Uzbekistan

Key Facts:
Leader: President Islam Karimov
Population: 27.3 million (1% Christian)
Majority Religion: Islam
Type of Government: Authoritarian

Since the suppression of the Andijan uprising in 2005, relations with Western countries have deteriorated.

Television portrays Christians very negatively: they are seen as followers of a Western religion or an extremist sect. Thus the few thousand Uzbek believers are under great pressure.

In 2006 many expatriate Christian workers were deported.

A new law punishes the printing of religious books with three years in prison.

Prayer

• Pray for Muslim-background believers pressured to deny their new faith, publicly humiliated and hounded out of their homes and jobs
• Pray for God's anointing on teachers and students at seminars and Bible schools
• Ask God for the safe printing and distribution of Bibles and other Christian materials.