Tajik Supreme Court has officially banned the activity of ‘Jamaat Ansarullah’ group (‘Allah Associates Society’).
The decision was announced by the judge Tohir Kodirov in presence of local and foreign reporters, law enforcement officials and representatives of the Tajik Committee for Religious Affairs. The decision was made as a result of consideration of Tajik Prosecutor General’s appeal. The organization was found extremist and terrorist.
The judge said the decision seeks to protect the constitutional order and security in the country. The court also banned distribution of printed, audio and video materials and two websites –
www.irshod.net
and
www.irshod.com
– of the organization. These web resources were officially blocked in Tajikistan.
One of top security officials said ‘Ansarullah’ is the branch of Al-Qaeda seeking to overthrow secular governments in Central Asia and turn them into Islamic states.
“Members of this organization were involved into the following events: Rasht events in 2010, terror attack in September 2010 not far from the Organized Crime Unit in Sughd and an attempt to commit a series of terror attacks in Dushanbe – when Halim Isoev, one of suspected members of this organization, who planned to commit terror attack in Hyprozem city, was arrested,” an official from the Tajik State Security Committee has said.
He also said that Jamaat Ansarullah’s banner was found in Rasht in April 2011 when Mullo Abdullo’s armed group was destroyed.
Representative of the Tajik Prosecutor General’s Office Muhammadjon Hairulloev said that members of this organization may face an 8-year imprisonment in accordance with the Article 307 item 1 (public appeals to extremism) of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan.
In earlier reports Tajik authorities mentioned the activity of Jamaat Ansarullah. Such reports have become more frequent in Summer last year when the organization posted a “jihad” appeal in the internet.
“Those who pray namaz, who follow fasting rules but support democracy are nonbelievers,” a man on the video said. “Allah is killing nonbelievers by our hands and, thus, blesses us.”
Multiple people in the country were texted from an unknown number. “We will carefully examine the video and we do know that it is possible to identify those who can be seen there,” a spokesman for the Tajik State Security Committee Nozirjon Buriev has said.
First reports about the organization appeared in September 2010 when it took responsibility for terror attack on September 3 in Khujand close to the Regional Organized Crime Unit when three police officers were killed in a suicide bombing. However, later on Tajik State Security Committee reported IMU members to be involved in the attack.
