doors is asking Christians worldwide to pray for Christians living under the harsh Central Asian dictatorship. One Christian, Stanislav
Read moreAfter the death of Uzbekistan’s president, Islam Karimov, in early September, he was buried in the historic cemetery located in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. He had been president for 25 years and his death left the country wondering who and what was
Read moreWith the passing of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, the outlines of his legacy are beginning to take shape. While Karimov can retain credit for leading Uzbekistan through its first 25 years of independent statehood, the number of increasingly strict human
Read moreAn Uzbek Christian man who is in prison for his faith has been given the disappointing news that a mid-sentence parole from prison “will not happen.” Fellow Christians say that 33 year-old Tohar Haydarov, a convert from Islam to Christianity,
Read moreAn Uzbek pastor and father-of-four, Latif, was arrested on Saturday12th March after police went to the homes of six Christian families, including the pastor’s, in the Fergana Valley in eastern Uzbekistan. The police were searching for Christian literature and resources
Read moreOn Sunday 7th February, a group of seven or eight Christians, some of them children, were arrested in the Samarqand region of Uzbekistan when police stormed a Christian gathering. The believers were taken to the police station and held until 4
Read moreAccording to Forum 18, on 8th November, Police in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent raided a Protestant worship meeting, detaining members of the group and their nursing children. Police also stole money and confiscated a large amount of Christian literature, as well
Read moreIn April 2015, a Baptist church in Karshi City, Uzbekistan was visited by a group of secret police officers, who filmed members of the church. Later the same day, officers confiscated all of the literature from the church, including Bibles
Read moreUzbekistan has long been recognised as one of the most repressive regimes in Central Asia with respect to religious freedom. Two incidents recently reported by Forum 18 only serve to enforce this viewpoint. In the town of Dostabod, near the
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