Boy actually happy to see Jehovah's Witnesses!

Adolfo Guzman, 49

A 12-year-old boy in Miami Beach might have been the happiest person ever to spot Jehovah's Witnesses. They found him tied to a pole after his dad decided to try out some unorthodox parenting techniques and left him there while he went shopping.

According to NBC Miami Adolfo Guzman, 49, was sick of his son wandering off for hours at a time and not telling him where he was. On Saturday the boy took off, and Guzman warned him that he would tie him up the next time. So on Sunday the boy took off again without permission, and Guzman made good on his promise.

Jehovah's Witnesses sell DUMBO property

Jehovah's Witnesses getting out of town

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have sold another portion of their New York City property portfolio in apparent preparation for their move upstate. Three contiguous Dumbo parcels — located at 173 and 177 Front Street and 200 Water Street — traded hands for $30.6 million, according to city records filed today.

THE REAL DEAL

Jehovah's Witnesses in Southern Russia Face New Challenge

Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia face new challenges

ROSTOV-ON-DON, April 8 (RIA Novosti) – Prosecutors in the southern Russian city of Taganrog have charged 16 Jehovah's Witnesses with taking part in the activities of an extremist organization after they allegedly resurrected the banned local branch of the international religious organization.

According to investigators, the religious group’s followers continued to hold regular meetings after their local branch was banned in the city in 2009. At the meetings, they allegedly incited hatred against other religions, circulated extremist literature and called for military draft dodging.

RIANOVOSTI

Cuban schools slap down Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses children in Cuba

A member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Cuba filed a complaint with the state prosecutor last month alleging discrimination against her three school-age daughters. She says the authorities have condoned acts of discrimination including physical and verbal violence, which have led the pupils to miss classes and their parents to move house.

“I demand a solution, because they are responsible for safeguarding young people on the island,” said the woman, known by the pseudonym Ana to protect her family’s identity. “I’m tired of the poor treatment they [my daughters] receive, and of the fact that no one is doing anything about it.”

Her appeal to the prosecutor general follows unsuccessful applications to other state institutions. Cuba has no judicial mechanism for dealing with complaints about breaches of religious freedom.

INSTITUTE FOR WAR & PEACE REPORTING

Pitbull attacks two JW women in service

Russia steps up anti-Jehovah's Witness campaign

forum 18

Russian officials are reviving old tactics in their long-running campaign against Jehovah's Witnesses, Forum 18 News Service has learned. A prosecutor in the Siberian city of Tobolsk opened a criminal case against local Jehovah's Witnesses alleging they "called upon citizens to refuse to perform their civic duties" and "motivated citizens to refuse vital medical treatment". The maximum punishment they might face if the case reaches court is four years' imprisonment. The prosecutor refused to discuss the case with Forum 18. Police and FSB security service officers raided six Jehovah's Witness homes in Tobolsk and that of another local resident, seizing religious literature and other items. In December 2012 a court in Kemerovo refused a prosecutor's request to ban the local Jehovah's Witness community on similar grounds. Officials have failed to respond to Forum 18's repeated attempts to find out why Jehovah's Witnesses and Muslims who read Islamic theologian Said Nursi's works are targeted.

FORUM 18.ORG

Will Alt Service Reform Keep Jehovah’s Witnesses Out of Jail?

Members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refused to perform alternative service under the supervision of military personnel on the grounds of their religious beliefs, serve their prison sentences at the Erebuni penitentiary in Yerevan in July 2008.

Members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses – a Christian-oriented sect that espouses millennial beliefs and whose members shun military service – have been particularly affected: Over the past decade, 274 Jehovah’s Witnesses have done jail time for failing to fulfill alternative service obligations, according to Ishkhanian. The Armenian government has long been under international pressure to scrap the practice of jailing conscientious objectors. In November 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Armenian government to pay 112,000 euros ($142,338) in damages to 19 Jehovah’s Witnesses who were so treated.

eurasianet

UN steps up for Jehovah's Witnesses in Turkey

Millions of Christians conscientiously refuse to bear arms—⁠and many nations honor that decision. The UN Human Rights Committee has ruled that Turkish citizens deserve the same freedom.

In its decision adopted on March 29, 2012, the Committee ruled in favor of two Turkish citizens, Cenk Atasoy and Arda Sarkut. Both men are Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused to perform military service because of their religious beliefs.

JW.org

Retired Viking is a pioneer

Asher Allen - Minnesota Vikings conerback

A young American football player for the Minnesota Vikings, Asher Allen, suddenly retired at the age of 24, having suffered two concussions. Well, it turns out he was one of Jehovah's Witnesses and in his retirement he has entered into the full-time ministry as a pioneer.

Twin Cities.com

‘Bloodless’ Lung Transplants Offer Hint at Surgery’s Future

Bloodless lung transplant

"The reason: Ms. Tomczak, who was baptized at age 12 as a Jehovah’s Witness, insisted for religious reasons that her transplant be performed without a blood transfusion. The Witnesses believe that Scripture prohibits the transfusion of blood, even one’s own, at the risk of forfeiting eternal life"

New York Times

Azerbaijani court rejects Jehovah's Witness appeal

APA reports that plaintiffs made appeal against the State Committee asking permission to unrestrictedly import books. Baku Administrative-Economic Court #2 rejected the appeal. However, Baku Court of Appeal upheld the decision. Yesterday, the Supreme Court also considered the appeal, upheld the decision, rejected the cassation appeal of plaintiffs. Earlier the Jehovah's Witnesses religious community had also sued State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations.

APA

"We are not living in 1937"

Aleksandr Solovyov, one of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia

The judge read the decision and then turned to the vindicated Witness and said: “Despite inconsistent legislation and the prejudiced view of some individuals, we are not living in 1937 when we can simply close our eyes to the obvious facts. May our society become more virtuous and morally upright thanks to the educational work you are doing.”

JW.ORG

Wrongly accused kidnappers released

The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is the most violent of the Islamic separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines and claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. LINK

The Department of Justice has ordered the release of 18 suspected Abu Sayyaf Group members accused in the kidnapping of six Jehovah's Witnesses in Patikul, Sulu on Aug. 20, 2002. In a 12-page resolution of the Anti-Terrorism Task Force which was approved by Prosecutor General Claro A. Arellano, 13 of the suspected ASG members were ordered release because they are different from the persons identified in the charge sheet.

INTERAKSYON

Coco Rocha Is A Devout Jehovah's Witness

The next time a Jehovah's Witness rings your doorbell on a Saturday morning, open it: you just might find a leggy, red-headed supermodel brandishing pamphlets.

Super model, Coca Rocha - “Some people think we’re a pushy religion, but if you’re not interested, just say so.”

We were surprised to learn from the New York Post that Canadian modeling sensation and star of "The Face" Coco Rocha is a practicing member of the religion.

HUFFINGTON POST

80 year old JW goes above and beyond the call

An 80-year-old minister has told how he spent an hour persuading a mental health patient to cherish the gift of life and not jump, as they both stood 192m above the ground outside the Sky Tower.

The patient demanded to speak to a Jehovah's Witness after scaling a safety fence and threatening to jump during an organised 3pm walk on the viewing deck on Saturday.

Police called Graham Browne, a minister at the Avondale Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, and soon after, he was at the top of the tower trying to talk the man down by reading from the Bible.

France returns illegally collected funds

After a 15-year legal battle, on December 11, 2012, the government of France repaid to Jehovah’s Witnesses funds totaling 6,373,987.31 euros ($8,294,320).

In 1998, the government asserted that religious donations made by Jehovah’s Witnesses were subject to a crushing retroactive 60 percent tax and, in 2003, demanded partial payment. The European Court of Human Rights found that France was guilty of violating the religious freedom of Jehovah’s Witnesses through the illegal tax, which, if enforced, could have resulted in the liquidation of the Witnesses’ national offices and obstructed their Bible education work. Since the Court ruled that the tax was illegal, the French government is now starting to implement the Court’s decision by returning the funds collected, with interest, and paying the Witnesses’ legal expenses.

JW.ORG

Bus carrying Jehovah's Witnesses crashes

The bus that crashed into an overpass at Miami International Airport Saturday morning, killing two elderly male passengers, was filled with Jehovah Witnesses en route to a conference in West Palm Beach. Investigators said its detour through the airport was a mistake.

In addition to the two killed, 30 others were injured -- some critically -- and transported to five different hospitals. Miami Herald

ECHR orders Armenia to compensate JW's

"The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) granted several local Jehovah's Witnesses 124,000 Euros in damages from the Armenian government. The individuals filed a complaint in relation to the legality of being arrested for evading military or alternative service."

RUSSIAN LEGAL INFORMATION AGENCY

More doctors honor no blood wishes

"As a Jehovah's Witness, Tracy Pickett always has enjoyed knocking on doors and introducing strangers to the tenets of her faith. But by the time she reached her mid-40s, scoliosis made every step excruciating and her spiritual mission impossible.

Walking again would require surgery that often involves tremendous blood loss and a transfusion — a medical procedure to replenish the blood supply forbidden by her church."

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Jehovah's Witnesses mourn murdered girl

Whitney Heichel"It was Saturday that emotions ran high, when the congregation mourned for Heichel at an impromptu gathering at the hall. Jehovah's Witnesses from Gresham, Portland, Sandy, and Washington met there, said Jim Vaughn, a family spokesman and one of nine elders who lead Heichel's congregation." more...

Oregon Live

UPDATE: Apparently, Whitney's accused murderer is also one of Jehovah's Witnesses, albeit irregular, or whatever. The Stir

Admitted JW killer arraigned