DUSHANBE, August 1, 2014, Asia-Plus — The Islamic Revival Party (IRP) Political Council has called on Tajik authorities to reconsider the case of Saodatsho Adolatov, the head of IRP’s local branch in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), who has got a jail term of five years for inciting hatred.
In a statement released on August 1, the IRP Political Council noted that the case against Saodatsho Adolatov is politically motivated.
The statement, in particular, notes that the authorities hoped that nobody will dare to head IRP’s local branch in Gorno Badakhshan after murder of the previous heads of IRP’s local branch in the region Imomnazar Imomnazarov and Sabzali Mamadrizoyev in 2012, “but Saodatsho Adolatov has shown courage and assumed leadership of the party’s local branch in Gorno Badakhshan.”
The IRP Political Council calls on Tajik authorities to reconsider Adolatov’s case and reverse the unfair sentence against him.
The Vanj district court in Gorno Badakhshan found Saodatsho Adolatov guilty of inciting ethnic and religious enmity and sentenced him to five years in jail on July 30. A prosecutor in the trial of Saodatsho Adolatov asked the court to sentence Adolatov to an eight-year prison term.
We will recall that Saodatsho Adolatov was arrested on April 14 on suspicion of inciting religious enmity among his fellow villagers. According to the statement released by the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), Adolatov, 40, has repeatedly insulted his fellow villagers and created an atmosphere of hate towards each other. 30 residents of the Yazgulom jamoat have reportedly applied to relevant agencies over illegal actions of Saodatsho Adolatov.
The IRP is the only Islamic party in post-Soviet Central Asia that is officially registered and represented in a parliament.
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). The IRP now has more than 41,000 members. It won two seats in the 2010 parliamentary elections. Current chairman of the IRP is Muhiddin Kabiri.
According to some sources, women now constitute more than 51 percent of the Islamic Revival Party members.
