"They banned the children from attending services and threatened several of them [who were older] with prison," according to an April 3 statement Forum 18 received from the Baptist church in the city of Balkanabad (formerly Nebit-Dag) in western Turkmenistan. The church has been raided several times recently and has been banned from meeting.

Although Forum 18 was unable to verify the report of the questions and raids independently, the news service noted that statements issued by the unregistered Baptists have a long track record of reliability. Forum 18 was unable to reach the ...