US grants asylum to Baptist minister deported from Kazakhstan

The US has granted asylum to a Baptist minister and his family who were deported from Kazakhstan.

After nearly three years of legal wrangling, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service has agreed to give asylum to Viktor Lim, who was born in Uzbekistan and is of Korean ancestry.

Lim, who moved to Kazakhstan in 1993 to pursue his education as a mechanical engineer, became a Christian after several years there.

He attended seminary and then started a small congregation in Kazakhstan, where he sought citizenship. However, for around seven years, the minister reportedly endured threats, police searches at home, surveillance and interrogation.

"My perception is they were intimidation tactics to get him to shut down the work he was doing there," said David Baay, the lead attorney for the Houston team that provided the Lim family free legal services.

According to a report on Kazakhstan by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom: "The country's restrictive 2011 religion law bans unregistered religious activity and has been enforced through the closing of religious groups, police raids, detentions and fines...The law's onerous registration requirements have led to a sharp drop in the number of registered religious groups, both Muslim and Protestant."

In 2013, Lim was convicted of operating as an unregistered foreign missionary after a brief hearing in which he was denied legal counsel. The conviction came after Lim was initially arrested in 2008, with the charges being dropped before his being arrested again five years later.

Lim and his family secured tourist visas from the US consulate and moved to Houston, Texas. The process of seeking asylum has taken nearly three years.

"Viktor provided credible evidence of a very real threat to his life and liberty—and that of his family—if they were denied asylum and returned to Kazakhstan," Baay said.

related articles
Russia: Evangelicals pray, fast and lobby Putin as severe restrictions placed on evangelism
Russia: Evangelicals pray, fast and lobby Putin as severe restrictions placed on evangelism

Russia: Evangelicals pray, fast and lobby Putin as severe restrictions placed on evangelism

Report on freedom of religion shows horrific persecution of Christians worldwide
Report on freedom of religion shows horrific persecution of Christians worldwide

Report on freedom of religion shows horrific persecution of Christians worldwide

News
English Heritage accused of whitewashing Christianity from Easter
English Heritage accused of whitewashing Christianity from Easter

One visitor to an English Heritage site took exception to what he called the “whitewashing” of history.

US criticised for failing to bring up religious freedom in Iran talks
US criticised for failing to bring up religious freedom in Iran talks

The USA has failed to bring up religious freedom in its engagement with Iran

US missionary kidnapped at gunpoint is rescued unharmed
US missionary kidnapped at gunpoint is rescued unharmed

Five days after he was kidnapped by armed men from his church in Motherwell, South Africa, Tennessee missionary Josh Sullivan was rescued and “miraculously unharmed” following a “high-intensity shootout” that left three people dead.

Will Christian movies ever make an impact in the UK?
Will Christian movies ever make an impact in the UK?

More recently, I’ve enjoyed Christian movies Unsung Hero and Jesus Revolution on limited release in the UK, but it’s rare for such films to make the multiplex chains.