Turkmenistan releases 16 Jehovah’s Witnesses from prison

Admin l Wednesday, May 12, 2021

 

WASHINGTON – The government of Turkmenistan has granted freedom to 16 members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They were jailed for refusing to take part in compulsory military service.

Jehovah’s Witnesses pursue peace and will not lift up arms against another based on their belief in Micah 4:3 and they will never join the military to take up arms.

Release of the 16 Jehovah’s Witnesses who are conscientious objectors  was disclosed by Secretary  of State Antony J. Blinken   during the   release of International Religious Freedom Report.

“Just this past Saturday, Turkmenistan released 16 Jehovah’s Witnesses who are conscientious objectors and refused to serve in the military”, he said, adding “we understand the authorities will now offer conscientious objectors alternative ways to meet national service requirements”.

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He said the United States want to see more progress like that,  adding that the Biden-Harris administration will protect and defend religious freedom around the world.

“We will maintain America’s longstanding leadership on this issue.  We’re grateful for our partners, including likeminded governments, the UN Human Rights Council, and networks like the International Religious Freedom of Belief Alliance and the International Contact Group of Freedom of Religion or Belief.

“We’ll continue to work closely with civil society organizations, including human rights advocates and religious communities, to combat all forms of religiously motivated hatred and discrimination around the world”, he said.

He pointed out that in Russia, authorities continue to harass, detain, and seize property of Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as members of Muslim minority groups on the pretense of alleged extremism.

“In Nigeria, courts continue to convict people of blasphemy, sentencing them to long-term imprisonment or even death.  Yet the government has still not brought anyone to justice for the military’s massacre of hundreds of Shia Muslims in 2015”, the US said.

“Saudi Arabia remains the only country in the world without a Christian church, though there are more than a million Christians living in Saudi Arabia.  And authorities continue to jail human rights activists like Raif Badawi, who was sentenced in 2014 to a decade in prison and a thousand lashes for speaking about his beliefs.

“And China broadly criminalizes religious expression and continues to commit crimes against humanity and genocide against Muslim Uyghurs and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups”, Blinken said.