jws raided/azerbaijan

jacethespace

Jehovahs witness meetings in azerbaijan have been raided especially house meetings where they are said to be illegal http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1082

jacethespace

I love this new invisible writing tecnology ! It rocks.

Gopher

LOL - There was trouble with getting a reply to open for a while on this forum, now it's working for me.

This part tells me a lot:

Despite conceding that Azerbaijan commits itself to freedom of religion and freedom of speech, Mansuzade insisted these freedoms do not extend to the Jehovah's Witnesses. "We have freedom of speech, but this doesn't allow propaganda among the population. They're illegal missionaries. Our religion is Islam."

It appears we have a mixture of extreme religious intolerance (in this case from the Muslims) mixed in with some good-old Soviet-era authoritarianism. This makes the authorities believe they can invade peaceful meetings and physically beat people who are in a home talking about their beliefs.

I guess you'd better believe in Islam, or else you shouldn't meet at all. And this is the 21st century.

B_Deserter

Azerbaijan commits to freedom of religion and speech in the same way Henry Ford offered the Model T in any color his customers wanted.

GoddessRachel

I just came across this in my email and wondered what people here thought about it. I may not agree with what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach but I think this is just horrifyingly sick. Why do they deserve this treatment for meeting in a private home? And please don't say it's persecution, and proof that they are the true religion! All minority religions there are receiving similar treatment, according to the article. Azerbaijan is a very scary place and I'm very glad I don't live there.

They report the police as telling each other: "Beat them in a way that no traces can be found."

How do you beat someone so no traces can be found????

sinis

Well they probably deserved what they got. After all, who amongst us would walk off a cliff with no parachute, or enter a burning building without special clothing and gear? They KNEW it was an Islamic ONLY country, and they are therefore rolling the dice and in essence playing Russian Roulette. So although a witless is not allowed to spend a buck and play the lottery, these poor saps play the lottery with their lives knowing full well what the "payout" is if they get caught. Fucking stupid if you ask me.

Gopher

Well they probably deserved what they got. After all, who amongst us would walk off a cliff with no parachute, or enter a burning building without special clothing and gear? They KNEW it was an Islamic ONLY country, and they are therefore rolling the dice and in essence playing Russian Roulette.

You're blaming the victims here, Sinis. Would you say the same about the other non-Islamic religious groups also being hounded and persecuted there?

The government there DID claim they would allow "freedom of religion and speech", so religious groups, including the JW's, believed them. The Azerbaijan government should be held accountable by the world community.

sinis

...and you believe these third world shit holes run by Moslim extremists? Freedom or not, they become a target in this country, so why roll the dice and tempt fate?

Gopher

So the members of minority religions who just happen to live there are supposed to pick up and leave? I don't get the logic. These groups may have operated underground while the USSR still controlled the territory, but now they were told they would have freedom of religion.

Azerbaijan is supposed to be a secular Islamic republic, as opposed to the theocratic regime to its immediate south (Iran). They've had the same constitution in place since 1995.

My uneducated guess is that with the rise of religious extremism in the region, that Muslims in Azerbaijan feel they too must exert their power.

jws raided/azerbaijan

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