DUSHANBE, January 23, 2010, Asia-Plus — The court of Dushanbe’s Sino district has sentenced seven Salafis to jail terms from 5 to 7 years. Leader of the Salafiya movement in Tajikistan, Sirojiddin Abdurahmonov (also known as Eshon Sirojiddin), has been sentenced to seven years in prison and his son, Kiromiddin Abdurahmonov, has got a jail term of five years.
The court in Dushanbe’s Sino district completed consideration of criminal proceedings instituted against seven Salafis on January 22. The defendants were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 5 to 7 years. The sentence followed their conviction on the charge of inciting national racial, regional or religious enmity.
Among the defendants were the leader of the Salafiya movement in Tajikistan, Sirojiddin Abdurahmonov (also known as Eshon Sirojiddin), and his son, Kiromiddin Abdurahmonov. Sirojiddin Abdurahmonov was sentenced to seven years in prison while Kiromiddin Abdurahmonov got a jail term of five years.
The trial began on January 11.
We will recall that Eshon Sirojiddin together with other followers of the Salafiya movement was detained in Dushanbe in June 2009. Eshon Sirojiddin and 40 followers were performing evening prayers in a mosque in Dushanbe”s Zarafshon district when police detained them on June 23. The detention of Eshon Sirojiddin and his followers was the first action against alleged Salafis conducted by Tajik authorities.
The Supreme Court of Tajikistan banned the Salafi group in Tajikistan in January 2009 “for the security of Tajikistan and defense of its citizens” legal rights, as well as the prevention of national, racial, and religious enmity in the country.” On January 9, 2009, the Supreme Court added Salafis to its list of extremist religious groups prohibited from operating in the country.
The Salafis promote a strict form of Sunni Islam based on the early period of Islam and do not recognize other branches of Islam, such as Shi’a and Sufism. It is frequently referred to as Wahabbism, although Salafis reject this as derogatory.
According to experts, there are estimated to be several thousand followers of Salafism in Tajikistan, mostly young people aged 20 to 30 and many of whom graduated from Islamic schools in Pakistan or Arab countries.
The overwhelming majority of Tajiks are followers of Hanafia, a more liberal branch of Sunni Islam.
