POISON PEN LETTERS LEAD TO CHURCH HARASSMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000368

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/14/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM TI
SUBJECT: POISON PEN LETTERS LEAD TO CHURCH HARASSMENT

CLASSIFIED BY: TJACOBSON, AMBASSADOR, STATE, STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) SUMMARY: A disgruntled employee dismissed from the
nongovernmental organization Operation Mercy published two
poison pen letters in local media under a false pseudonym. The
writer made allegations that Operation Mercy sold humanitarian
aid for profit and imported religious literature and called for
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the
State Committee on National Security to control Operation Mercy.
The articles have spurred a court case against Operation Mercy,
interrogations of a local Christian church's members, and a
possible related break-in to the church. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) On February 1, the government charged Operation Mercy
for three violations of Tajik law: 1) holding classes without a
license from the Ministry of Education; 2) importing and
distributing religious literature and 3) operating outside of
its charter and conducting illegal religious activity. The
charges stemmed from an article most likely written by a
disgruntled former employee in the weekly newspaper Tojikiston.
A local judge delivered a statement on February 22 ordering
Operation Mercy to suspend its classes and operations until it
receives a license from the Ministry of Education.


3. (C) Following the ruling, the Ministry of Education sent a
letter to Operation Mercy declaring that it would not be given a
license because it has been acting outside of its charter. The
letter directly cites the two slanderous articles in Tojikiston
newspaper as "evidence." According to Director Paul Linge,
Operation Mercy had properly submitted all documentation in its
license application to operate its English language courses and
had a January letter from the Minister of Education stating that
a license would be forthcoming.


4. (C) The judge's statement did not mention the charges of
distributing literature or operating outside of the
organization's charter. Operation Mercy interprets the silence
on this issue effectively as a dismissal of the charges.
According to Article 22 of Tajikistan's current Law on Religion,
the government permits religious groups to import, export and
distribute religious literature in the country, as long as it is
not considered "extremist" literature or causes physical harm in
anyway. However, Operation Mercy is registered as a
nongovernmental organization and not a religious organization.
The organization is staffed primarily with U.S. citzen Christian
expatriates whose mission is faith-based. Since the ruling,
Operation Mercy has filed an appeal, but has not received
official notice about the appeal's status.


5. (C) The State Committee on National Security summoned
members of a local church mentioned in one of the articles for
questioning March 9 and 10. The church's night guard and
pastor were questioned for three to four hours March 9 and an
additional several hours on March 10. Security officials tried
to establish a link between the local Tajik church and Operation
Mercy. According to Operation Mercy's sources, one of the
officials said during the course of the interrogation, "We need
to `cleanse' Tajikistan of these organizations." Officials
demanded property and literature import documentation from the
church. They also said that they would continue to interrogate
the church's bookkeeper, and the night guard and pastor's
girlfriends. The church continues to abide by the State
Committee for National Security's request for information and
interviews with staff.


6. (C) On the night of March 11, someone broke into the
church, and stole a projector and money. They strew paper and
goods all over the office. No injuries were reported. The
night guard was in another part of the compound at the time.


7. (C) According to Linge, Operation Mercy denies any official
connection with the church. One Operation Mercy employee has
given personal funds to the church's night guard. Operation
Mercy also paid for fuel costs for the church's truck to make a
delivery as well. Operation Mercy said it could not recall what
the truck was delivering.


8. (SBU) In addition, three families with employees working at
Operation Mercy were only given one month visas when they

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attempted to renew their one-year Tajik visas.

COMMENT:


9. (C) Although the visa denials and church break-in cannot be
directly linked to the harassment against Operation Mercy, they
are likely connected. Previous Operation Mercy (also formerly
known as Central Asia Development Association, or CADA)
employees faced problems with the security apparatus for
proselytizing and a December article published in a regional
newspaper in Soghd quoted an unnamed security official
critcizing Operation Mercy. It is unclear whether Operation
Mercy or its staff have been proselytizing or distributing
religious literature. However, if it has been operating outside
of its charter, these charges should be brought out in light and
properly processed through the legal system. The only official
charge that has stuck is that Operation Mercy is conducting
English classes without a license. The Ministry of Education
should not base its refusal to grant a license based on
unverified articles published in a state-sponsored newspaper.
English classes and computer trainings are a valuable service
that the organization provides.


10. (C) The harassment Operation Mercy faces is a classic
example of post-Soviet security agency tactics to scare
nongovernmental organizations. Security officials have also
repeatedly questioned employees of the U.S.-funded
nongovernmental organizations National Democratic Institute and
IREX in the past. Targeting the country's own local churches
means it is also impinging on freedom of religion. Post is in
close contact with other churches and minority religious groups
in Tajikistan to gage whether this is a sign of a broader trend.
END COMMENT.
JACOBSON