DUSHANBE, June 4, 2014, Asia-Plus – A video entitled “Jodugari Panjakenti” (Magician from Panjakent) that shows mullah from the village of Maikada confessing to sexual misconduct and fraud has appeared on YouTube.
The video was posted on YouTube on June by user Shabnami Surayo.
According to the video author, the 53-year-old village mullah Asadullo Karimov was allegedly involved in fraud and sexual misconduct in lodgings in Panjakent during nine months.
A voice on the video claims that Asadullo Karimov is member of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRP).
Meanwhile, the Islamic Revival Party officially stated on June 4 that Asadullo Karimov was never an IRP member.
Mahmoudjon Fayzrahmonov, a spokesman for the IRP, says the video is part of a campaign to blacken the party”s image.
It is not the first so-called PR blow to the IRP this year.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that two different videos were posted on Tajik social-network sites in April. Each purportedly showed an IRP member in a sexual encounter, one with a woman, and the other with a young man.
In comments to RFE/RL, deputy IRP leader, Mahmadali Hayit, said the videos are a state-sponsored campaign to deprive the IRP of any credibility.
We will recall that a court in Dushanbe’s Sino district sentenced village mullah Asadullo Ibrohimov, 46, to seven years in prison on October 24, 2013. The sentenced followed his conviction on charges of sexual misconduct and fraud. The court also ordered Ibrohimov to pay 14,600 somoni in fines.
Ibrohimov was known in his native Luchob village, outside Dushanbe, for offering infertility treatment. He was arrested in September last year after a video appeared on YouTube depicting him fondling a woman while reciting verses from the Koran. The video quickly became one of the most-viewed Tajik videos on YouTube, earning Ibrohimov the nickname “Mulloi Jodugar” (Magic Mullah).
