KYRGYZSTAN: Church of Muslim Converts Told to Close

Source: World Watch Monitor, July 4, 2018

A church in Kyrgyzstan [that includes] many former Muslims has been ordered to cease its Sunday worship. A local source told World Watch Monitor that services at the church, which is led by a convert from Islam, have been interrupted twice in the last few months by a group of people consisting of local officials, representatives of the Prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, assistants to the local imam, and former colleagues from the school at which the pastor used to teach.

The church has for more than a decade been led by Pastor Miran. The leadership of the school where he worked threatened to fire him after they learned of his conversion and his role as a church leader. He was also accused of child abuse by the school and jailed for six months. The source said the church felt the allegation was only leveled against him because of his conversion.

Since his release, Pastor Miran, a father of five, has been unable to find paid work. According to the World Watch Monitor’s source, local Muslims say of him: “If Miran could betray his ‘native pure Islam,’ maybe he could do other bad things too.”

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» See also Hopes Dashed for Release of Pastor Andrew Brunson as Turkish Trial to Continue in October.

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