DUSHANBE, February 16, 2014, Asia-Plus – On Friday February 14, Tajik national TV channels aired a report prepared by the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) about participation of one of members of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRP) in fighting on the side of antigovernment forces in Syria.
The report, in particular, notes that the 25-year-old Bahriddin Muminov from Khatlon’s Vose district, who was a student at one of Syrian universities, joined Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front), which is an official wing of Qaeda in Syria.
Muminov was reportedly fighting on the side of Syrian rebel forces from October 2011 to February 2012. Several his associates were killed in fighting in Syria, the report says.
According to the report, Bahriddin Muminov and his parents are members of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan and his sister is married to Said Abdullo Nuri’s son.
On December 18, 2013, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced Muminov to jail. The sentence followed his conviction on the charge of organizing a criminal group (Article 187 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code, which provides for prison sentences for the duration of 8 to 12 years).
Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra (The Support Front for the People of Levant) is a branch of Al-Qaeda operating in Syria and Lebanon. According to Wikipedia, the group announced its creation on January 23, 2012 during the Syrian Civil War. Since then it has been described as “the most aggressive and successful” or “one of the most effective rebel forces” in Syria. The group has reportedly been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
We will recall that Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on December 24 that Tajikistan”s Supreme Court has sentenced five of the country”s citizens to around two years in jail each for fighting on the side of antigovernment forces in Syria. The five were reportedly students at the Syrian International University who decided to join Syrian rebel forces. They were detained in October when they returned to Tajikistan. Since Tajikistan does not have a law against “mercenaries,” the five were charged with “participation in a criminal group or in other armed groups.”
