KHUJAND, February 3, 2015, Asia-Plus — The trial of twelve alleged members of the outlawed religious extremist group Jamaat Ansarullah has begun in Khujand, the capital of the Sughd province.
The trial is reportedly being held in Khujand’s pretrial detention facility # 2. Proceedings started with the reading of the indictment, which charges the defendants with organizing a criminal group (Article 187 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), and organizing an extremist group and participating in political parties and religious organizations that are banned in Tajikistan because of their extremist activity (Article 307 (2).
The defendants include twelve residents of the northern city of Konibodom and one resident of the northern city of Istaravshan.
We will recall that they were arrested in November last year. Tajik law enforcement authorities noted that they were suspected of recruiting residents of Sughd province to fight alongside antigovernment forces in Syria. Two guns and ammunition were reportedly found at the house the suspected ringleader, Najmiddin Shamsiyev, who is resident of Istarashan.
Jamaat Ansarullah, also known as the Society of Allah’s Soldiers, first came to light in September 2010 when the heretofore unknown organization claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on September 3 in Khujand. An explosives-packed car rammed into the building of the Sughd regional organized crime control department, killing two officers and two civilians and wounding 28 people. The suicide bomber was local resident Akmal Karimov, who was reportedly trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In September 2011, Jamaat Ansarullah issued several videos calling on Tajikistan’s citizens to embrace jihad against “infidels” and urging them to take action to support the implementation of Islamic Sharia law. “Those who pray namaz, who follow fasting rules but support democracy are nonbelievers,” a man on the video said. “Allah is killing nonbelievers by our hands and, thus, blesses us.” Some politicians and experts, however, doubt whether these videos can really be traced back to Jamaat Ansarullah.
In May 2012, Tajikistan’s Supreme Court officially banned Jamaat Ansarullah as extremist on the basis of a suit filed by the Prosecutor-General’s Office.
