Uzbekistan criticized for new law concerned religious publications

The Norway-based Forum 18 group, which monitors breaches of religious freedom worldwide, last week criticized a new Uzbek law that prohibits the publication and distribution of religious materials without a license and increases the punishment for proselytizing from a fine of US$900-US$1,800 to up to three years in jail.

The spokesman for the State Religious Affairs Committee, Aziz Abidov, dismissed Forum 18's criticism as "beating the air" and accused the group of "using any occasion to accuse Uzbekistan of persecuting believers."

In recent months, the tightly controlled ex-Soviet republic has closed or fined several Western-funded aid groups for alleged attempts to convert Uzbeks to "a religion of a Protestant character."

Since the late 1990s, President Islam Karimov has cracked down on Muslims practicing outside state-sanctioned mosques, branding them radicals and jailing thousands on what observers call trumped-up charges, the AP reports.

The Russian Orthodox Church that serves a significant Russian minority enjoys official recognition. However, many smaller Protestant denominations that mushroomed in Uzbekistan after the 1991 Soviet collapse have been facing increasing