{"id":80972,"date":"2017-04-21T13:34:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T13:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=b27520b298cc585395cb134a81e0830e"},"modified":"2017-04-21T13:34:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T13:34:00","slug":"press-release-minister-for-human-rights-criticises-russian-supreme-court-ruling-for-labelling-jehovahs-witnesses-as-extremist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=80972","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Minister for Human Rights criticises Russian Supreme Court ruling for labelling Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses as \u2018extremist\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>On 20 April 2017 Russia\u2019s Supreme Court upheld a ruling that recognises Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses as \u2018extremists\u2019. In 2006, the classification of \u2018extremist activity\u2019 in Russia was amended, leading to concerns among civil society that its new definition was too broad and overbearing. The Russian government have made commitments to the freedom of religion in international fora, including in the Council of Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Following the ruling, Baroness Anelay said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">I am alarmed by the decision of Russia\u2019s Supreme Court to recognise the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses as \u2018extremists\u2019.  This ruling effectively criminalizes the peaceful worship of 175,000 Russian citizens and contravenes the right to religious freedom which is enshrined in the Russian Constitution. The UK calls on the Russian government to uphold its international commitment to this basic freedom.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Follow Foreign Office Minister Baroness Anelay on Twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoyceAnelay\">@JoyceAnelay<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/foreignoffice\">@foreignoffice<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/foreignoffice?ref=hl\">Facebook<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>Follow the Foreign Office on <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ukforeignoffice\/\">Instagram<\/a>, <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ukforeignoffice\">YouTube<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/foreign-and-commonwealth-office?trk=biz-companies-cym\">LinkedIn<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_193\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:newsdesk@fco.gov.uk\">newsdesk@fco.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">News Desk <\/span><br \/>\n              020 7008 3100\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FCO Minister Baroness Anelay calls on the Russian government to uphold its international commitments to religious freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}