A human rights concern group, Forum 18, yesterday reported that a number of Christian students were expelled from state institutions in north-western Uzbekistan, Karakalpakstan. It was suspected that the expulsions were related to the continuing Anti-Christian campaign being carried out in the region.

Persecution specifically directed against Protestant students in Uzbekistan has only happened in Karakalpakstan. While the churches in the area are required to gain official registration before they can carry out any worship, the registration is so strict that it is almost impossible. Only one Christian church - the Pentecostal Emmanuel Church - in the region has been legally registered so far.

A Protestant final year medical student, Ilkas Aldungarov, was expelled from the Tashkent Paediatric Medical Institute. Aldungarow belongs to the Protestant church - the Church of Christ, from which the Prosecutors Office also summoned 11 members for questioning during April. Members of the church were pressured to renounce their faith and convert to Islam, and threatened with being shot.

It was also reported that Alima Urazova, a lecturer at the Paediatric Medical Institute, had expelled two other Christian medical students without specific reasons. In April, he searched an apartment rented by Protestant students, seized religious literature, forced them to leave the flat and tried to stop them reading Protestant literature.

The two students were expelled in September but reinstated in November. They were told that they were expelled because their case had been published "on the internet". Forum 18 said that the references could possibly have come from its online article about them, which was posted on 16th September.

Similar cases have been reported from the Berdah Karakalpak State University. One of the students, Elena Kim, majoring in Roman-German philology, was expelled by the Dean of her department. Elena told Forum 18 on 8th December that she was accused of "belonging to a banned sect, whose activity was of interest to the NSS (National Security Service, the Uzbek secret police)."

Vladimir Kim, who attends the unregistered Protestant "Mir" (Peace) Church with her daughter Elena said, "It's impossible to prove anything; each time, students are expelled for their supposed failing performance. My daughter used to be a good student, but since the campaign against Protestant students began, she has suddenly become a failing student."