No information on the provisions of Section 9 of the Bangladesh Muslim Marriages and Divorce Act (1974) pertaining to marriage registration of non-Muslim women marrying Muslims, nor on whether a Jehovah's Witness woman and a Muslim man could marry and obtain a marriage certificate in Bangladesh could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, for information on whether a Muslim man can marry a non-Muslim woman, please refer to BGD13203.E of 2 March 1993. For general information on Marriage in Bangladesh, please consult BGD44022.E of 17 April 2000 and BGD28420.EX of 29 January 1998.

As to whether Jehovah's Witnesses consider themselves as Christians, Watchtower, the official Jehovah's Witnesses Website, states that:

Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a worldwide Christian religion who actively share with others information about God, whose name is Jehovah, and about his Son, Jesus Christ.

According to the 2000 Report of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide published on the Jehovah's Witnesses official Website, there were 97 Jehovah's Witnesses in Bangladesh in 2000.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Watchtower: The Official Web Site of Jehovah's Witnesses. n.d. http://www.jw-media.org/people/who.htm [Accessed 30 March 2001]

_____. 2001. 2000 Report of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide. http://www.watchtower.org/statistics/wholereport.htm [Accessed: 30 Mar. 2000]

LEXIS/NEXIS

Oral sources:

One oral source could not provide the requested information within the research time limits.