KHUJAND, March 9, 2011, Asia-Plus — Eleven residents of the northern Sughd province have been sentenced to different jail terms for membership in the outlawed extremist religious group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The Sughd regional court sentenced four residents of Bobojonghafurov district, three residents of Khujand, two residents of Istaravshan, one resident of Jabborrasulov district and one resident of Mastchoh district to different jail terms on March 8. The sentence followed their conviction on charges of incitement of ethnic, racial or religious enmity, public calls for a violent change of the constitutional order in Tajikistan, organization of a criminal grouping, and organization of an extremist group or participation in an extremist group.
Khujand resident Husein Vorisjonov, 33, and Bobojonghafurov resident Abdukholiq Mulloyev, 42, were sentenced to 20 years each. Khujand resident Habibulo Jourayev, 34, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and Jabborrasulov resident Hoshim Abdulloyev, 40, got a jail term of 15 years. Bobojonghafurov residents Tohir Mahmoudjonov, 28, and Muqim Bobojonov, 28, were sentenced to 9 years each. Istaravshan residents Shavkat Muhammadiyev, 37, and Dilshod Mukhtorov, 33, were sentenced to 13 and 10 years in prison respectively. Mastchoh resident Nabi Davlatov, 43, was sentenced to 13 years in prison, Khujand resident Yusufjon Yusufjonov, 32, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and Bobojonghafurov resident Nozim Ergashev, 41, got a jail term of 4 years.
The court ruled that they will serve their terms in a high-security penal colony.
The source at the State Committee on National Security (SCNS)’s office in Sughd says the convicts have been detained by security officers in recent months.
We will recall that the Tajik Supreme Court 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 the Prosecutor-General’s Office. 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. Hizb ut-Tahrir reportedly seeks to establish a global caliphate, or Islamic society, although it purports to reject violence in pursuit of its goals.
