Tashkent, Uzbekistan - A court in Uzbekistan has ordered a U.S.-funded education aid group to close for allegedly trying to convert people in the predominantly Muslim country to Christianity, a government-run Web site said Thursday.
Global Involvement Through Education was the latest organization to be closed amid a continuing crackdown on foreign nonprofit groups in this ex-Soviet republic.
The Tashkent City Court ruled Wednesday that the organization was conducting missionary activity among young people and other unspecified violations, the statement said, citing the Justice Ministry.
Four English language teachers from the group were fined in April for what authorities said was efforts to convert students to "a religion of Protestant character."
Officials from the Colorado-based organization could not be immediately located for comment.
Authorities have waged a campaign against Western-funded aid groups and media in recent years, accusing them of supporting dissidents. The crackdown intensified after the 2005 uprising in Andijan that was brutally suppressed by government troops.
President Islam Karimov, who has ruled the nation of 25 million since before the 1991 Soviet collapse, tolerates no dissent and permits no religious activity, including Islam, outside state-controlled institutions. About 2,000 religious organizations of 16 creeds are registered in Uzbekistan, according to official figures.
According to rights groups, thousands of young men have been jailed in recent years as part of the government campaign against independent Muslims, which authorities say is aimed at stemming extremism.
Earlier this month, a court in the eastern city of Kokand accused the Miami-based Central Asia Free Exchange group of illegal proselytizing and propagating "a Christian religion of Protestant character."