SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan — A Baptist pastor in Uzbekistan was beaten and jailed April 3 after police raided a house church meeting in the city of Samarkand. Bobur Aslamov and members of his congregation were severely beaten. All except Aslamov, who faces possible religious violation charges, were released.
"Christianity is illegal in Uzbekistan and he is facing the possibility of several years in prison for practicing his faith," said Larry Maddox in an e-mail received by the Baptist World Alliance. Maddox, who is teaching temporarily in Kiev, Ukraine, said that Aslamov "was scheduled to attend my classes here in Kiev." The Barnabas Fund, which reports on persecution of Christians, reported that "police confiscated all books, notebooks and a laptop which they found in the house." Uzbekistan has had a history of clamping down on Christianity in the Muslim-majority country, which gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
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