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An ex-Jehovah's Witness from Hull joined a protest in London this week to raise concerns over human rights violations.

Thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been making their way to annual conventions in the capital for Bible instruction.

But former members were down in force to make their voice heard with banners and placards.

And Sharon Smithson was down to represent former members in Hull who have previously talked about the problems they have faced with shunning and being disfellowshipped.

Former members in Hull previously told Hull Live about their experiences within the group and the pain of being told to leave.

They described how they have been isolated from loved ones with parents and siblings not even speaking to them simply because they questioned elements of the doctrine preached by the religious group.

Those within the group can be ‘disfellowshipped’ which is a form of ex-communication and they say they are then ‘shunned’.

Positive reaction

Mrs Smithson travelled to London with her husband to stand by other former members.

“We were not sure what to expect when we went down but we received a very positive reaction,” she said.

“The general public were happy to see us there and even some Witness members were secretly messaging us to say they were glad we were here.”

The convention took place at the weekend at the ExCel Arena in London and there will be another one this weekend.

Armageddon message

“While some of the programme encourages living by Christian principles,” Mrs Smithson said, “on the last day of the convention the concluding talk and video carries the urgent message about impending Armageddon and talks about the faithful Jehovah's Witnesses being herded into a field to be executed by government forces.

“We joined others at the ExCeL Arena London from America, Canada and Europe to protest about Jehovah’s Witness violations on human rights such as disfellowshipping, shunning, their policies on blood transfusions and the two-witness rule which protects paedophiles from being reported to the police.

“One Witness sent to us a message using a fake name in fear she would be found out, telling us that she is self-harming and her parents are emotionally abusive to her. She feels trapped.

"Another message was sent by another Jehovah's Witness, saying they wanted to come over to talk to us but was being watched by Witness attendants and, if caught talking to us, would be in trouble.”

Hull Jehovah's Witness problems

(Image: Katie Pugh)

Adrienne Van Den Tooren, of west Hull, previously told Hull Live earlier this year about the damage done to former Witnesses.

She said: “Witnesses are now contacting non-Witnesses telling them to have nothing to do with us.

“The policy and procedures in place make Jehovah’s Witnesses and organisation of abuse and oppression. Every area of life is controlled and monitored by the organisation."

Shunning means the whole congregation, including family and friends, are told to avoid and ignore the person disfellowshipped.

Former Hull Witness Bill - not his real name – explained that non-witnesses are now being approached.

He said: “Even members of the public, who are not witnesses, are even being shunned for having sympathy with us.

“I have a good friend who is not a Witness and he has been told not to speak to us but he refused and now he is being shunned.

“Witnesses who cannot follow procedure are labelled apostate which means they are un-Christian. But we are all Christians as we follow Christ.

“Threats of being disfellowshipped are increasing and it is becoming a witch hunt.”

'Harmful cult'

(Image: Katie Pugh)

Mrs Smithson admits she was pleased she went down to London to make her voice heard.

"We need the authorities to realise in our modern day there are people being brought up in harmful cults such as Jehovah's Witnesses,” she said, “and wanting to leave but comes at serious consequences of losing family, friends and jobs in some cases.

“Many have committed suicide through this cult which is governed by eight leaders in America. This should not be happening in today's society.

Huge number of followers

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Armageddon is just round the corner and humanity is now in the "last days". They believe only they will survive and everyone else will perish.

The denomination was founded in the US towards the end of the 19th century, under the leadership of Charles Taze Russell.

There are about 6.9m active Witnesses in 235 countries in the world, including 1m in the US and 130,000 in the UK.

Members of the movement are probably best known for their door-to-door evangelical work and refusing blood transfusions.

Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hull confirmed two members had recently been disfellowshipped but denied there is any purge.

No public 'tit for tat' debate

One elder told Hull Live earlier this year they will not get into a ‘tit for tat’ debate in public.

A spokesman previously explained the process of disfellowship and shunning.

He said: “Those who were baptised as Jehovah’s Witnesses but no longer preach to others, perhaps even drifting away from association with fellow believers, are not shunned. In fact, we reach out to them and try to rekindle their spiritual interest.

“We do not automatically disfellowship someone who commits a serious sin. If, however, a baptized Witness makes a practice of breaking the Bible’s moral code and does not repent, he or she will be shunned or disfellowshipped.

“The religious ties someone who is disfellowshipped had with their family changes, but blood ties remain. The marriage relationship and normal family affections and dealings continue.”

The spokesman also said there is a way back from those who are disfellowshipped.

Global concern of sexual abuse

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been at the centre of controversy more widely.

Two senior members of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Australia will face a royal commission that found the organisation does not adequately protect children from being sexually abused.

The Jehovah's Witnesses maintain they act on any allegation of child sex abuse, despite the child abuse royal commission finding they have not reported a single one of 1,006 alleged perpetrators to police since 1950.

Its November 2016 report said the organisation wrongly relies on a two-witness rule with 2,000-year-old biblical origins when handling complaints.

Meanwhile, Russia has branded the organisation ‘extremist’ which led to all the branches in the country being dissolved.

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