Case of alleged Jamaat ut-Tabligh activist moves to court

QURGHON TEPPA, July 9, 2011, Asia-Plus — Criminal case of resident of Qurghon Teppa, Murodbek Qalandarov, has moved to a court in the city of Sarband.

Tolibjon Azimov, a chief aide to the Khatlon prosecutor, told Asia-Plus Saturday afternoon, that      Qalandarov is accused of organizing a team of female agitators in Sarband for propagating ideas of the banned Islamic movement Jamaat ut-Tabligh.  According to him, Qalandarov joined Jamaat at-Tabligh while he was still studying at Qurghon Teppa State University.

“Investigation has established that Qalandarov actively participated in many meetings of this organization and took an active part in strengthening of its positions in Khatlon province,” said the prosecutor.  “It was he that organized a team of female agitators of Jamaat ut-Tabligh in Sarband that later was called Masturot (an Arabic word meaning “hidden” or “closed”).”  

Murodbek Qalandarov is charged with public calls for violent change to the constitutional order of Tajikistan and his case has already moved to the Sarband court.

We will recall that radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on March 4 that four Tajik women accused of belonging to Jamaat at-Tabligh have been released from detention.  Sharofat Azizova, Dilfuza Hoshimova, Mavjouda Sattorova, and Zebuniso Pirkhonova were reportedly detained last year and accused of extremist activities and membership in Jamaat ut-Tabligh.  The Qurghon Teppa prosecutor’s office told RFE/RL on March 2 on condition of anonymity that the women have been amnestied and the criminal investigation into their activities was terminated.  The women, aged between 23 and 37 years, reside in the southern Khatlon province.  A lawyer who is well-informed about the case told RFE/RL the same day that the authorities could not prove any connection between the four women and Jamaat ut-Tabligh or any other extremist organization.

But Tolibjon Azimov from the Khatlon prosecutor’s office told RFE/RL on March 2 that the detained women are suspected of distributing antigovernment leaflets on behalf of a banned Islamic movement and of attempting to create a religious movement called Masturot.  Azimov suggested that Masturot could be the women”s branch of Jamaat ut-Tabligh, which Tajikistan”s Supreme Court banned in March 2006.