September 2016 Action Item

September Action Item

Yklas Kabduakasov, a 54-year-old new believer from Kazakhstan, was arrested by the secret police on August 14, 2015, because he shared the gospel. He was freed and then rearrested in December of the same year and is now serving two years hard labor for “inciting religious hatred.” Other believers feel Kabduakasov was targeted because of his recent conversion from Islam and that he is being made an example to anyone contemplating conversion. His wife was pregnant at the time of his arrest. Write to the President of Kazakhstan and the Kazakhstan Ambassador to the United States calling for Yklas Kabduakasov’s immediate and unconditional release.

Send cards or letters to:

President Nursultan Nazarbayev
Mailing Address
Akorda Presidential Palace
Astana
Kazakhstan

Ambassador Kairat Umarov
Kazakhstan Embassy
1401 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Suggested Points:

  • Express your understanding and dismay that Yklas Kabduakasov is being imprisoned for reasons solely related to his religious faith, and that he is a peaceable citizen who has done nothing wrong.
  • Express your deep disappointment that citizens of Kazakhstan do not have freedom of expression or of religion, which is a fundamental right of all civil society.
  • Respectfully urge that Yklas Kabduakasov be released immediately and unconditionally, and returned to his wife and their newborn child.