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In addition, he said, Jehovah’s Witnesses are banned in 34 countries and it is reportedly difficult or illegal to run a humanist organization in over 30 countries. Shaheed said the right to legal identity and citizenship has also been stripped because of religion and beliefs. “Shia Muslims in Bahrain, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eritrea and Russia have had their citizenship revoked or denied on the basis of their religious identity,” he said. “In Vietnam, Hmong and Montagnard Christians have been unable to secure the necessary `house register’ documentation for citizenship. Non-Muslims may not obtain citizenship in Maldives.” In Iran, unrecognized religious or belief groups, including the Baha'is, are unable to access employment, housing, university-level education, health care and social services, including pensions,” Shaheed said. And in Egypt and Malaysia, human rights organizations report that identity cards issued to minorities often fail to display their religious identity leading to discrimination in government services. Full article: https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/world/un-investigator/46MXMZSYGEUYPTXDBD4O5IXR4Q/

Reports from the Kuril Islands say that on February 25, 2019, in the town of Kurilsk and in the village of Reydovo (Sakhalin region), FSB officers searched two women, Olga Kalinnikova and Larisa Potapova, both Jehovah's Witnesses. The searches were conducted using a warrant issued by Chief of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation for the Sakhalin Region Lieutenant General (!) S. Kudryashov, as well as on the basis of a warrant from the judge of the Sakhalin Regional (!) Court, V. Malyovanny. Although the operation was formally called the “Inspection of the premises," computers, hard drives, cell phones, flash drives, and other personal items were confiscated from the two women. Criminal charges have not been initiated, and the women are not named as suspects or accused. Reason for the seizures was not explained. As a result, the women were left without means of communication on an isolated island. About 1,600 people live in Kurilsk, and about 1,000 people live in Reydovo. Law enforcement officials throughout the country continue to misinterpret ordinary religious activities of citizens as “extremist activities." Meanwhile, the Government of Russia has repeatedly insisted that the decisions of the Russian courts to ban the organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses “set out no assessment of the religious denomination of Jehovah’s Witnesses or limitation or prohibition to individually manifest the aforementioned denominations.” https://jw-russia.org/en/news/19022816-642.html

1953-TheyOpposeFreedomOfWorship-HaydenCovington_64kb.mp3 "They Oppose Freedom of Worship," by Hayden C. Covington. Audio lecture given at the 1953 International Assembly of Jehovah's Witnesses. At the time, Covington was Chief Legal Counsel of Jehovah's Witnesses and had served as Vice President of the Watchtower Society in the 1940s. Covington helped secure several key legal victories for Jehovah's Witnesses before the Supreme Court of the United States in the 1940s. See also: Agape!