TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN -- A Tajik citizen who has lived in Uzbekistan for more than 10 years was deported back to Tajikistan on about June 19, local Protestants -- who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals -- told a western news service.

Members of her Pentecostal church in the capital Tashkent insist that Sayora (who preferred that her last name not be published) was deported in retaliation for her involvement in the congregation. She was held in jail for 22 days, after being among a group of Pentecostals arrested after meeting in a church member's home. Another of those arrested, a man named Zainiddin (who also preferred that his last name not be published), was held for five days, then threatened and intimidated by neighbors and the police into moving out of his local mahalla (urban district).

Protestants in Uzbekistan pointed out to Forum 18 News Service (www.forum18.org) that Zainiddin's case is the second in the past few months where a Protestant family has been forced to leave their home after threats, intimidation and pressure. A pastor's daughter was kidnapped in April before being freed in a traumatized state, while the family was subjected to threats, beatings, allegedly inspired by the mullahs at the local mosque. The family was apparently targeted because the pastor is a convert to Christianity who actively shares his faith.

Sayora's deportation is the latest in a series of deportations of foreign citizens involved in religious activity. The victims thus far have been Jehovah's Witnesses and Protestants, a typical example being Ivan Bychkov, a Russian Baptist deported on August 11, 2006.

No official at the government's Committee for Religious Affairs in Tashkent was prepared even to talk to Forum 18. Reached on June 26, an official who would not give his name said the chairman Artyk Yusupov was not in the office and put the phone down. The phone then went unanswered when Forum 18 called back, as did the phones of other Committee officials.

Sayora and Zainiddin were among 13 members of a Pentecostal congregation in Tashkent held when visiting an elderly church member in her home in the city's Mirzo-Ulugbek district in late May. The National Security Service (NSS) secret police raided the home, filmed those present, threatened them and took them to the local police station for interrogation. Eight church members were subsequently tried at Mirzo-Ulugbek District Criminal Court under the Code of Administrative Offences. Three men were given sentences of five days' administrative arrest at the prison on Panelnaya Street, while five more were each fined 62,100 Sums (296 Norwegian Kroner, 37 Euros or 49 US Dollars).

Although the three men were freed after five days, Sayora was kept in prison for 22 days until her deportation. She had lived in Uzbekistan for more than a decade and had tried in vain to get Uzbek citizenship. "I believe she was deported because she is a Christian," one of her friends told Forum 18.

Another of those detained when police raided the private home was Zainiddin, who is in his fifties. He was freed after five days but was then subjected to huge pressure to leave his urban district. "Zainiddin was threatened and pressured in prison to renounce his faith," one colleague told Forum 18 from Tashkent. "While he was in prison, officials in uniform visited his mahalla [urban district] and informed the neighbors. Then when he came out of prison he met a storm of dissatisfaction and hostility from neighbors, his parents and the local policeman. The local policeman ordered him to clear out of the mahalla by 1 July." Religious communities often face repression organized at the mahalla level.

As well as facing pressure from officials, including the NSS secret police, and his family, Zainiddin also faced threats from local residents his colleague described as "Muslim fanatics." Zainiddin was warned not to attend church, otherwise his and his family's throats would be cut. After being seen attending church again despite the warnings, Zainiddin was again beaten. "His wife is bearing up, but she often breaks down in tears." The youngest of their three children still lives with them. Later in June, the family was forced to move to another part of Tashkent.