Which countries are jehovahs witnesses banned from

Putin dialed up hostility to the West, and in particular the United States, which he accused of fomenting the protests against him. Civil society organizations and human rights groups which received foreign funding were subject to invasive and debilitating new rules under a law on foreign agents passed shortly after Putin returned to power in S-tied religious groups, such as Seventh-Day Adventists and Pentacostals.

Yes and no. A remarkable amount of resources, including wiretapping and extensive surveillance, has been used in the hopes of catching someone in the act of discussing their faith or the Bible with another person, acts which are deemed extremist under the Russian law.

It created a stigma that was never undone. In February, U. In July, EU member states and six other members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe called on Russia to uphold its obligations to allow freedom of religion and expression, as guaranteed by the Russian constitution. But that will hurt him more than the platform. The estimated , adherents in Russia are now equated with members of dangerous terrorist organizations.

The community has been subjected to hundreds of raids and arrests by Russian security forces and, in some places, alleged torture. Across Russia, hundreds have been charged as "extremists," and dozens have been jailed in a campaign that human rights groups have struggled to explain. Banned under the Soviet Union and authorized in the liberal years following its collapse, the renewed persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses is seen by some as the frightening return of Soviet oppression once thought gone as well as a reflection of how security services under President Vladimir Putin are turning the clock back on dissent.

The Jehovah's Witnesses were banned under an anti-extremism law, nominally intended for dangerous, violent organizations. It means that the peaceful group, which has no history of violence and forbids involvement in politics, was placed alongside terrorist organizations such as ISIS or the Japanese Doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, which carried a nerve agent attack on the Tokyo subway in People charged with participating in the Jehovah's Witnesses can be sentenced up to six years in a prison camp, and organizers can face up to 10 years.

In many cases, just praying in a group has been enough for police to bring charges against a person. Since , police have carried out hundreds of raids on Jehovah's Witnesses' homes and meeting places all across Russia, according to the religious group as well as human rights groups.

Over adherents have been charged under the extremism law, and dozens are already jailed on sentences up to eight years. Dozens of those charged are elderly -- some as old as In the far eastern city of Vladivostok, an 86 year-old was charged with extremism and placed on a terrorism watchlist. The "extremist" designation also means that when police conduct raids on Jehovah's Witnesses, they act as though they are storming hideouts of armed terrorists.

Dozens of videos released by law enforcement show officers in full body armor and helmets, often armed with guns and batons, entering the apartments of terrified people. In some cases, police rip down doors with power saws and crow bars. The show of force is directed against people usually sitting quietly in prayer or otherwise defenseless, asleep in their pajamas. Officers often appear aware there's no threat, sometimes just ringing the door bell and waiting while standing in their combat gear.

Officers act "as if some very dangerous criminal activity were actually going on," Lokshina said. One morning in February , in the northern city of Surgut, about 1, miles from Moscow, law enforcement officers rounded up around 40 Jehovah's Witnesses, according to the church. The believers were brought for interrogation at the local branch of Russia's Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes.

There, at least seven detained men said officers tortured them, including with electric shocks, beatings and suffocation. Then they started to close the bag so that air couldn't get in. I was already preparing myself that I'm going to …. High court ruling puts pacifist faith in same category as terrorists. Kate Shellnutt April 20, PM. Current Issue November Subscribe. Read This Issue. Free Newsletters Your daily news briefing from the editors of CT. Reply on Twitter.

Join the conversation on Facebook. SHARE tweet link email print. Indeed, a couple years ago Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked about the campaign against them. Ninety percent of citizens of the Russian Federation or so consider themselves Orthodox Christians…. It is also necessary to take into account the country and the society in which we live. Even if originating more from a bureaucratic than presidential imperative, the attack on JWs has been sustained and severe. By the end of the year, hundreds of members remained in detention, had travel restrictions imposed upon them, or were under investigation.

State cited an especially egregious case in which seven JWs were detained, stripped, and tortured. Unfortunately, this mistreatment continued throughout Church property was confiscated and between 5, and 10, JWs are thought to have left the country. Even these awful numbers do not adequately convey the brutality of Russian enforcement practices. Russian authorities have been amplifying their attack on the Witnesses in a campaign of terror rivaling the Soviet era. Even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, authorities continue to persecute and terrorize the Witnesses for merely practicing their peaceful worship.

The authorities often point guns at the heads of the residents — including children, the elderly, and the disabled — and treat them roughly, causing emotional and physical harm.

Police confiscate belongings, including Bibles, electronic devices, money, and personal items that have nothing to do with religion.