Kazakhstan’s top Muslim cleric hit out on Friday at a tough new law on religious activity and warned that the restrictions it imposed on pious Muslims could spur extremism. Article 7 of the bill, which was passed by the Senate on Thursday and has already been approved by the lower house, bans prayer rooms in all state institutions. Both the U.S.-based human rights body Freedom House and the 56-member Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe have criticised the legislation, which has yet to be signed into law by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. “To pray to Allah five times a day is a sacred duty of each Muslim. And it is quite possible that if praying is banned at state institutions, certain groups will appear to voice their discontent with the state,” the Supreme Mufti of Kazakhstan, Absattar Derbisali, said in a statement.
