ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) -- Kazakhstan's upper house of parliament
has moved to tighten rules on the registration of religious groups
-- a move critics say is a blow to freedom of belief.

The bill approved Thursday by Kazakhstan's Senate requires existing religious organizations to dissolve and register again through a procedure that's virtually guaranteed to exclude smaller groups.

Backers of the revised law on religion, including authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbayev, say the legislation will help
combat religious extremism in the predominantly Muslim nation.

But Ninel Fokina, who heads a human rights group in Kazakhstan,
says the new rules would also greatly complicate the life of even
relatively large groups such as Lutherans, Baptists, Seventh-day
Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)