Watchdog

Reports from Iran say that two Christian converts have been charged with apostasy. The two were reportedly detained in May in a park in the city of Shiraz, and according to Christian groups, Mahmud Matin Azad and Arash Basirat have been held in solitary confinement since then.

A member of an Iranian Christian group based in Dubai, who because of the sensitivity of the issue didn't want to be named, tells Radio Farda that he is concerned the two could face the death penalty.

A member of the Tehran-based Center of Human Rights Defenders, Mohammad Seyfzadeh, tells Radio Farda that charging individuals with apostasy is a clear violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In recent months, pressure on Christian converts has been growing in the Islamic republic. A Korean priest who traveled to Iran about two weeks ago tells Radio Farda he believes the reason is that the number of Christian converts is growing and that the Iranian government wants to prevent more people from joining the Christian faith.

A television journalist has been shot and killed in the southern Russian republic of Daghestan, RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service reports.

The murder comes just days after the violent death in police custody of Magomed Yevloyev, the proprietor of the only opposition website in another southern Russian republic, Ingushetia.

Telman (Abdulla) Alishayev was a journalist with GTRK Daghestan, a state television company, and TV-Chirkei, a small private channel that broadcasts mostly Islam-related programs. He was shot in the head and shoulder by two gunmen last night in Makhachkala, the capital of Daghestan. He died early this morning in hospital.

Local investigators appear to have little doubt that Alishayev was killed because of his professional activities. He hosted programs on both channels that were severely critical of "nontraditional" denominations in Daghestan, primarily Salafism, an austere form of Islam often associated with Islamic militancy in the North Caucasus.

Alishayev was also a disciple of Sayyid-Effendi of Chirkei, a self-styled Sufi sheikh, reviled by Daghestani salafis for his purported theological ignorance and close ties with the government.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for Alishayev's murder. Assassinations of critics of Salafi Islam are not uncommon in Daghestan, however. Over the past few years, Daghestani militants have killed two government ministers, a TV company chief, a deputy mufti of the republic, and a political scientist, as well scores of government officials and police.

Russia is considered by media watchdog groups to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists to work.