DUSHANBE, January 15, Asia-Plus — Following application of the Prosecutor-General’s Office the Supreme Court last year recognized 10 other organizations as extremist organizations banned in Tajikistan, Tajik chief prosecutor Bobojon Bobokhonov announced at a news conference in Dushanbe today.
According to him, among these organizations are “Tojikistoni Ozod (Free Tajikistan), Harakati Tablighot, Sozmoni Tablighot, etc.”
“Thus, Tojikistoni Ozod was established in the territory of Uzbekistan by Tajik antigovernment forces in 1998,” said Tajik chief prosecutor, “Recognition of Tojikistoni Ozod as an extremist organization is based on thorough study of its program.”
According to Bobokhonov, one of founders of this organization is Tajik citizen and native of Uzbekistan’s Khorezm region Yarash Qurbonov. “Qurbonov was detained by Uzbek law enforcement authorities three years ago for document forgery and he is currently serving his sentence in one of penal colonies in Uzbekistan,” the prosecutor said.
Bobokhonov added that extremist religious Hizb ut-Tahrir organization and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) have been banned from functioning in the territory of Tajikistan since 2000.
According to Abduqodir Muhammadiyev, head of the department for overseeing legality in national security bodies of the Prosecutor-General’s Office, 60 criminal proceedings were instituted against 61 members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, including 19 women, last year. “In 2005, 74 criminal proceedings against 99 members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization were instituted,” Muhammadiyev said.
We will recall that Deputy Interior Minister Abdurahim Qahhorov told a news conference in Dushanbe on October 16, 2006 that 48 Hizb ut-Tahrir members have been arrested in the first nine months of 2006. Mahmadsaid Juraqulov, head of the ministry”s division for fighting organized crime, said that 15 IMU members were detained and 15 killed last year.
