Azerbaijan cracks down on Jehovah's Witnesses group

Forum 18 News Service reporting from Baku quotes a member of the religious sect as saying the authorities "used the holiday season -- when foreign representations obviously have only minimum staff -- to make this attack."

The report states that "Property was confiscated, money was apparently stolen by police, congregation members were detained and at least two were beaten up. In a repeated pattern during police raids on religious minorities, a local TV station which encourages religious intolerance was present."

The report goes on to say that six foreign attendees -- three of whom grew up in
Azerbaijan -- may be deported. United Press International