Forum 18News: Azerbaijan, Belarus

 
 9 January 2007
 AZERBAIJAN: BIGGEST EXPULSION IN EIGHT YEARS
 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=898
 In the biggest expulsion of foreigners involved in religious activity in  Azerbaijan since 1999, two Georgian and two Russian Jehovah's Witnesses  have been deported, with a Dutch and a British citizen about to follow,  Forum 18 News Service has learnt. The administrative deportation orders -  which do not require any court proceedings - followed a massive police raid  on a Jehovah's Witness meeting, which only four of the six foreign  residents were attending. Jeyhun Mamedov of the State Committee for Work  with Religious Organisations claimed to Forum 18 that "it wasn't a raid -  you can't call it that." He refused to state what law the Jehovah's  Witnesses had allegedly broken. Mamedov claimed on local public TV - which
 accompanied the raid - that "specialised equipment" was confiscated which  "could be used for communicating secretly with secret services of other  countries". Jehovah's Witnesses totally reject these allegations. A steady  trickle of foreigners have in recent years been deported for their  religious activity.
 
 
 12 January 2007
 BELARUS: WHY WERE CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND NUNS EXPELLED?
 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=899
 Seven Polish Catholic priests and five nuns were forced out of Belarus at  the end of 2006, Forum 18 News Service notes. Fr Mariusz Iliaszewicz told  Forum 18 that his high level of activity, including youth and alcohol  rehabilitation meetings open to all, was responsible for the expulsion  decision. Another expelled priest, Fr Jaroslaw Hrynaszkiewicz, expressed  similar thoughts to Forum 18. Fr Mariusz commented that "They don't want  priests who work and try to develop their faith. Anything a priest says is  considered political - if he talks about the lack of truth or freedom in  Belarus he is immediately considered an opponent of the system. But there  are grave violations of human rights in Belarus." Speaking of a protest  hunger strike - which has now stopped - Fr Mariusz noted that he was  astonished by the parishioners' own initiative. "They overcame fear -  solidarity is beginning even in these little villages." A parishioner told  Forum 18 that a Belarusian parish priest was now in the parish and that
 local Catholics have been given "no reasons, no answers," for the  expulsion. However, Forum 18 was told "we all support" their expelled  priest. The Belarusian Consulate in Warsaw has warned priests on short  visits "not to engage in any religious activity."

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