DUSHANBE, September 22, 2013, Asia-Plus — On Friday September 20, Islamic Revival Party (IRP) leader, Muhiddin Kabiri, applied to the Constitutional Court of Tajikistan with solicitation to give legal assessment to actions of some officials from the Ministry of Interior, the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) and the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting.
In his application, Mr. Kabiri says the authorities have put obstacles in the way of his party and its activists.
IRP leader, in particular, notes that unidentified persons severely beat the IRP activist Hikmatullo Sayfullozoda in February 2011 and the IRP deputy leader Mahmadali Hayit last spring and the national TV channels and radio have broadcast a series of baseless programs aimed against the IRP and its leadership.
The IRP leadership notes that pressure against the party has increased after Polayrnaya Zvezda on March 1, 2102 published an article entitled “Tajikistan on the Eve of Revolution.”
We will recall that this article covered a meeting, in which President Emomali Rahmon allegedly ordered security services to increase surveillance of local religious groups and members of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan.
Founded in October 1990, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan was registered on December 4, 1991. It was banned by the Supreme Court in June 1993 and legalized in August 1999. Its official newspaper is
Najot
(Salvation). According to some sources, IRP now has some 40,000 members. It won two seats in the 2010 parliamentary elections. The Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan is the only Islamic party registered in CIS Central Asia.
