Source: The Associated Press
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/06/asia/AS-Kyrgyzstan-Religion-Law.php
Kyrgyz deputies passed legislation Thursday to strengthen government control over religious groups, a move critics have attacked as a breach of international human rights standards.
Proselytism would be strongly curtailed in the impoverished, mostly Muslim Central Asian nation under the bill, which President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is expected to sign into law. Faith organizations will be obliged to disclose financial information to the authorities.
The law includes a ban on private religious teaching at all levels of education — outlawing private religious schools — while providing for the inclusion of religious education in public schools, said Zainidin Kurmanov, one of the lawmakers who proposed the bill.
The dissemination of religious literature in public places will also be prohibited, he said.
The measures are seen as a government attempt to quell concern about the influence of foreign Christian evangelical groups and fear of radical Islamic organizations.
Religious-freedom advocacy groups said the measures would violate Kyrgyz commitments on protecting human rights.