Tashkent, Uzbekistan - The religion committee of the Uzbek government has refuted reports by some media organizations that the New Testament is banned in the country.
"Uzbekistan provides free access to Christian religious literature," Aziz Abidov, the press secretary of the committee, told Interfax.
Some journalists "deliberately distorted facts discussed at a recent meeting of the council on religious confessions in an unacceptable manner," he said.
At that meeting, the council discussed ways to unite the efforts of various confessions to counter hate-speech and religious extremism, Abidov said.
"As far as statements concerning an alleged ban on importing the Bible and its testaments to Uzbekistan, they are based on ungrounded emotions," he said.
Sixteen religious organizations are registered and active in Uzbekistan.