IRFN (Nov. 27-Dec. 6): Iran: Tehran Police Crack Down on Winter Clothing

Dec 6, 2007

International Religious Freedom Archive
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1. Belgium: Ghent City Employees Banned from Wearing Religious Symbols (Nov. 27)
2. UN: Angolan Muslims, Minorities Threatened (Nov. 28)
3. Russia: Community's Request for Land Stalled Indefinitely (Nov. 29)
4. Myanmar: Junta Closes Another Monastery (Nov. 30)
5. Uzbekistan: Baptist Receives Two Years of Correctional Labor (Nov. 30)
6. Iran: Tehran Police Crack Down on Winter Clothing (Dec. 1)

Features:Turkey: what are the causes of intolerance and violence? From Forum 18.

1. Belgium: Ghent City Employees Banned from Wearing Religious Symbols
November 27
Ghent, Belgium
Flandersnews.be reports that the city of Ghent, by a vote of 26 to 23, has decided to forbid city employees from wearing 'religious or political' symbols, including headscarves. The ban will apply to all city personnel that comes into contact with the public on their jobs, such as childcare workers, though it would not affect teachers and police officers. The decision is the second of its kind for Belgium; the city of Antwerp instituted a similar ban earlier this year.

2. UN: Angolan Muslims, Minorities Threatened
November 28
Geneva, Switzerland
Reuters reports that Asma Jahangir, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Freedom or Religion or Belief, has expressed concern for religious minorities in Angola, saying that among them, Muslims are stigmatized by the government and still lack official recognition. Muslims are also maligned by Angola's media, which depicts them as having links to terrorism, counterfeiting and money laundering, while other minorities suffer from Angola's religious laws, which occasionally incorporate outdated decrees from the country's colonial period.

3. Russia: Community's Request for Land Stalled Indefinitely
November 29
Moscow, Russia
Forum 18 reports that Moscow's Molokan community, a Christian group which split from the Russian Orthodox church in the 16th century, has waited more than ten years to obtain permission to build a place of worship. The Molokans first requested land in 1996, and waited four years for a positive response. However, since November 2000, city officials have found one reason or another for blocking the Molokans' building plans. The Molokans, long persecuted for their faith in Russia, were granted the freedom to practice their religion by Tsar Alexander I, and their community currently numbers about 70.

4. Myanmar: Junta Closes Another Monastery
November 30
Yangon, Myanmar
Asianews reports that Burmese authorities continue to punish the country's Buddhist monks for their participation or perceived support of September's protests against the junta. The Burmese government recently shut down the Maggin monastery in Thingangyun, near Yangon. The monastery, well-known for receiving AIDS patients, had already been raided four times in September, when some of the monks were jailed. The remaining monks and novices found refuge at a nearby pagoda, and the patients were transferred to a hospital in a neighboring town.

5. Uzbekistan: Baptist Receives Two Years of Correctional Labor
November 30
Khalkabad, Uzbekistan
Forum 18 reports that Nikolai Zulfikarov, the leader of a five-member Baptist church in Khalkabad, has been sentenced to two years of "correctional labor" for teaching religion privately while lacking the proper credentials and authority, according to Uzbek officials. Over the next two years, Zulfikarov must also give 20% of anything he earns to the state. The presiding judge in the case refused to recognize any differences between Baptist congregations in the state, and told Zulfikarov that praying with fellow believers without registration was illegal.

6. Iran: Tehran Police Crack Down on Winter Clothing
December 1
Tehran, Iran
Reuters reports that Tehran's police will once again monitor women in the city to ensure that their outfits are in line with "Islamic codes", according to Tehran's chief of police, Ahmad Reza Radan. Until recently, dress codes were only enforced during the summer, when the weather became warm, but now police aim to clamp down on offenders who wear "tight trousers tucked inside long boots" or "a hat or cap instead of [head]scarves".Offenders may be warned, or taken into a police station and fined.