Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Kazakhstan: Christians fined for ‘extremist’ literature

Two Protestants in Kazakhstan have been fined a month’s worth of wages for possessing “extremist” literature, the Forum 18 News Service reported. 

The majority of the books discussed Islam and the evangelization of Muslims. 

The government of the central Asian nation does not publish a list of banned literature, according to Forum 18; instead, the accused are informed at unannounced court hearings that they have committed a crime. 

The latest convictions are part of a pattern of harassment against the nation’s Protestant community. 

The nation of 18 million is 47% Muslim, 47% Russian Orthodox, 2% Protestant, and 1% Catholic.