It was reported in June that Muslim imams have interfered in funerals conducted by Protestant Christians in two villages in the Jalal-Abad region of Kyrgyzstan.
In one case an imam blocked the burial of a Christian woman and forced her grieving husband to convert to Islam in order to get her buried.
The authorities appear to be content to allow local imams to control who is buried in state-owned cemeteries and it is not only Christians who are affected. Pastor Kapar Yusup Uuly – who was stopped from participating in his brother’s funeral said that complaining to the authorities is useless.
