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After she returned to Almaty on November 25, Buckley said the Turkmen Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the tourist agency that had arranged her trip to supply them with a copy of her passport.

Compass has confirmed that some if not all of these believers were again summoned on November 30 and subjected to another extended session of torture and intimidation. "We have been promised more of the same," one said the next day. "We do not know how long we can withstand such treatment," he admitted.

The house church that Piriyev pastors was raided last February by KNB agents, who enforce the government policy criminalizing all unregistered religious groups. The police temporarily seized Piriyev's car as well as his Ashgabad residency permit.

The pastor had previously been labeled a "criminal" in a press attack in Adalet, an Ashgabad newspaper. He was listed in a September 24, 1999, article as being one of several religious minority leaders "involved in such criminal activities as illegal delivery and distribution of (imported religious books and videos) and conducting regular meetings in private flats."

Turkmenistan has the most repressive religious policy of any of the Central Asian republics. Only the Russian Orthodox Church and government-sanctioned Sunni Islam have been permitted to obtain official registration.

During the past two years, all foreign Christians known to be involved in religious work in the country have been expelled. One Protestant church and two Hare Krishna temples have been destroyed and members of the Baptist, Pentecostal, Seventh-day Adventist and Baha'i faiths subjected to police raids and large fines.

Copyright © 2000 Compass Direct

Previous Christianity Today stories about religious persecution in Turkmenistan include:

Turkmenistan Refuses To Register Bible Society | Government confiscating Turkmen, Russian Scriptures. (March 16, 2000)

Turkmen Secret Police Deports Baptist Couple | More expulsions expected as efforts continue to stop 'illegal' religious activity. (March 15, 2000)

Turkmen Baptist Pastor Threatened with Prison | Two church members in Turkmenabad fired from jobs. (Feb. 8, 2000)

Turkmenistan Deports Two Baptist Pastors | Christians arrested last week sent to Ukraine (Dec. 29, 1999)

Pastor Faces Thursday Trial In Turkmenistan | Baptist minister accused of teaching children religion without parental consent. (Dec. 10, 1999)

The U.S. Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom examines Turkmenistan religious freedom from political and societal perspectives, and remarks on what the U.S. government has done in response to human rights infringements in the country.

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December (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44