TAJIK OFFICIALS ATTEMPT TO ARREST AND DEPORT AMERICAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001078

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CASC PGOV PHUM KDEM KIRF TI
SUBJECT: TAJIK OFFICIALS ATTEMPT TO ARREST AND DEPORT AMERICAN
JEHOVAH'S WITNESS

REF: A) SEPTEL: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES FIGHTING TO IMPORT LITERATURE, B) DUSHANBE 790 C) DUSHANBE 623 D) 06 DUSHANBE 1354

DUSHANBE 00001078 001.2 OF 002



1. (SBU) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: The government of Tajikistan
continues to squeeze nongovernmental organizations and religious
groups, its latest target being the Jehovah's Witnesses. On
July 13, two men identifying themselves as officers of the State
Committee on National Security detained an American citizen
Jehovah's Witness on the street in Dushanbe and threatened him
with arrest and deportation. The incident follows a pattern of
harassment against the Jehovah's Witnesses by Tajik security
officials who were responsible for the confiscation of three
containers of imported Jehovah's Witness literature and
detention and interrogation of local members (REFTELS B-D). The
July 13 attempt to deport a Jehovah's Witness for proselytizing
indicates that the government is becoming less tolerant of
religious activity.


2. (SBU) The Jehovah's Witnesses have faced ongoing
registration problems with local government, and the State
Committee on National Security has detained, questioned and
verbally harassed local members in the past. However, in recent
months, since the group began importing larger shipments of
religious literature, government scrutiny and pressure has
escalated. The Tajik government may be fearful of a growing
population of Christian converts, or simply concerned with what
they perceive as Western involvement in religious and other
social activism.


3. (SBU) Although proselytizing is not illegal under the
current body of law, according to Department of Religious
Affairs officials, the government receives many complaints from
local Tajiks about Christian proselytization and the government
in practice disapproves of proselytizing. Other international
faith-based organizations suspected of proselytizing have been
harassed in the past. Embassy sources say that the State
Committee on National Security assumes that American citizens
working with faith-based international organizations in
Tajikistan intend to spark a "color revolution." The draft law
on religion and religious associations, which is rumored to pass
into law before the end of the year, does prohibit proselytizing
and it appears that the State Committee on National Security is
attempting to apply the draft law prior to its formal adoption
by parliament and the president. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT.


4. (SBU) James Hwang was walking down a main street in
Dushanbe July 13 with his wife, Jane Hwang, and another
Jehovah's Witnesses American couple, Gregory and Martha Olds,
when James Hwang said he recognized a local man who had just
passed them. According to Hwang, the man had earlier been
involved in the physical assault of a Tajik Jehovah's Witness.
The four Americans then entered a store and two men identifying
themselves as officers of the State Committee on National
Security stopped them upon exiting. The two female American
citizens kept walking to avoid the confrontation, while James
Hwang was detained by the officers and Gregory Olds, a visiting
attorney from the Jehovah's Witness headquarters, remained.
According to Olds, the officers kept insisting to him that he
was "free to go," and that they wanted to take Hwang with them.
Olds asked the officers if they could go to the U.S. Embassy, at
which point Hwang called ConOff. ConOff asked to talk to the
officers by telephone to understand what the charges were and
where they would be taking Hwang, as neither Olds nor Hwang
spoke Russian. The officer at first refused to take the phone
from Hwang, then, after ConOff identified himself on the phone,
hung up.


5. (SBU) ConOff arrived at the scene approximately half an
hour after Hwang had first been stopped. ConOff asked the
officers for identification, whether they planned to arrest
Hwang, and what the charges were. One officer, Captain Khalimon
Saliboev, provided identification, but the second responded that
he did not have any on him at the time. When asked what his
name was, he replied Ivan Tojev. [COMMENT: The officer
hesitated before responding, as if to think of a name to use.
END COMMENT] The two officers said that Hwang had to
voluntarily leave Tajikistan immediately or face arrest and
deportation. They said they had told the same to Hwang and that
they expected him and his wife to be at Dushanbe International
Airport at 6 a.m. the next day to leave on the first available
flight. [COMMENT: An unreasonable request, seeing as Hwang did
not have a visa for any of the countries with flights the next
day. END COMMENT] After repeatedly asking for clarification of

DUSHANBE 00001078 002.2 OF 002


the charges resulting in the threatened deportation, Saliboev
dispatched Tojev for the document which detailed them, but in
Tajiki which Saliboev only partially translated for ConOff. The
order from the prosecutor's office stated that Hwang had been
illegally living at an address at which he had not registered,
and that he had illegally proselytized at a school. When ConOff
mentioned that to his understanding, Hwang had been registered
and had re-registered at his new address, Saliboev said that the
primary concern was Hwang's illegal religious activities and
their impact on children. According to Saliboev, Hwang had been
talking about religion with children, which resulted in numerous
complaints to the Department of Religious Affairs from students,
parents and teachers of School number 16 in Dushanbe. Hwang
later told ConOff that this was an outright lie, as he had never
set foot in a school in Dushanbe. Hwang believes that the
proselytizing charges stem from a different incident on May 11.
Hwang had been with another local Jehovah's Witness on May 11
near a store in Dushanbe. The local had offered to share a
religious magazine with a passerby, who happened to work for the
Department of Religious Affairs. According to Hwang, he was
called over by the passerby and asked to sign a statement saying
who he was and where he lived. The address Hwang provided was
different than that at which he was registered, leading to the
false registration charges. ConOff subsequently assisted Hwang
in clarifying that he was properly registered with the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs at the correct address.


6. (SBU) ConOff asked Saliboev how an alien could be deported
without a hearing or a chance to appeal. Saliboev ignored the
question and insisted to ConOff that they (the State Committee
on National Security) were trying to be nice, and that they did
not want to have to arrest Hwang. They repeated that they
expected Hwang and his wife to be at the airport the next day
and left. ConOff subsequently escorted Hwang and Olds to the
Embassy. At the Embassy, the Ambassador also met with Hwang and
Olds to express concern about treatment of American citizens and
rule of law and religious freedom issues. A Kazakh citizen
Jehovah's Witness, Vladimir Voyevodin, who is a lawyer for the
organization, also joined Olds and Hwang. Olds and Hwang told
ConOff they had decided not to fight this, but to have Hwang and
his wife leave the country. At 19:30, Voyevodin called to ask
ConOff to inquire about a Kyrgyz visa for Hwang. ConOff called
the Kyrgyz Consul, only to be told that if Tajik authorities
were deporting Hwang, then that information would be in the
Kyrgyz immigration system and Hwang would not receive a visa.
ConOff called Hwang to convey this information and Hwang
reported that he was "in hiding" and arranging to leave the
country. ConOff, PolOff and DCM met with Olds and Voyevodin
July 16, after being unable to reach either Hwang, Olds or
Voyevodin July 15. Olds reported to ConOff that James and Jane
Hwang had left the country "immediately." Olds would not reveal
where the Hwangs were, but insisted they were safe and had left
Tajikistan.


7. (SBU) Greg Olds informed EmbOffs his wife, Mary, has also
departed Tajikistan. He is unsure how much longer he will
remain in country, but will attempt to meet with government
officials to release the confiscated religious literature. Olds
says that Jehovah's Witnesses are determined to continue
importing religious literature and carrying out the group's
mission in Tajikistan.


8. (U) James Hwang has signed a Privacy Act waiver related to
this incident.
JACOBSON