Four Hizb Members Sentenced

Four Hizb ut-Tahrir members sentenced in Tajikistan

Dushanbe, October 17, Interfax – The Sogd Regional Court in northern Tajikistan has convicted four local residents of extremism. Their total prison time is 84 years, the court reported on Monday.

The members of the outlawed Hizb ut-Tahrir religious party stood trial in Hujand, the regional center of the Sogd Region located 340 kilometers northeast of Dushanbe.

“The court found the four citizens of Tajikistan guilty of organizing a criminal group, inciting an ethnic, racial or religious feud, organizing and participating in an extremist group, publicly appealing for the violent change of the constitutional system of Tajikistan and engaging in extremist activity,” the court said.

Abdunabi Abdulkodirov, born in 1965, and Yahehon Rahmonhujayev, born in 1985, were sentenced to 20 years. Talat Mavlonov, born in 1988, and Ibrogimbek Mahmudov, born in 1981, will spend 22 years in a maximum-security prison.

Their property has been confiscated. All the men are prohibited from holding positions at any religious organizations for the rest of their lives.

Hujand is located in the Tajik part of the Fergana Valley, which is also shared by Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. This is an area where various extremist movements operate.

Urunboi Usmonov, a BBC reporter in Tajikistan, was found guilty of participation in Hizb ut-Tahrir by the Hujand Court last Friday. He was amnestied, but BBC said he was persecuted for his professional activity.

Tajik courts convicted 158 people of religious extremism in 2010, compared to only 37 such convictions a year before.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a pan-Islamic organization founded in Jerusalem in 1953, whose declared goal is for all Muslim countries to unify into one state (caliphate). Russia and other CIS countries list this organization as a terrorist one, unlike the U.S. and Western European countries, where Hizb ut-Tahrir can act legally.

Source: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8806

Tajik Sentences Hizb Members

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October 17, 2011

Tajik Court Hands Out Stiff Sentences To Hizb Ut-Tahrir Members

A provincial court in Tajikistan has sentenced four men to lengthy prison terms after finding them guilty of membership in a banned religious extremist group.

The Soghd court ruled that the four were members of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The court sentenced Yakhekhon Rakhmonkhujaev and Abdunabi Abdulkodirov, said to be the leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir in northern Tajikistan, to 20 years in jail.

The two other defendants were sentenced to 22 years in prison because they were apprehended with weapons and narcotics.

Abdulkodirov’s testimony was used in the recent case of BBC correspondent Uronboy Usmonov, who was tried by a Tajik court for membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir and received a three-year jail sentence on October 14 but was immediately freed under an amnesty.

with agency reports

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty © 2011 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Tough On Hizb

Tajik Court Hands Out Stiff Sentences To Hizb Ut-Tahrir Members

A provincial court in Tajikistan has sentenced four men to lengthy prison terms after finding them guilty of membership in a banned religious extremist group.

Monday, October 17, 2011

By RFE/RL    

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A provincial court in Tajikistan has sentenced four men to lengthy prison terms after finding them guilty of membership in a banned religious extremist group.

The Soghd court ruled that the four were members of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The court sentenced Yakhekhon Rakhmonkhujaev and Abdunabi Abdulkodirov, said to be the leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir in northern Tajikistan, to 20 years in jail.

The two other defendants were sentenced to 22 years in prison because they were apprehended with weapons and narcotics.

Abdulkodirov’s testimony was used in the recent case of BBC correspondent Uronboy Usmonov, who was tried by a Tajik court for membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir and received a three-year jail sentence on October 14 but was immediately freed under an amnesty.

Source: http://www.speroforum.com/a/XHIUUYOLXS54/Tajik-Court-Hands-Out-Stiff-Sentences-To-Hizb-UtTahrir-Members

Eleven Hizb Arrested In Tajikistan

11 activists of Hizb ut-Tahrir group convicted in Tajikistan

Tuesday, 26 April 2011 16:10

Trend

A court in Sughd province has sentenced eleven activists of the banned religious extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir group, including two citizens of Uzbekistan, to jail terms of three to twenty year, news agency “Asia-Plus” reported.

The Sughd regional court completed consideration of criminal proceedings instituted against nine local residents and two Uzbek nationals on April 26. They were found guilty of active membership in the banned extremist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir and sentenced to prison terms of 3 to 20 years.

The source at the Sughd regional court says they were charged with inciting ethnic and religious enmity, calling for the overthrow of the constitutional order, organizing extremist group and participating in political parties or public and religious associations that are banned in Tajikistan for extremist activities.

“Two Uzbek nationals were found guilty of illegally crossing the border, inciting ethnic and religious enmity and calling for the overthrow of the constitutional order and sentenced to 14 years in prison each,” the source added.

We will recall that eleven other members of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir were convicted in northern Tajikistan in late March. They were sentenced to prison terms of 4 to 20 years.

According to the Sughd prosecutor’s office, local prosecutors instituted criminal proceedings against 90 members of the banned extremis organizations, including 42 Hizb ut-Tahrir activists, in 2010. Over the first three months of this year, the Sughd prosecutor’s office has instituted criminal proceedings against 29 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The Supreme Court of Tajikistan formally labeled the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamist group as an extremist organization on March 11, 2008. The ruling followed a request submitted to the court by Tajik chief prosecutor. Although the group has been outlawed in Tajikistan since April 2001, the ruling means even tighter restrictions on the group’s presence on the Internet and its use of media to promote its ideology.

135 Hizb Members Arrested in Tajikistan

135 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir convicted in Tajikistan last year
Author: Nargis Hamroboyeva

DUSHANBE, January 15, 2011, Asia-Plus — 135 members of the outlawed religious extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir group were sentenced to different jail terms in 2010, Nusratullo Abdulloyev, the chairman of the Supreme Court of Tajikistan, told reporters on January 14. According to him, Tajik courts last year considered 31 criminal proceedings instituted against 135 members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir party. In 2009, Tajik courts considered 19 criminal proceedings instituted against 37 members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization and all of them were convicted, the Supreme Court chairman noted. It is to be noted that the usual charges against Hizb ut-Tahrir members are inciting religious hatred, seeking to overthrow the constitutional order, and membership in a criminal group. “Besides, 56 Salafi members were punished last year,” said Abdulloyev, “33 of them were fined, while the remaining 23 members of this organization were sentenced to prison terms of 5-6 years.”   Since 2006, 12 organizations have been banned by Tajikistan’s Supreme Court as extremist on the basis of a suit filed by the Prosecutor-General’s Office.  The list includes the Islamic Party of Turkestan, Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan, Harakati Tablighot, Jamiyati Tablighot, Al-Qaeda, Sozmoni Tabligh, Tojikistoni Ozod (Free Tajikistan), Taliban, Jamaat-e Islami Pakistan, Lashkar Taiba (one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist-designated organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan), Hizb ut-Tahrir, and Jamiat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin (The Society of the Muslim Brothers).
15.01.2011 15:22

Источник: http://www.asiaplus.tj

Hizb Arrests Worry Tajik Authorities

ARREST OF ALLEGED TWO HIZB UT-TAHRIR ACTIVISTS NEAR DUSHANBE WORRIES TAJIK AUTHORITIES

September 3, 2010

Tajik authorities are concerned that the arrest of two alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir activists in Yavan, a town 30 kilometers south of Dushanbe, indicates that the radical Muslim organization’s influence is moving southward, RIA-Novosti reported on 9 September. The two detainees, a Tajik man and a woman who is an Uzbek citizen, were reportedly distributing Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets that call for the overthrow of the Tajik government. An unidentified law enforcement official noted that previously Hizb ut-Tahrir activists have been arrested in Dushanbe, Khujand, and areas bordering Uzbekistan. According to the Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office, more than 30 Hizb ut-Tahrir activists have been arrested in Tajikistan this year. BB

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1142998.html

Six Suspected Hizb Members On Trial

Six suspected Hizb-ut Tahrir members on trial in Dushanbe

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 20:50

A Dushanbe court has resumed a trial against six suspected members of the banned Islamist extremist group Hizb-ut Tahrir (HT), news reports indicated on Tuesday.

Three of the six men facing charges hail from the northern Soghd region, where HT counts many supporters and from where scores of individuals have been arrested for suspected membership of the forbidden organization.

The other three men come from Tajik capital Dushanbe and the Khatlon province, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Tuesday.

The trial began last week. Several relatives of those charged told RFE/RL that Tajik authorities wanted to charge the men with attempting to blow up the Rogun hydropower dam, a charge which the relatives denounced as without merit.

Mountainous Tajikistan has been working on the construction of the giant hydropower dam which it hopes will produce enough energy to power the nation through the arduous winter months.

Other relatives, who also were not named by RFE/RL, admitted that some of the suspects are HT members who have been imprisoned for belonging to extremist religious groups.

If convicted, the six men – Yusufjon Hafizov, Soleh Rahmonov, Alijon Yusufov, Tolib Nurov, Kamolkhon Salohiddinov and Abdurahmon Karimov – could face prison terms of between ten to 12 years.

Central Asia Newswire

Six IMU Suspects Arrested

This posting is listed because many believe that Hizb has ties to IMU or the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan which is a violent Pan-Islamic group.

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Tajiks arrest 6 IMU suspects

By Stan Rogers
2010-12-23

DUSHANBE – Tajik authorities have arrested six suspected Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) members in two days, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported December 22.

The arrest of suspected ringleader Dilshod Rahimov, 23, of Istaravshan District led to the arrest of five suspected subordinates, officials told RFE/RL.

All the detainees are locals who trained abroad in terrorist camps, General Sharif Nazarov, chief of the Sughd Oblast Department of Internal Affairs, told RFE/RL.

In other news, Afghanistan has refused to turn over to Tajikistan three Afghan citizens who escaped from a Dushanbe detention facility August 23, the Tajik service of RFE/RL reported December 22.

The Afghans captured four Tajik escapees and the three Afghans in Takhar Province December 18. Kabul is willing to send back the Tajiks but intends to try the Afghans in its own courts, the Tajik State National Security Committee said.

Source: http://www.centralasiaonline.com/cocoon/caii/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/caii/newsbriefs/2010/12/23/newsbrief-01

Preventing Youth Radicalism

This innovation is very important. Most Jihadi groups target certain social groups. Hizb does the same targeting those in power when possible and also the younger generations. Proactively reaching the young might help to stem Hizb’s popularity in the Central Asian area.

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Tajiks devise methods to prevent growth of youth radicalism

By Dilafruz Nabiyeva
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
2010-12-15

 

Tajik youngsters pray at a mosque in Dushanbe in November. Tajikistan will soon test a set of ideas to prevent the spread of religious radicalism among the country’s youth. [Nazim Kalandarov]

DUSHANBE – A set of ideas on how best to thwart the radicalization of youth was released December 15 at a conference organized by the Committee for Youth Affairs, Sport and Tourism, the OSCE, and the organisation Youth and Society.

 

The recommendations are part of a “Social Dialogue on the Problems of Preventing the Growth of Radicalism among Tajik Youth.” The German Foreign Ministry and EU supported the conference.

 

The draft set of “Ideas for Preventing the Growth of Radicalism among Youth,” will be tested in 2011 by the British organisation International Alert (IA).

 

Groups of specialists – including government officials, civil society activists, academics and religious scholars – formulated the suggestions between June and November, said Simon Tiller, the Eurasia programme director for IA. “The opinions of Tajik youth also figured in the document,” he said.

 

Political scientist Pulod Shoazimov called on Tajiks to draw on the experiences of other countries, while German Ambassador to Tajikistan Doris Hertrampf noted that youth comprise a growing majority of the Tajik population.

 

“I doubt that the majority of Tajik youth are under radicalism’s influence,” she said. “Therefore, we should devise methods of fighting for tolerance in politics and religion and methods for blocking radicalism from penetrating the world of youth.”

 

Analysts cited social problems, the low standard of living and religious illiteracy as reasons behind the reported growth of radicalism among Tajik youth.

 

“The main factor facilitating the attachment of ever more young Tajiks to radical religious movements is the absence nationwide of normal conditions for getting a moderate religious education,” political scientist Abdullo Rakhnamo said.

 

With only some 20 madrassas in the country, many youth are forced to seek a religious education abroad, enabling the radicalisation of society, he said.

Tajikistan must create religious institutions based on Hanafi Muslim teachings, which most Tajiks follow, Rakhnamo said. It’s better to work with youth rather than keep handing down prohibitions, he said.

 

In 2011, IA will begin to implement the project “Strengthening of Youth Policy against Radicalism,” said EU mission spokeswoman Makhbuba Abdullayeva. The plan is meant to curb the spread of radicalism among youth in the Asht and Bobodzhongrafurovsk districts of Sughd Oblast.

 

“International Alert, in partnership with the Association of Scientific Intelligentsia and the Public Committee for the Development of Tajikistan, will support the development of a pilot programme to prevent radicalism among youth by carrying out youth-oriented measures in six communities,” Abdullayeva said.

 

“The youth programme is precisely the (set of ideas) worked out during the first project,” she said. “Now these measures to build youth resistance to radical influences will be put into practise. The lessons we draw from (this process) will be integrated into the draft strategy for secular-religious relations in Tajikistan – a strategy that is being devised with the co-operation of IA and with the support of the EU.”

Hizb Terror

11 Hizb ut-Tahrir members held in Tajikistan

Dushanbe, June 2, Interfax – Eleven members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir party have been detained in northern Tajikistan, the Sughd region prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The detainees are active members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir party, which were involved in sabotage activity in the cities of Khujand, Chkalovsk and the Bobojon Gafurov district,” the statement reads.

Videotapes, books and an extremist newspaper were seized from the detainees, it reads. They “will soon be charged with fomenting religious and ethnic hatred, as well as appeals to overthrow the constitutional order in Tajikistan,” the statement reads.

The majority of Hizb ut-Tahrir members are detained in northern Tajikistan at the border with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In particular, a court in northern Tajikistan convicted seven Hizb ut-Tahrir members last month.

The Hizb ut-Tahrir organization was set up in Palestine in 1952. The party’s headquarters are located in London. Hizb ut-Tahrir‘s goal is to overthrow constitutional regimes in Muslim states and create a caliphate, a single Islamic state. The organization is on the list of extremist and terrorist organizations in Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan and the United States. The party’s leaders, however, claim it does not seek the fall of constitutional regimes.