A 2021 secret Supreme Court ban on Jehovah's Witnesses as allegedly "extremist" was not revealed until over a year later. "The participation of the organisation was not necessary," a Supreme Court official told Forum 18....

The governor of Strict Regime Prison YaS 3/5 in Khujand refuses to explain why Jehovah's Witness prisoner of conscience Shamil Khakimov – aged 72 and in urgent need of specialised medical care – cannot be...

Shamil Khakimov, a Jehovah’s Witness jailed in Tajikistan, gained new support when Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, and Nury Turkel, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, took to social media to advocate for...

The United Nations Human Rights Committee (CCPR) is the UN body ruling on violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). States that have signed the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR recognize...

Prisoner of conscience Shamil Khakimov was stopped from attending his only son's funeral in September, and has not been hospitalised for the specialised medical treatment he needs. This is despite multiple reminders – the most...

The criminal trial of 19-year-old Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector Jovidon Bobojonov for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience could begin at Dushanbe Military Court in early March. If convicted, he faces between two...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Today the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2017 Annual Report on the state of religious freedom in selected countries. “Overall,” said USCIRF Chair Thomas Reese, S.J., “The Commission has concluded that the state of...

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The State Department should add Russia to its list of the worst violators of religious freedom, a U.S. commission declared in its annual report. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom—founded to advise the federal...