Witnesses Imprisoned in "Other Lands"

[Paolo Sevilla]

I checked today the page on our website where the number of imprisoned Witnesses are listed by location (here). I noticed that this November, there are over 67 Witnesses imprisoned in "other lands."

 

This is the first time such description is used in that page. And this is not just a matter of some formerly-enumerated countries being merged into one entry.

In fact, if you compare a previous snapshot of the page (here) with the current list, the enumerated countries are the same. The "Other Lands" entry is something recently added.

 

Do you have an idea of which countries these "other lands" are, and why are they just recently added to the list? Thank you very much!

[Thomas Walker]

'Other Lands' is sometimes shorthand for: "We can't say." Multiple countries have JW's under ban, without Amnesty International watching and keeping a tally for us. Non-specific is usually a way to keep other brothers and sisters safe.

[Paolo Sevilla]

What puzzles me is the fact they were included on the list only this time.

I remember reading an article from a religion news website about JW's being persecuted and imprisoned in an Asian country (which is not on the usual list found on JW.org).

So maybe the headquarters had confirmed such information, and then decided to include these dear brothers in the list on our website.

[Brandon]

2 hours ago, Paolo Sevilla said:

imprisoned in an Asian country

it could in fact be the ‘big one’ that you’re thinking of. It’s hard to say for sure. For comparison, here’s the list from Nov 2013:

https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/world/jehovahs-witnesses-in-prison/

Edited November 3, 2020 by Brandon

[Sepie93]

In China, at least 18 of our brothers are sentenced and imprisoned. A Human Rights watcher reported on this particular judgement. Let's pray for all of them. Maybe we know their names, maybe not. But pray for their endurance!

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[Wren]

We were encouraged to pray for our imprisoned brothers and sisters by name. So now we can at least add "67 faithful witnesses in other lands". Even though we have known about those in unmentioned countries before, I feel like this makes it more personal. 

[EccentricM]

North Korea wouldn't surprise me.

[M.J.]

On 11/7/2020 at 2:00 PM, EccentricM said:

North Korea wouldn't surprise me.

I have heard several times throughout the years that N Korea is one of only about 3 countries with zero JW.

[Doug]

On 11/3/2020 at 2:06 PM, Sepie93 said:

In China, at least 18 of our brothers are sentenced and imprisoned. A Human Rights watcher reported on this particular judgement. 
 

Hong Kong is a part of China. Hong Kong lost autonomy earlier this year with passage of new security laws.

Our dear brothers in Hong Kong were free to preach and meet freely.

There situation must have radically changed by now.

[Sepie93]

Hong Kong is a part of China. Hong Kong lost autonomy earlier this year with passage of new security laws.
Our dear brothers in Hong Kong were free to preach and meet freely.
There situation must have radically changed by now.

As far as I have heard from friends who live there, it is still allowed to worship freely.. But as you said, things can change rapidly.

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[Thesauron]

As far as I have heard from friends who live there, it is still allowed to worship freely.. But as you said, things can change rapidly.

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We are also quite free to worship in Macao, which is part of China, I believe.

[Paolo Sevilla]

That's true. We even have a branch in Hong Kong that also supervises the activities in Macao.