DUSHANBE, August 10, 2009, Asia-Plus — Five members of the outlawed Islamic group, Jamaat ut-Tabligh (Conveying Group), have got jail terms of three to six years.
The Supreme Court on August 10 ruled that five members of Jamaat ut-Tabligh, including Nasriddin Murodov, Saidakram Haqdodov, Ziyoulhaq Haqdodov, Hidoyatullo Olimov and Mahmoud Mahmadkhojayev, be given jail terms of three to six years and that they will serve them in a high-security penal colony. The sentences followed their conviction on the charge of public calls for the forcible overthrow of or change to the constitutional order of the Republic of Tajikistan (Article 307 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).
The source at the Supreme Court said that Nasriddin Murodov and Mahmoud Mahmadkhojayev were sentenced to six years in prison each and Saidakram Haqdodov, Ziyoulhaq Haqdodov and Hidoyatullo Olimov were sentenced to three years in jail each.
They were detained in the Fayzobod district, some 55 kilometers east of Dushanbe on April 2 this year and their trial began in late July, according to the source.
We will recall that the Khatlon prosecutor Abdurahim Rahimov announced at a press conference in Qurghon Teppa on July 10.that the Khatlon regional prosecutor’s office has instituted four criminal proceedings against 46 alleged followers of Jamaat ut-Tabligh, a Sunni missionary group, According to him, criminal proceedings have been instituted against them under the provisions of articles 307¹ (public calling for forcible overthrow of or change to the constitutional order in Tajikistan) and 307² (setting up extremist group) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code. The prosecutor said that 23 of those accused are currently held in the pretrial detention facility while 23 others had been released after having given a written undertaking not to leave a place.
In a report released at a press conference in Dushanbe, Minister of Interiors Abdurahim Qahhorov revealed on April 21 that dozens of followers of Jamaat ut-Tabligh were detained in a mosque in Dushanbe in mid-April. According to him, most of them were released after being interrogated and criminal proceedings were instituted only against four followers of this group under the provisions of Article 187 of Tajikistan Penal Code – setting up criminal group. Those four persons have taken special training in India and the United Arab Emirates (UEA), the minister said.
Jamaat ut-Tabligh was banned in Tajikistan in January 2006 together with other nine organizations. We will recall that the Supreme Court banned 10 organizations as extremist in January 2006 following a suit filed by the Prosecutor-General”s Office. Prosecutor-General Bobojon Bobokhonov told a press conference in Dushanbe on January 15 2006 that the list includes the Islamic Party of Turkestan, Harakati Tablighot, Jamaat ut-Tabligh, Al-Qaeda, Sozmoni Tabligh, and Tojikistoni Ozod (Free Tajikistan).
